i have a 79 corvette 350 block and a pair of Freshly rebuilt camel hump heads for a small block chevy with 1.94/1.50 stainless valves, Z28 valve springs,screw in studs, aluminum roller rocker arms 1.6, and some port work done. My block still has to be bored and honed so i dont know what the final bore will be but i would like some advice on cam and lifters. i wanted so install rollers to make brakeing in the engine i little quicker. I was going to try get some roller lifters out of a late model 350 from the local junk yard. will they work in my motor?  

I would not recomend using used lifters in a rebuilt motor.I think the O.E. roller lifters are for 1987&up only I think the push rods are shorter as well.Depending on the power you want you may be able to get that from a flat tappet hyd. cam witch is a lot cheeper.Retro fit roller cam & lifters usualy run around $600&UP.Putting used lifters in a motor I think is a bad idea and do not recomend that at all.Let me know how much power you want then if you want I could recomend a combo to get you there.  

hmm... did hard seats get installed in the camel hump heads...and do they have the ends drilled for the 79 accessorys..?????


if you want to put a roller motor together... buy a late model roller motor block.. factory steel cranks are available from crank grinders... these will be the small rear flange motors with a one piece seal...these later motors are a direct fit  except for a differnt flywheel... that way the numbers matching engine/ block that you have can sit under the work bench till its time for a numbers matching restoration or sale...  

and on the point of installing used roller lifters.... hmm thats debateable... some reman engines have recycled roller lifters...   they are taken apart and cleaned and then tested for leak down...

the oem rollers do need the spider to keep them aligned.. and you would need to drill and tap you 79 block to held it in place...except there are no bosses for it on the 79 block  

The roller cam is an expensive route. I recommend using a hydrolic flat Lunati Voodoo 268 cam. It makes great low end torque with great upper end power and a nice loppey idle that is very street friendly. Make sure you get valvesprings too because the factories are worn out and they wouldn't be able to handle the lift of the Voodoo.  

they are .550 lift valve springs so they should handel a lunati voodoo 268 cam. i really want to use my vette motor in my elco because i have never really liked corvettes ( except the new z06 that is a marval of enginering) but i do like vette motors and would like to say that is a vette under the hood and i am pretty sure that the 350 in the elco is cracked.  

That "vette" motor you think so highly of is really no different from any other production 350 small block.

Just because your valve springs won't encounter coil-bind issues till .550" lift doesn't mean that you won't have seal to retainer clearance issues or even valve float/seperation issues with a camshaft as aggressive as a Voodoo. Use at your own risk I guess I could say and be prepared to change springs if you can tell if it's necessary. They (Voodoo cams) look great on paper but you have to realize you can only move a valvetrain so fast for a engine that is going to expect this valvetrain to stay together for long periods of time. I haven't heard good things about them, but that's kind of hearsay. Go ahead and try them out if you please.  

Yeah its is the same, but its still the blue motor out of a corvette. but thanks for being such a kill joy. Anyways i am not sure but i think chevy would have used a better block for the corvette, maybe it has a higher nickel content than a standered 350.  

If it was a vette block and the code is 3970010 then that is one of the best blocks they made. They also used them in the camaros and some of the trucks use the block that you have the one piece seal blocks suck they are not that good I have had alot of those one piece seal blocks come in my garage that were cracked always in the lifter valley.In my opion lunati street master, bracket master2, is the best cam&lifters availible but the voodoo is good too but will probably wear out faster.Also if you got the rods that came out of the vette block and the rod caps have a X on the cap then those are better rods as well.You may want to check out www.northernautoparts.com they have great prices on rebuild kits for that engine.  

If you think not knowing or altering the truth is fun, then by all means go for it! All your buddies will think your really cool if you tell them it's a corvette motor. Just because it's a overhauled corvette engine it should make 150 horsepower more than their 350's...

To me, the high nickel content blocks are a myth. The only thing halfway scientific I've seen on the subject said the differences were in tenths of a percent, or in other words, insignificant amounts. If there was a significant increase in Nickel content the block would be much more difficult to bore than a "low-nickel" content block. So go ask your machinist to compare the "010" blocks to all the other Gen I small block Chevys he has bored and ask him if they cut harder. This might be a better way to find out for yourself.  

I think the best way to go with this motor is to stroke it. there are some kits on ebay made buy scat and Raceparts that are well priced. I think i need to check out my motor and see if it is a one peace main seal that are crap, in which case i will sell my two blocks and hunt down a good block, i am hoping it is a cast # 3970010. A stroker motor has the kind of bottom end punch to the kidneys i am looking for. I think my heads on this motor will be a good combo. Does anyone know any tricks to improving your block? opening up oil passages and that kind of thing? And on the question of high nickel content blocks they are alot stronger. GM did not make all blocks like this to save manufacturing costs. I have heard of caddy motors that have over 100K on them to still show the crosshatch on the cylinder walls because caddy motors had high nickel content, thats not insignificant info to me. But machining these blocks can cost alot in broken machining bits, thus GM only used them in cars and trucks that required more durable blocks. And a block like this would be perfect for a stroker or and perfomance street or track machine.  

Strockers are nice but I have seen a lot of strokers get there a## handed to them by a 355 chevy. With the right combo you should be able to pull plenty of power out of that 350 with out stroking it depending on what you want.Be ware of the cheaper stroker kits as well I have seen those fail more then once.What kind of power are you looking for if you like I could recomend a set up that can get you there if you want.If the block is a 1979 then it has a 2 piece rear seal they started making the 1 piece in 1986.  

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And on the question of high nickel content blocks they are alot stronger. GM did not make all blocks like this to save manufacturing costs. I have heard of caddy motors that have over 100K on them to still show the crosshatch on the cylinder walls because caddy motors had high nickel content, thats not insignificant info to me.



Why would you even act like you know this? Because you don't. You aren't going to sway my opinion or anyone else's here with hearsay from your buddies.  

I want to build my engine for good acceleration, i dont want a high hp motor that i can never use on the street, but i do want to bet anything at a stoplight. Also budget is an factor, i dont want to spend huge money with expencive parts, but at the same time i dont want to buy cheap parts and put a rod through my bottom end. this list is kind of demanding but i want something i can enjoy so please share your ideas for good combo but bear in mind i already have heads i want to use and roller rockers and dont want to spend money on another pair of aftermarket heads.  

the casting # on the vette is 460777 which i think means its a 305 so that motor is useless to me but the motor in the elco has the casting # 3970010 which means is the good motor pontiac man was talking about.  

YA thats a 305 chevy so have the elcamino engine checked for cracks and if checked out ok then use that one. will be back later with a good combo!