Horsepower suggestions HELP?

Question

hello i have a sbc 350 with a 4 barrel edelbrock carb,new holley intake manifold, shorty headers , RV cam, K&N air filter, Custom exhaust runing through a Flowmaster.. i was just wondering how many horsepower do you all think i have OR If you have any suggestions on what i can do to increase the horses in my engine...

Answer 1

For the most part, the people who say not enough information are correct, assuming they can't accurately answer your current horsepower rating. Recommended knowledge for an accurate guess is compression ratio, piston type, bore size and heads(and probably about a dozen other bits not mentioned). The more info you can provide, the closer someone could get to what you actually have. I could guess 125 hp, or 650, and probably wouldn't be any closer than most of these other people. If you have all the specs for your engine, tolerances, part numbers, etc, desktop dyno will give you a fairly accurate ballpark figure. As far as adding horsepower, about the only thing practical that you did not mention is the ignition system. Check out MSD's website for some ideas on upgrading from stock. A good ignition system can improve an otherwise average engine. I would question your choice of an RV cam, but you made that decision. I would have opted for a different cam, and made the move to roller rockers and lifters, (reduces friction) gone to a timing gear set as opposed to a chain and gears (a little noisier but absolutely no problems with chains stretching or belts breaking) and upgrade to a serpentine belt setup with smaller diameter pulleys to decrease the drag and friction and improve the performance of your accessories (alternator, P/S pump, etc). .A 1' spacer between the carb and manifold aids in better fuel flow, and adding a dual oil filter block allows you to add an extra quart in your crankcase, which means less thermal breakdown if you run high rpm's alot, and keeps the oil a little cleaner longer.

Answer 2

Too little info to make a call. 350 bored? Compression ratio? Cam specs? Size of carb? Type of intake? Head design? etc.... RV cams are generally torque boosters, lower rpm for towing, giving you hp and torque at lower rpm's where you need them when you are towing a load. It is important to match everything, not just throw things together and hope for the best. I would say you are running lower compression, 8.5 or 9:1 assuming you are running on pump gas. At best a dual plane manifold.... I would say roughly 275hp-325 hp. As far as increasing hp... how high/low is your budget? Matching parts doesn't cost any more than mismatched parts. Matching parts could take you up another 100 hp easily if you know what you want. Fine tuning will bring it up more. You can fine tune what you have and probably gain hp without spending too much if anything. If its hp you want, then I would suggest matching the cam and carb/intake setup, and figure in the tire size gear ratio and body weight of the car. Type of tranny effects the way it all works together, so watch that too. Friction steals hp. Free up some hp by going with an electric fan, electric fuel pump and maybe even an electric water pump. Porting and polishing your heads will let the engine breath, and it is something you can do yourself. Roller rockers also gain a little as there is a lot less friction present. Remember, you usually get what you pay for, you pay a cheap price for a cheap part. Not always, because there are good deals out there, look for them. If you run higher than 9:1 compression, look for a water injection system. I have used them in the past and they do work very well. You may need octane booster or a lower rated racing fuel to keep the knock out, racing fuel right now is $6-8 a gallon, octane booster addative will turn your $2.50-3.00 gas into $6 a gallon gas too, so that wouldn't be too practical. Pick up a race type magazine, or just get a book on engines. There are so many free tricks to gaining hp. How can 2 people have a 350 sbc, one having 300 hp and the other 500 hp? Easy, matching parts, knowing a few tricks and putting in a little time. Each engine costs about the same. As far as parts go....

Answer 3

Not enough information dude! You could have form 175 up to 375 or more. Depends on what the block is and the pistons in it. Oh yeah the heads are real important too. Is it a roller engine? Look on the block right behind the alternator there is a little block space that has numbers and letters. Don' worry about the number, it's the letters that tells what the engine is. If I had those I could tell you unless it has been rebuilt. I have a drag car and a drag truck, that I built myself. The car is about 650 hp and the truck is only about 430 give or take. I would suggest you find a website that has a forum on it where you can hang out and learn about hot rods. You can ask a lot of questions there and get what you want to know. They have some like www.maliburacing.com that are real cool. Check some out and you will be really burning rubber before you know it. Lots of parts and things to help you out there. Have fun!

Answer 4

ok its more like 270 hp and the big down fall is that little tiny rv cam thay flat out suck now i under stand wanting torque but them little cams wont rev now i will asume you have stock cast pistons stock rods stock heads if you want a good cam with a cam 106 LCA lobe center line
282deg deration on 108 LDA lobe displacement angel and at least .500 lift find some thing close to this and that will wake it up and this not a cam that worked for me it is what that engine need if you want to know why I think the engine needs to be like this e mail me [e-mail]

Answer 5

Porting and polishing the heads increases horse power. Not sure of the cost though.

Answer 6

just give summit a ring for a catalog or ask for the tech help line
1 330 630 0204

Answer 7

A set of aluminium heads would help. I hear the GM Fast Burn heads are nice.

Answer 8

it sounds close to my Camaro, so i'd say probably 340-370, thats just a estimated guess..
race yaa...