kmehr
OBS Enthusiast
My ole girl is drinking oil more and more by the day, and as it's my daily driver it's getting closer and closer to time to give her a refresh. Conveniently for my budget, my ole man is getting ready to swap the 355 we built in his 70 El Camino for an LS3. I'm planning on pilfering parts off of it to put in my truck.
Here is what I'm starting with: 1989 K1500 bone stock 350 TBI. 128K on the ticker and its never been opened up. However, when I got it, it had been sitting for three years and before that was a farm truck for 15 years, so the miles probably don't tell the full story on the engine wear. compression is pretty low at around 110 psi on all cylinders. I'm running roughly 32in tires with 3.42 gears, combine that with living at 6,200 feet above see level, it gets pretty out of breath on the grades, and really struggles when I'm up in the mountains.
I'm wanting 1) to refresh the old girl, 2) give it some more juice, particularly low end torque for hwy cruising and to be able to keep the 3.42s and 3) keep it really reliable, 4) not spend a zillion dollars. I'm not interested in changing gears as it's nice to have those on the interstate doing 80mph, and I've done a couple gear swaps before and man what a headache.
My plan is to use the 355 from the El Camino, but swap the cam and put FiTech fuel injection kit on it. The 355 is in really good shape- the short block probably only has 10,000 miles on it since rebuild. It's got Edlebrock E-Tech 170 heads, performer RPM intake manifold, and a hydraulic roller cam. The cam on it is a high RPM cam so it won't work for my truck as it only starts to make power around 2700 RPMs.
I'm looking to keep the roller rockers, lifters and go with either the comp CS X4 258HR-11 grind, or the GM performance 7395 grind (I think thats the ramjet cam?). I'm leaning towards the comp cam, what do yall think?
Right now I've got a Magnaflow Cat and single 2.5in exhaust on the truck. Upgrade to headers and a better cross over pipe? What do yall recommend?
I'm guessing this combo would put me around 325hp and slightly more than that in torque? What do I need to do to my 700R4 to keep it together?
Here is what I'm starting with: 1989 K1500 bone stock 350 TBI. 128K on the ticker and its never been opened up. However, when I got it, it had been sitting for three years and before that was a farm truck for 15 years, so the miles probably don't tell the full story on the engine wear. compression is pretty low at around 110 psi on all cylinders. I'm running roughly 32in tires with 3.42 gears, combine that with living at 6,200 feet above see level, it gets pretty out of breath on the grades, and really struggles when I'm up in the mountains.
I'm wanting 1) to refresh the old girl, 2) give it some more juice, particularly low end torque for hwy cruising and to be able to keep the 3.42s and 3) keep it really reliable, 4) not spend a zillion dollars. I'm not interested in changing gears as it's nice to have those on the interstate doing 80mph, and I've done a couple gear swaps before and man what a headache.
My plan is to use the 355 from the El Camino, but swap the cam and put FiTech fuel injection kit on it. The 355 is in really good shape- the short block probably only has 10,000 miles on it since rebuild. It's got Edlebrock E-Tech 170 heads, performer RPM intake manifold, and a hydraulic roller cam. The cam on it is a high RPM cam so it won't work for my truck as it only starts to make power around 2700 RPMs.
I'm looking to keep the roller rockers, lifters and go with either the comp CS X4 258HR-11 grind, or the GM performance 7395 grind (I think thats the ramjet cam?). I'm leaning towards the comp cam, what do yall think?
Right now I've got a Magnaflow Cat and single 2.5in exhaust on the truck. Upgrade to headers and a better cross over pipe? What do yall recommend?
I'm guessing this combo would put me around 325hp and slightly more than that in torque? What do I need to do to my 700R4 to keep it together?
