checy 350 guys

Hey hows it going fellas. I was wondering if you guys might be able to help me with getting some more HP on my 350. I actually have a '79 Z28, but I know that there are alot of similarites under the hoods. Surprisingly enough i wasn't able to get any good answers at the camaro forum. I have a Rochester Q-jet,some headers and dual exhaust but with glass packs. Any suggestions would be a real help. I heard you could swap some 69-72 heads and get a decent boost, but I need someone to verify if this is true. My budget is about a 1,200 dollars. Little stuff or big I'm open to any suggestions/tips. Thanks fellas, keep up the good work.

Well, unfortunately, you have one of the lowest HP 350s that were ever built. About 170 horse. You are heading in the right direction with the exhaust modifications. The problem is that the heads have large combustion chambers (76 c.c.) And the pistons have a rather deep dish. This makes your compression fall through the floor. If I had 1200 dollars to spend, I would invest in a set of Vortec heads. (approx. $500.) I would get an aluminum, dual plane , vortec , intake manifold. (Approx. $200.) Then I would take the rest & put it into the rearend. Get about a 3.55 to 1 gear ratio & if you don't have a posi unit get an after market one. If you were going to tear the engine down, install some flat topped pistons. While it was down you could have it bored .030 over. The overbore would not gain much at all in horsepower but would insure that the bores were not tapered or out of round. Well, we are quickly running out of your 1200 dollars. Those changes will liven up that 350 for sure. Jon

Yeah, I didn't even know that mine was so weak until about last week, veeeerry disappointing. If i do get these vortec heads an dmanifold I assume there a specific kind of carb i need to get? Thanks for the great responses guys, very informative and detailed!

It won't be necessary to get a new carb. Get a manifold that is designed for a spreadbore carb. Most manifolds have dual bolt patterns to accommidate different carbs. You can also get an adaptor plate to go from a squarebore manifold to a spreadbore carb. The plate may cause clearance problems with your hood though. If the quad is in good working order, it will be fine. Jon