355 Build for Torque

What kind of compression are you lookin at? It should pull like a beast with just a mild cam, you dont want to go too big! Have you thought about changing the gear? If you dont want to i would say put a performer on there not the rpm, better bottom end. I have just about the same combo in my car but i have a performer intake, double humps, rv cam, 9.3 comp, 2000 stall, th350 and 2.56 gear. it spins em through first but im sideways when i hit second!

Sounds like you have the formula as far as the motor goes. I built a similiar motor except mine is .040 overbore. I put an isky 262/270 cam with 3:73 gear. Sounds like you only need to cam the car and add more rear gear. Both of these will determine how you intend to drive the car. I plan on possibly changing my gear to a 3:42 OR leaving it and adding an OD.

Looks like you have a good foundation for torque. Just make sure the cam compliments the gear and your in the game. Make sure you add a quality cam (isky, comp, cran, summit) and make sure you add ZDDP or EOS additive or you can expect to have problems with you flat tappet cam.

Thanks for the info. I was looking at the isky as well as the comp 262. Any other suggestions for cam. I will eventually get 3.42 gears but that may be over the winter. I have a chance to pick up some 492 cast camel humps for $100 but I don't know what the carge will be to rebuild them for unleaded gas. I have also read that the vortecs will out perform them. I just wonder if it will make a diffrence at the mild engine level I'm looking for. Are they better for torque? Thanks again

THE vortecs are perfect and is what they were designed for. They work well at low lifts. If you could, I would try and spring for a set before I fooled with 492's. That's just me. Sometimes you have to use what you have.

skip those old behind double humps, 40yr old technology, the vortecs would out perform the 492's all day long, and if you shop around you can find a good set of 062's or 906's (look for the 062's, but 906's will work) for the same price as it will cost you to buy and rebuild those 492's, and for any given mild sbc combo those vortecs will produce 20-30 more hp every time, i wouldn't go with the air-gap intake as i havent heard anything good about them, i dont think i would go with the performer either i would go with the performer rpm, sorry but even on about the mildest sbc's ive never seen performer out perform the RPM, the cams metioned earlier sound really good with a advertised duration around 260, around 210-220 @ 050 with around a 440-450 lift, this should make around 350hp but may be a little shy with about 380-390tq

So the RPM intake will give me more torque down low and more horsepower than the Performer? What improvement could I make to get my torque numbers up a little. The HP number you estimate looks great. Thanks for the advise on the heads. I ask the machine shop what it would cost to rebuild the camel humps. Try 500-800. Your right for that I'll go with the vortecs!

The 264Mega cam from Isky would work really well with your combo but you may still want to add a little gear when you can. I'd go with the RPM manifold as well, the airgap is nice but not really needed.

woh, im not real sure if i would be going to that machine shop for any of my work, i guess im lucky ive got a friend who works at a machine shop and hooks me up, but 500-800 i would have to see what all they do for that price, ap72 is right the 264Mega would be a nice cam and give you a good balance of tq/hp, as far as upping your tq#'s past 380-390, you could try a 1" carb spacer it may give you 5-10ftlbs but it may not as well, that's kinda iffy, if this is going into a light car like the nova you mentioned 380-390 possibly 400tq is a really nice # for a street driven car, @WOT you will have a hard time keeping the rubber on the tires, i would also strongly suggest lowering you rear gear ratio, to about 3.42 since you have a 3spd, this will help to pick up your acceloration drasticly