Towing with sbc 350!!!

[HotWheelsBurban]

About 1997ish I was a work-study at a technical college in an automotive program and the 'local' GM plant donated all their mis-stampings to the school. We went to the motor pool and checked out a '68-72 C10 with a 350. We drove a hundred miles towing a 30' gooseneck trailer with the engine running like crap. We loaded 10,000 lbs of unpainted steel body panels into the trailer and started driving back, 40 mph uphill, 60 mph downhill. Finally the truck start shuddering and banging. We stopped and found the driveshaft wobbling in the carrier bearing, but we also noticed two spark plugs hanging. We got under the hood and reattached two spark plug wires and found a third burned off. The truck ran like a champ on 7 cylinders, but we had to keep the speed down to keep the carrier bearing intact. We made it back just fine.

Twenty-something years later I won't look down my nose at a 350 when it comes to towing. We're too conditioned to think we need a 6+ liter diesel to tow anything heavy.

That's a good ol ' GM truck right there, tow all that with those issues

 

[LVJJJ]

thinking that's my next engine. What about the trans? How's it standing up?
Do you have ballpark specs on the 383?

Haven't been on GMT for a while and just saw this post. Am sitting in travel trailer at Crescent Bar near Qunicy WA, towed over from Blaine Monday which means up and over Stevens Pass. 383 charged up all the hills in third till we got to the last 3 or 4 miles of 6% and pulled it in 2nd, 3700 rpm at about 55 mph. Trans didn't get above 190 and engine hardly got warm. Simply no comparison with the old 350. 4L60e is holding up fine so far and most of driving on I-5 was in 4th and trans temp ran about 150, 383 likes it, so does the tranny.

What's nice is the torque, with the 350, to get started had to get the rpm's way up to get moving so made a lot of noise with little results. With the 383 starts out nice and smooth at low rpms and gets up to speed without making a lot of noise, that's what a stroker is for.. If I want to really get going, I go thru the gears manually and stomp on it in all 4 gears, gets moving quickly that way.

The builder, S&J Engines in Spokane, thought the horsepower would exceed 350, don't know for sure but its got a lot.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Haven't been on GMT for a while and just saw this post. Am sitting in travel trailer at Crescent Bar near Qunicy WA, towed over from Blaine Monday which means up and over Stevens Pass. 383 charged up all the hills in third till we got to the last 3 or 4 miles of 6% and pulled it in 2nd, 3700 rpm at about 55 mph. Trans didn't get above 190 and engine hardly got warm. Simply no comparison with the old 350. 4L60e is holding up fine so far and most of driving on I-5 was in 4th and trans temp ran about 150, 383 likes it, so does the tranny.

What's nice is the torque, with the 350, to get started had to get the rpm's way up to get moving so made a lot of noise with little results. With the 383 starts out nice and smooth at low rpms and gets up to speed without making a lot of noise, that's what a stroker is for.. If I want to really get going, I go thru the gears manually and stomp on it in all 4 gears, gets moving quickly that way.

The builder, S&J Engines in Spokane, thought the horsepower would exceed 350, don't know for sure but its got a lot.

I kinda kick myseld for not building a Dart SHP 4.125" bore stroker for my Express van.