[80chevybigten]

Have a 350 in my 1980 chevy half ton longbed. I would like to squeeze some more power out of it without having to pull it or anything until I can upgrade it later. Has true duals with flowmasters. 600 cfm edelbrock carb, performer eps intake, and thats about it. I was planning on getting some headers for sure. Any other ideas? Just looking for a bit more power. Has 3.08 gears, for now, and what I was told was a th350 by the seller but I have not confirmed yet. How would I be able to tell. I'm not sure what the bolt pattern is for 350's. Need more bottom end power than anything but top end is needed pretty badly as well.

[ap72]

headers would help, and either head work or new heads along with an RV cam. Without getting dirty all you can do is the headers though. An ignition re-curve kit can help some but with a mostly stock engine you only need to add about 1 degree of initial and a little steeper advance rate.

[my87Z]

i would be almost certain it's a th350 unless the trans has replaced over time.

my number 1 suggestion if you want more down low power and just more grunt from the truck is to change out those 3.08's to a set of 3.73's. that will make a world of difference. after that i would replace the exh manifolds with a set of long tube headers. but unless you want to rebuild the whole motor i wouldn't go messin' with it too much as you really dont know what kind of shape everything is in

[sqzbox]

If you look at your pan on the tranny, a 350 would be #3. A 400 would be #4.

[ComingApart]

I would pass on the headers, they won't add much power by themselves, and the leaking and heat and clearance issues will drive you nuts.

This is an old redneck tip that most here will probably scoff at, but if you're not wanting to build big HP and just want some more grunt and pep on a smogger SBC, get some mid '80's L69 305 heads and put 'em on the 350. You can find them anywhere for cheap or free, $200 at the machine shop for a valve job and you're good to go. This will bump the compression from 8:1 or 8.5:1 to around 10:1. More power across the board.

The valves are small and the ports restrictive, so it won't be a high-revver, but it won't be any worse than the smog heads you probably have now.

[Blazin72]

What size tires do you have now? I might go so far as to suggest 4.10 gears. They were great in my Blazer with 31" tires.

[32Essex]

I use an 88' or later 700-R and a set of 3:73 gears, the 700 has a good low gear and the overdrive would make cruising at high way speeds a breeze, and it would get better gas mileage.

[my87Z]

Originally Posted by ComingApart

I would pass on the headers, they won't add much power by themselves, and the leaking and heat and clearance issues will drive you nuts.

This is an old redneck tip that most here will probably scoff at, but if you're not wanting to build big HP and just want some more grunt and pep on a smogger SBC, get some mid '80's L69 305 heads and put 'em on the 350. You can find them anywhere for cheap or free, $200 at the machine shop for a valve job and you're good to go. This will bump the compression from 8:1 or 8.5:1 to around 10:1. More power across the board.

The valves are small and the ports restrictive, so it won't be a high-revver, but it won't be any worse than the smog heads you probably have now.

what? actaullygood headers (long tube) on a racing engine have been proven to have up to a 50hp/tq increase over cheaper headers. now i know this is now racing engine but he will likely see a 20hp/20tq with a decent set of headers and a good unrestrictive exhaust.

i actually would agree with the L69 305 HO heads idea, but you will have to look for a set of 4416 heads and no other 305 heads, and yes a couple of hundred at the mahcine shop, or if you can find a pair that have been ported and polished that would be a big help, stock they probably out flow his smogger heads. there is a guy on here that i know works with 4416 heads FBIRD88, you may be able to get a set from him. between that the headers, decent exhaust, and some gears it would feel like a completely different truck

[ap72]

In this application I wouldn't touch the valves on the 416 heads if you go that route, just relap them, clean up the bowls with some 60grit cartridge rolls and you're good to go.

[80chevybigten]

I have dual exhaust with flowmasters now. Yeah I was thinking headers and gears as well. I'll look around at those 4416 heads because I definatly want to get rid of these smogger heads I've got. I just didn't want to have to change the cam out. I've got a mallory HEI ignition too.