Econo 350 And It Runs Gooood !
 

Econo 350 , It's In And It Runs Good

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I finished my econo 350 and ran the streets and highways yesterday . What I ended up with is a 355 with flat top pistons and 462624 heads with 1.94 intakes , Weiand 8004 intake , Edelbrock 1405 carb calibrated for economy , Sealed Power 274 stock grind cam . This turns an 1800 stall converter on a turbo 350 trans into an early GM rearend which appears to be about 3.08 ratio . Estimated to be about a 300 hp sleeper engine . It runs ever so sweetly and sounds very unintimidating at idle or cruise . But does it RUN ? Okay it is in an 1840 lb T-bucket and even with my 300 lb bulk we have about 7 lbs per hp. At an idle ( 600 rpm in gear )in low ; lift my foot off the brake and mash the throttle . Tires (P295x50x15) light and car fishtails . BM ratchet shift to second at 5500 rpm and thats enough . Gets light in front after 80 mph . WHOOO HOOO !! We're having fun now !

Yah went 'outside the box' with those much-maligned heads.. Good to see someone thinking for himself and doing it his way.
Good for you Big Feller!
T.

Good for you! :thumbup: Good old "K.I.S.S." engineering.

I see a lot of good solid builds bashed on the web because they won't make 500HP and people being told their head/cam/intake/carb/header/etc., etc., etc. selection is junk even though they're just putting together a mild street engine for a light rod, cruiser, DD or an old beater truck. Every engine doesn't need AFR 195's, Victor JR. intakes or whatever. We've become jaded where performance is concerned and fall victim to "Moore's Law"... If more is better, too much is just enough. Sometimes a well built "stocker" is more than enough to get the job done.


ENJOY!!! :D :cool:

Test results from 1/8 mi. track
 

Short version : Ran the bucket at the local 1/8 mi track at cruise in . All the cruisers got to run all the time trials we wanted to in an hour time slot . I actually ran pretty consistent within a couple hundredths of a second . Best run through the 1/8 mi was 8.5271 @ 81.49 mph . Not too bad for a $500.oo engine with a $27.oo camshaft . Ran alongside some 80's and 90's 'vettes and Z28's . Well not really along side for long . They were soon behind . It was a lot of fun ! :-)

Well You are making an honest 220 horsepower. That is about what you would expect from that combo of parts.

Good 4 U.. Betcha had a large smile on your face and a couppla $$$ still in your jeans.
T.

I'm glad you rebuilt an engine and it runs well, but if you take your time and are diligent it shouldn't be too suprising. At that weight it all feels fast! Light toys are always fun to drive.

I was ticked pink . LOL My wife had wanted me to tap into the IRA and buy a new engine . I didn't want to do that . We were able to pay for this one out of the household budget and it does everything I hoped it would . And yeah turbolover . It does feel fast . Whoo Hooo . Gotta love it when the 'vette in the next lane is a full second or more slower .

Well even if it is only 220 horsepower , It is all I need with the rubber I'm running . Smokes them off the line and again when I shift into second at about 5300 rpm . It's a blast . I don't intend to race it .. I just was curious to see how fast it is . At least now when somebody asks if it's fast , I know what to tell them .