350 HO CRATE ENGINE.

[mavtricks71]

Has anybody ever bought the GM crate engine 350 HO setup with the serpentine setup on it? Not sure if it would work in my truck 1986 k10 …. the alternator and a/c is in wrong locations. Yes its pricey at $5679 so I imagine many haven't. Its GM part number 19210009..... it's my dream engine....although the alternator and a/c is on the wrong side!!

 

[shiftpro]

Has anybody ever bought the GM crate engine 350 HO setup with the serpentine setup on it? Not sure if it would work in my truck 1986 k10 …. the alternator and a/c is in wrong locations. Yes its pricey at $5679 so I imagine many haven't. Its GM part number 19210009..... it's my dream engine....although the alternator and a/c is on the wrong side!!

Well at that price you could build a pretty dreamy sb...
Is this a roller engine I'm assuming?

 

[shiftpro]

WHat's the criteria of your dream engine?
Work/play..?
High millage, daily driver?
Smoke 'em up Mike?

 

[mavtricks71]

Well at that price you could build a pretty dreamy sb...
Is this a roller engine I'm assuming?

It's deffintly play just on weekends in my k10.... I also was curious about the 350 HO camshaft and how it idles ...I deffintly don't want to feel my truck shaking much....I like it smooth in the cab....id imagine somebody here has this 350 HO engine

 

[mavtricks71]

Well at that price you could build a pretty dreamy sb...
Is this a roller engine I'm assuming?

Crazy as it sounds its a flat tappet engine and I actually like the quietness of the old flat tappet engines.....the roller engines are noiser….my 86 k10 still has the original engine in it and people alaways freak out how quiet the engine is....people these days are used to hearing the noisey roller engines.

 

[75gmck25]

I have never heard of a roller cam being noisier, but YMMV. However, that is a lot of money to pay for a Vortec 350 with a little bigger cam. The cam on that engine also seems to be a little too much for 9.0 compression. It would work much better with 9.5 or even 10.0.

If you really want a flat tappet cam (which I think is a bad choice for a brand new engine), buy one of these and just move all your accessories over to the new engine. https://blueprintengines.com/produc...ck-gm-dressed-longblock-carburetor-bp3834ctc1
Or try this one for a little less. https://blueprintengines.com/produc...k-gm-dressed-longblock-carburetor-bp35512ctc1

Bruce

 

[shiftpro]

Crazy as it sounds its a flat tappet engine and I actually like the quietness of the old flat tappet engines.....the roller engines are noiser….my 86 k10 still has the original engine in it and people alaways freak out how quiet the engine is....people these days are used to hearing the noisey roller engines.

Well that seems over the top expensive then...
Regarding flat tappets, nothing wrong with them. I'm not convinced rollers are the most amazing evolution of engine design. yes the cam can raamp up faster... and yes there is less friction... but a whole world of moving parts comes with this slight gain. Flat tappet engines, millions of them, have worked
for decades and millions of miles. Cheap and simple and they go go go like the battery bunny.
I have even a lower opinion of retro roller engines... used in daily driver high milage engines.

 

[shiftpro]

It's deffintly play just on weekends in my k10.... I also was curious about the 350 HO camshaft and how it idles ...I deffintly don't want to feel my truck shaking much....I like it smooth in the cab....id imagine somebody here has this 350 HO engine

You're on the right track here... especially if your truck has an auto. Basically, if the cam gives you a thumpy idle you will be trading low rpm torque for higher revving performance.

 

[mavtricks71]

I have never heard of a roller cam being noisier, but YMMV. However, that is a lot of money to pay for a Vortec 350 with a little bigger cam. The cam on that engine also seems to be a little too much for 9.0 compression. It would work much better with 9.5 or even 10.0.

If you really want a flat tappet cam (which I think is a bad choice for a brand new engine), buy one of these and just move all your accessories over to the new engine. https://blueprintengines.com/produc...ck-gm-dressed-longblock-carburetor-bp3834ctc1
Or try this one for a little less. https://blueprintengines.com/produc...k-gm-dressed-longblock-carburetor-bp35512ctc1

Bruce

Ive never heard of blue print engines are they a pretty reliable source for engines? reliability wise trustworthy?

 

[75gmck25]

Blueprint sells engines themselves, and also through Jegs, Summit, Pace, etc. There is a lot of feedback on the sites and it seems to be consistently good. They dyno the engine you buy, so you know the actual horsepower of your exact engine.

I bought Blueprint H8002k aluminum heads for my SBC 350 and they appear to be a very well made casting. They were $899 for the pair, complete and assembled with valve springs. I used them to replace my old SBC 350 crate engine heads with 72cc combustion chambers, so I also gained compression with the aluminum 64cc heads and a thinner head gasket.

Bruce

 

[legopnuematic]

For $5000 that could build a really nice small block, possibly even with machine work to punch the old engine out 0.030, decked, cleaned, etc (depending on area and availability to reputable machine shop of course). Or to purchase a blueprint crate and put on the accessory drive and other components for a potentially better setup for the same or less.
As for the cam in that engine I agree with @75gmck25 that it might be a little much for that compression ratio. In my truck I have a Howards CL112561-12 with .420/.455 valve lift, 259/269 duration, 205/215 duration @0.050 and a 112 lsa. 9.0:1 static compression and it idles at 600 in drive and is so smooth and quiet even with headers and 18" glasspacks.

 

[mavtricks71]

I don't know much about cams and sizes....do you think that 350 HO Engine would shake to much in the truck with the size cam it has?

 

[legopnuematic]

It shouldn't shake much or at all at idle, it is on a (claimed) 112.5 degree lobe separation angle (lsa), which is what would be called 'very mild to mild,' cars with really lumpy idles typically have a 108 degree lsa, but 112 is essentially the same as factory and provides good vacuum signal at idle. My truck has a 112 lsa and it draws 22 inches of vacuum at idle.

 

[75gmck25]

My engine was originally the GM 350/290 HP crate, which had a 222/222 @ .050 cam and only about 8.2 compression. It ran smooth enough at idle, but was soft on power at low RPM because of the relatively high cam lift with low compression. And the basic old-style iron heads did not help it much. This type of cam/compression mismatch is not a good choice.

My current cam is a Howards cam with 213/217 @ .050 and 112 LSA, I have about 9.4 compression, and I'm using the Blueprint aluminum heads. It does not idle quite as smooth as the original GM base 195/202 cam, but it will idle well at about 650 RPM and draw 19" of vacuum. With the new cam and heads it likes more base timing, so I'm running 14 degrees initial and 20 degrees mechanical. I run off manifold vacuum, so the vacuum advance adds 15 degrees at idle, which helps smooth it out.

Cam specs need to be matched to compression and heads if you want it to develop smooth power over a wide range of RPM. For example the GM 222/222 L79 cam is a retro grind that was used in the 327/350 HP engine. GM had 3287's rated from 250 HP up to 375 HP. However, the high horsepower versions had about 11.0 to 11.25 compression. GM understood how to tweak and reconfigure that 327 to get whatever they needed for power.

Bruce

 

[roundhouse]

The whole reason I did an LS swap was because the 350 had a flat lobe on the cam

I’ve seen lots and lots of old 350s with a flat lobe
Usually on the driver side at the back

Probabaly due to the nanny state fed gov removing zinc from the oil

If you floor it in second gear and when it winds up to a high rpm and starts making a popping sound , you got a flat cam lobe