Is this the engine?!? Did I find the one?

[Ewhitaker0020]

Exactly. It takes a little time getting the end play set up, but it helps to have an aftermarket aluminum 2-piece timing cover too.

And here we are into the whole snowball thing again, lol.

I might as well take out a second mortgage now.

 

[legopnuematic]

Not all of the TBI blocks were set up for roller cam. Most of them were. Some had the provisions, but the lifter retainer bosses were not drilled/tapped. A lesser amount of blocks did not have the roller cam provisions at all.

So I guess that makes this 87 305 tbi block "unique" with not having the bosses for the roller setup, learn something new everyday

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[bucket]

So I guess that makes this 87 305 tbi block "unique" with not having the bosses for the roller setup, learn something new everyday

You must be registered for see images attach

Eh. I've got a couple of them too. There was probably oodles of them, but compared to all of the truck TBI production, they are not very common.

 

[Rusty Nail]

$100 engine with a $1000 head swap?
Whatever.
A New intake,exhaust,fuel pump, and your reliability will be lost. This ain't your daily is it?

Maybe before you put much more effort AND money into an actual TBI block, it is the opinion of this court that , based upon the presentations within this thread, that you really might as well buy an engine out of a CAR if you really,really want a roller cam.

Not only will you be miles ahead, you'll also save a TON of money.
It MAY BE a good suggestion to find a different consultant?
We think you are being mislead.

 

[Ewhitaker0020]

$100 engine with a $1000 head swap?
Whatever.
A New intake,exhaust,fuel pump, and your reliability will be lost. This ain't your daily is it?

Maybe before you put much more effort AND money into an actual TBI block, it is the opinion of this court that , based upon the presentations within this thread, that you really might as well buy an engine out of a CAR if you really,really want a roller cam.

Not only will you be miles ahead, you'll also save a TON of money.
It MAY BE a good suggestion to find a different consultant?
We think you are being mislead.

$1000 head swap? I can buy an entire vortec engine for a couple hundred bucks. Are you talking about all the money for the roller cam and all the stuff to make it into a roller block? I haven't priced all that stuff yet.

So, just so I understand what you're saying, you're saying to find a TBI engine out of a car that for sure has the roller block set up?

And what do you mean about my reliability bring lost by replacing those bolt on components? But, no. It's not my daily driver. I just drive it for fun, or when I need to haul something.

 

[Rusty Nail]

Ya dude. Very realistically you can be out a cool grand to run Vortex heads.
In my opinion, that is outrageously expensive horsepower per dollar and a FAR CRY from what people actually want.

That year range passenger car engines the later the better, had factory roller cams.
The hard parts are re-usable.

I wonder if you are starting on the wrong foot.

 

[Ewhitaker0020]

Ya dude. Very realistically you can be out a cool grand to run Vortex heads.
In my opinion, that is outrageously expensive horsepower per dollar and a FAR CRY from what people actually want.

Then what is your suggestion to get a good horsepower to dollar ratio?

 

[Rusty Nail]

Oy vey!

For the purposes of this illustration :

Let's argue vortex heads add 30 horsepower.
At the possible cost of $1000 before you get happy.

33 dollars PER HORSEPOWER.

let's also argue adding aftermarket headers adds 15 horsepower. $250 installed.

16 dollars per horsepower and you got half as many over Vortex but you would still have $750 to make another 15 horsepower and be even.

Hmm.

A NITROUS kit will BOLT ON for about $500 with a 100 horsepower button and NO OTHER CHANGES.

Hmm. How is your math ol boy?
Cuz that's five bones per.

Look dude, I simply offer a different perspective. Dowutchalike!

A simple K&N air filter may add 5 horsepower for a measly $50 bucks... again, 5 bucks per horsepower.

I also think it may be wise to read up on that vortex head swap to become more familiar with those specifics.
There are many.
You're jumping in the deep end head first except
there's no water.

My vote is "no", you haven't found it yet.

 

[HotRodPC]

Not all of the TBI blocks were set up for roller cam. Most of them were. Some had the provisions, but the lifter retainer bosses were not drilled/tapped. A lesser amount of blocks did not have the roller cam provisions at all.

If it's not been said yet, to the best of my knowledge the TBI truck engines DID NOT get roller parts and NOT drilled and tapped for roller but the bosses are there. The roller engines are the F body engines, usually the TPI engines in Camaro and Firechickens. So if you want a roller engine, look a passenger car engine.

And i think it's been said, Vortec heads are 96 and later.

 

[Shorty81]

Hey Eric, what's wrong with a good ole flat tappet carbed 350 anyway?? They run fine in an old Chevy truck. Not gonna race are ya?.....

 

[bucket]

If it's not been said yet, to the best of my knowledge the TBI truck engines DID NOT get roller parts and NOT drilled and tapped for roller but the bosses are there. The roller engines are the F body engines, usually the TPI engines in Camaro and Firechickens. So if you want a roller engine, look a passenger car engine.

And i think it's been said, Vortec heads are 96 and later.

I've actually seen many that were drilled and tapped. Many more than ones that were not.

 

[Ewhitaker0020]

Hey Eric, what's wrong with a good ole flat tappet carbed 350 anyway?? They run fine in an old Chevy truck. Not gonna race are ya?.....

I get talked into stuff pretty easy lol. I kept seeing people talk about how flat tappet came aren't very durable compared to roller cams. Wouldn't a good comp cams flat tappet camshaft be just as good if not better than the OEM one that came in my engine from the factory?

I don't want to invest way more money than I need to, especially not for the first engine I ever put in this truck.

I should still go with vortec heads on an older 350 block right? I keep reading that the HP increase is huge for the vortec heads compared to my old cast iron factory ones.

 

[legopnuematic]

From what I understand, the whole scare of flat tappet cams going flat started in the early to mid 2000's, as most OEM's were using roller setups, and many aftermarkets started to cheap out on cam cores for flat tappet cams, and flat tappet lifters especially, so they was a high rates of failures due to low quality parts. Same scenario that plagues most 307 sbc's, soft cams.
https://www-hotrod-com.cdn.ampproje...www.hotrod.com/articles/flat-tappet-cam-tech/

Now things have leveled out and gotten better to where cam cores and lifters are of a higher quality, and will last as long as they get broken in properly.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[Ewhitaker0020]

From what I understand, the whole scare of flat tappet cams going flat started in the early to mid 2000's, as most OEM's were using roller setups, and many aftermarkets started to cheap out on cam cores for flat tappet cams, and flat tappet lifters especially, so they was a high rates of failures due to low quality parts. Same scenario that plagues most 307 sbc's, soft cams.
https://www-hotrod-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.hotrod.com/articles/flat-tappet-cam-tech/amp/?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE=#aoh=15782512555824&referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://www.hotrod.com/articles/flat-tappet-cam-tech/

Now things have leveled out and gotten better to where cam cores and lifters are of a higher quality, and will last as long as they get broken in properly.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

That was a really good read. Do you think it would be worth switching away from Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil to a racing oil for everyday use?

 

[legopnuematic]

That was a really good read. Do you think it would be worth switching away from Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil to a racing oil for everyday use?

I run harvest king conventional in my trucks/car, not had any issues. IMO the key is good filters and regularly changing the oil. I only use Wix filters, 51794 which is a 1 quart filter as opposed to a 1/2 quart filter