Swapping the 350 for a Crate

[SirRobyn0]

Couldnt one change the intake? Also always could get a Qjet heater lol im joking

I agree with this. When people talk about "cold weather driveability" I don't apply it to any operation here in the willamette valley. We don't really even get truly below freezing for any amount of time. It will have a tougher time starting up and warming in cold weather.... but for it to be a real problem it will need to be MUCH colder than we usually get around here. If you are getting feet of snow and it is staying near zero temps... you're going to have a bad time with no heat crossover.

For me this is my hang up. I'm in western Wa. but the farm does have some elevation so there are penalty of winter mornings that start out in the upper 20's, we typically see a few upper teen nights. That's about it I can count on one hand the number of times in my life we have gotten into single digits.

I can live with some issues on the colder mornings if I had too. I'd run a thermac which might help.

But what happens when I need to make a run over the pass in the winter, I'm either going to be coming back loaded or towing my trailer. The last thing I want to do is to be up on the pass or on the east side with the trailer in bad weather and the truck won't run right. If I had a good used Vortec fall into my lap, would I install it, you bet. Roller cam is very appealing though. As would the power increase. If I knew someone with a carbed vortec and could drive it around for a bit that might help too.

No LS for me. Not my thing. I work on those at the shop and have zero interest in owning one.

 

[Frankenchevy]

You must be registered for see images attach

I am not entirely sure that the cold weather issue will be much of a problem.
After all, people are using the hot ticket Air Gap manifolds now a days.
Those do not have the exhaust crossover either.
But how many of those are driven when the weather is cold and gross?

You must be registered for see images attach

On my old Nova there was no choke, so it took a bit to warm up for a decent idle.
I drove the car through all types of weather with no issues.
But those heads had the exhaust passage in them, so perhaps that is not a comparable engine.

On my '54 I will use a simple electronic pump until I spring for a new tank that has provisions for running an in tank pump system.

You must be registered for see images attach

For the heads on my car, I plan to use these offerings from AFR.
They are the inexpensive Enforcer series aluminum heads, again like the stock Vortec head not having the exhaust crossover. I will just have to be patient if I want to drive it in colder weather to wait for it to get some heat into the heads and intake. Not to far off of how I warm up my litte 1600cc aircooled engine in my '73 bug before we take off for some driving.

You must be registered for see images attach

My vortec ran really well 9-10 months out of the year, but would spit and sputter for 20 minutes late Dec to early January. It didn’t like any MAT under 40 deg F.

My pro flo 4 could care less though. No fuel through the manifold.

 

[Bextreme04]

For me this is my hang up. I'm in western Wa. but the farm does have some elevation so there are penalty of winter mornings that start out in the upper 20's, we typically see a few upper teen nights. That's about it I can count on one hand the number of times in my life we have gotten into single digits.

I can live with some issues on the colder mornings if I had too. I'd run a thermac which might help.

But what happens when I need to make a run over the pass in the winter, I'm either going to be coming back loaded or towing my trailer. The last thing I want to do is to be up on the pass or on the east side with the trailer in bad weather and the truck won't run right. If I had a good used Vortec fall into my lap, would I install it, you bet. Roller cam is very appealing though. As would the power increase. If I knew someone with a carbed vortec and could drive it around for a bit that might help too.

No LS for me. Not my thing. I work on those at the shop and have zero interest in owning one.

Best of both worlds would be a vortec block with a nice set of aftermarket iron heads on it like the Summit 165cc runner heads. They are basically a world products head made specially for summit. Less than $800 shipped to your door for fully assembled new heads. You can get a basic roller short block from a yard for dirt cheap and just have the cam reground by Delta Camshaft in Tacoma for $140 shipped to your door. I bet you could have a good roller ~300hp truck motor built that way for $1500 or so.

Edit: forgot to add the link to the heads
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-152123/make/chevrolet

 

[SirRobyn0]

Best of both worlds would be a vortec block with a nice set of aftermarket iron heads on it like the Summit 165cc runner heads. They are basically a world products head made specially for summit. Less than $800 shipped to your door for fully assembled new heads. You can get a basic roller short block from a yard for dirt cheap and just have the cam reground by Delta Camshaft in Tacoma for $140 shipped to your door. I bet you could have a good roller ~300hp truck motor built that way for $1500 or so.

Edit: forgot to add the link to the heads
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-152123/make/chevrolet

Interesting thought. If you haven't already check out my valve stem seal thread, to summarize, it's not valve stem seals, and I'm gonna need a motor. I maybe have to limp this one for a while though.

 

[Catbox]

For me this is my hang up. I'm in western Wa. but the farm does have some elevation so there are penalty of winter mornings that start out in the upper 20's, we typically see a few upper teen nights. That's about it I can count on one hand the number of times in my life we have gotten into single digits.

I can live with some issues on the colder mornings if I had too. I'd run a thermac which might help.

But what happens when I need to make a run over the pass in the winter, I'm either going to be coming back loaded or towing my trailer. The last thing I want to do is to be up on the pass or on the east side with the trailer in bad weather and the truck won't run right. If I had a good used Vortec fall into my lap, would I install it, you bet. Roller cam is very appealing though. As would the power increase. If I knew someone with a carbed vortec and could drive it around for a bit that might help too.

No LS for me. Not my thing. I work on those at the shop and have zero interest in owning one.

You can also simply use the bottom end of the Vortec engine.
Then run a set of heads that has the exhaust crossover.

The cold issue should only be an issue on first start up.
After that the engine will come up to operating temperature and everything including the intake would be the same.

My VW originally had a single center mounted carb and the stock intake manifold that had exhaust crossovers on it to keep the intake from icing up.

When I switched over to dual carbs, the crossover was no longer a thing.
My new intakes are just swinging in the wind.
I drove this car every day of the year, any where I would go including freezing temps and snow.

It would only have the cool issues when warming up.
After running for a few minutes it was warm enough that it would run like a champ.
I suspect the same to be true for a V8.

I am not worried about it at all.
Perhaps a touch longer to warm it up with my foot on the pedal to elevate the initial start up rpm until it was able to sustain an idle on its own.
Just like my old Nova and the little VW.

 

[AuroraGirl]

You can also simply use the bottom end of the Vortec engine.
Then run a set of heads that has the exhaust crossover.

The cold issue should only be an issue on first start up.
After that the engine will come up to operating temperature and everything including the intake would be the same.

My VW originally had a single center mounted carb and the stock intake manifold that had exhaust crossovers on it to keep the intake from icing up.

When I switched over to dual carbs, the crossover was no longer a thing.
My new intakes are just swinging in the wind.
I drove this car every day of the year, any where I would go including freezing temps and snow.

It would only have the cool issues when warming up.
After running for a few minutes it was warm enough that it would run like a champ.
I suspect the same to be true for a V8.

I am not worried about it at all.
Perhaps a touch longer to warm it up with my foot on the pedal to elevate the initial start up rpm until it was able to sustain an idle on its own.
Just like my old Nova and the little VW.

THERMAC and heated Qjet grids... lol

 

[SirRobyn0]

You can also simply use the bottom end of the Vortec engine.
Then run a set of heads that has the exhaust crossover.

The cold issue should only be an issue on first start up.
After that the engine will come up to operating temperature and everything including the intake would be the same.

My VW originally had a single center mounted carb and the stock intake manifold that had exhaust crossovers on it to keep the intake from icing up.

When I switched over to dual carbs, the crossover was no longer a thing.
My new intakes are just swinging in the wind.
I drove this car every day of the year, any where I would go including freezing temps and snow.

It would only have the cool issues when warming up.
After running for a few minutes it was warm enough that it would run like a champ.
I suspect the same to be true for a V8.

I am not worried about it at all.
Perhaps a touch longer to warm it up with my foot on the pedal to elevate the initial start up rpm until it was able to sustain an idle on its own.
Just like my old Nova and the little VW.

Honestly I agree that all of your thoughts here seem logical. However I know a guy not in this state that has a carbed vortec and claims it'll run badly at idle after a run on the highway cool temps. Of course I can't see his setup from here, but I do know he's a pretty sharp guy.

The other thing that gets me is for example I had a Toyota pickup with 20R in it at one point, and the intake manifold was not heated in that thing in anyway. It did fine in freezing weather.

I owned a 70's RV on a Dodge chassis, and blocked off the cross over in that thing because it liked to vapor lock and percolate in the summer. It ran fine in the cold.

And I'm anal about cold runabilty.

IDK, Just because it seems logical doesn't always mean it works out that way.

THERMAC and heated Qjet grids... lol

Without a doubt I'd have a thermac on it, just because it helps use less choke. I would not hesitate on a heating grid either.

 

[rich weyand]

Easiest is to replace what you have like-for-like. Also least costly. I bought the GM crate engine and recammed it for more torque. Torque is what you drive and what you notice when you drive. You can find the threads on my recamming experiences here pretty easily.
Couple things that make a huge difference: tune the carb properly with an AFR meter, and use a thermostatic air cleaner with cold air induction.

 

[cstew47]

I don't understand why anybody would go with another 350 for a replacement. For a small incremental price you can have a 383 stroker with a significant increase in torque. It all fits in the same space and uses the same accessory set.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I don't understand why anybody would go with another 350 for a replacement. For a small incremental price you can have a 383 stroker with a significant increase in torque. It all fits in the same space and uses the same accessory set.

To be fair, on the same topic, aftermarket or replacement transmissions from GM could be in someones price range too if they are either looking to build a more modern one or if they have a special need. But if you were keeping a th350, th400 its probably not a good deal.
But good point on 383

 

[cstew47]

To be fair, on the same topic, aftermarket or replacement transmissions from GM could be in someones price range too if they are either looking to build a more modern one or if they have a special need. But if you were keeping a th350, th400 its probably not a good deal.
But good point on 383

Agreed. I have always favored the 700r4 or the 4l60, but, I'm old school. It's great to be able to put in low rear gears and still be comfortable on the highway.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Agreed. I have always favored the 700r4 or the 4l60, but, I'm old school. It's great to be able to put in low rear gears and still be comfortable on the highway.

You must be registered for see images attach

no idea cost but here is a good example

 

[cstew47]

You must be registered for see images attach

no idea cost but here is a good example

That is overkill for that engine. The 4l60 will handle about 350-400HP

 

[AuroraGirl]

That is overkill for that engine. The 4l60 will handle about 350-400HP

ik lol