Stock 1974 sbc 350 build

stoney 81ta said:

I have a stock 1974 350 motor,would like some advise on size of cam to use on a street motor.Also would be using the stock heads.The car its going into is a 1981 trans am with 2.56 gears.

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With low compression, 2.56 gears and a heavy car you will need a small cam. Comp 260H, 255DEH, XE256H, XE262H

Thanks,will either of those cams will make a noticable difference from stock.And also will i be able to reuse any parts from my 305 motor thats in the car now,like the intake edelbrock performer,1406 carb and headers.

stoney 81ta said:

Thanks,will either of those cams will make a noticable difference from stock.And also will i be able to reuse any parts from my 305 motor thats in the car now,like the intake edelbrock performer,1406 carb and headers.

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Yes, definite improvement over stock cam. Yes, all those parts will work fine.

Thanks Ssedan

another story

I changed out the cam, headers, manifold & carb on my 1974 350 in search of more hp. After changing out those parts, the motor was still a turd! When I tromped on the pedal, the only thing that happened was, the exhaust made a louder noise :drunk:

1974 was the worst year for 350's, the heads had combustion chambers that would swallow a cow, and the pistons were dished enough to be mistaken for an Olympic-sized swimming pool

The second time around, I changed out the heads for Vortec and the pistons were given the ol' heave-ho for a set of flat top. I used a steel shim head gasket as well. Compression increases go a long way to improve that seat of the pants feel, as well as increase gas mileage.

...my two cents (but they are HAPPYTWO CENTS :thumbup: )

Clickie for Vid

DENCOUCH said:

I changed out the cam, headers, manifold & carb on my 1974 350 in search of more hp. After changing out those parts, the motor was still a turd! When I tromped on the pedal, the only thing that happened was, the exhaust made a louder noise :drunk:

1974 was the worst year for 350's, the heads had combustion chambers that would swallow a cow, and the pistons were dished enough to be mistaken for an Olympic-sized swimming pool

The second time around, I changed out the heads for Vortec and the pistons were given the ol' heave-ho for a set of flat top. I used a steel shim head gasket as well. Compression increases go a long way to improve that seat of the pants feel, as well as increase gas mileage.

...my two cents (but they are HAPPYTWO CENTS :thumbup: )

Clickie for Vid

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Thanks for the advise,your vid of your build sounds nice.Due to budget cant afford new heads at the moment,is there any way to modify the stock heads to flow better.

Flow better? Sure, I bet there are a half-dozen improvements that one could make to raise the flow numbers.

I was hoping that after reading my post, you would understand that this motor needs a compression increase in the worst way. Making other changes first will only leave you scratching your head and wondering if all the trouble and money spent was worth the effort.