need help..what do need to get 300

Hey everyone. I'm stumped. I got decent amount of money to drop on my 350 in the 79Z with the goal of breaking 300 horses. I thought I had the right setup, but a compcams rep told me it was more like 270-280rwhp. Heres the setup I was gonna get.

Upgraded vortec heads~up to .550 lift
Eddy Performer intake(willing to go up to airgap)
Eddy AVS 650cfm carb
XE 268 compcam(recommended to me by compcam rep)

I currently have headers, true dual exhaust. Th350 tranny. 3.42 gears.
I've read every article in my "vortec searches". Learned alot over the past 2 months, but I seem to have a hole or holes in the equation. Sorry if I sound like I want you guys to do the work,thats not the case it's just that I've seriously read dozens of articles and tons of threads on all these questions and still not sure were the problem is.

Note this is still gonna be a (10-20 miles) daily driver. Don't mind sacrificing fuel mileage, but don't wanna get too crazy. Is this asking for too much? Let me have it fellas, I can handle the truth. :crying: j/k But any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Get a big ram air setup, if you still have a stock intake you are kinda shooting yourself in the foot. =)

If you already have an aftermarket exhaust start unbolting AC n stuff.

Wiring setup, bigger fuel injectors, bigger carb

That's not really the path I was looking at going down. A little to over the top for my taste. No a/c, proly should mention I'm in Las Vegas. Trying to keep it more traditonal as opposed to ram-air, nitrous, blowers...Thanks for the reply though.

Get a big ram air setup, if you still have a stock intake you are kinda shooting yourself in the foot. =)

If you already have an aftermarket exhaust start unbolting AC n stuff.

Wiring setup, bigger fuel injectors, bigger carb


unbolting AC won't give you any power increase. All it does is free up some room under the hood and make for a hot car to drive around in.

all I can say is more compression.

with the vortec heads I was told it would be about 9:1 compression. What do I need and how would I get it..boring it out a little?

Thx Hypi, I never knew that... =)

Well do you have a factory intake or a aftermarket?

with the vortec heads I was told it would be about 9:1 compression. What do I need and how would I get it..boring it out a little?


dome pistons, smaller combustion chamber heads, thinner gasket.

You have the intake and carb setup for it. what is your cam? What ammount of timing are you running? 9:1 is kind of low. I would look into doing timing accually, you not too far off of 300. hell your could be a bit rich or what not. You have over 300 flywheel HP. Just not at the wheels.

right now i got a stock, but I'm gonna get a performer or the air gap depending on what everybody recommends.

Get a nice K&N CAI intake and you should hit 300 with all the headers/exhaust and everything, your car can't get in enough air thru the stock since it is very suffocating. Its like 250-300$ You'll definately see an improvement.

the cam would be the XE 268,supposedly, (268in 280ex; 224in. and 230ex. @.050; 110 lsa) matched with a 2200 stall. Now by timing you mean adjusting it? Well, is 300rwhp asking for too much?

right now i got a stock, but I'm gonna get a performer or the air gap depending on what everybody recommends.


OHH I thought you already had that. Yea, get that and you will see your 300 WHP.


Xeno. He has a 79Z. the air intake is a huge aircleaner on top of the carburator. I don't think they have a CAI for them. Cowel induction hood would be cool.

OHH I thought you already had that. Yea, get that and you will see your 300 WHP.


Xeno. He has a 79Z. the air intake is a huge aircleaner on top of the carburator. I don't think they have a CAI for them. Cowel induction hood would be cool.


..Slap some PVC and duct tape on it... Voila! Jp, good call Hypsi.

Get a bigger carb. More air in - more hp

Bigger fuel injectors too.

..Slap some PVC and duct tape on it... Voila! Jp, good call Hypsi.

Get a bigger carb. More air in - more hp

Bigger fuel injectors too.

Carbed cars do not have fuel injectors. That is the difference between a throttle body and a carb.

=\ You are really starting to annoy me with all your 'correct answer' bullshit you know....









jp =)

Hey everyone. I'm stumped. I got decent amount of money to drop on my 350 in the 79Z with the goal of breaking 300 horses. I thought I had the right setup, but a compcams rep told me it was more like 270-280rwhp. Heres the setup I was gonna get.

Upgraded vortec heads~up to .550 lift
Eddy Performer intake(willing to go up to airgap)
Eddy AVS 650cfm carb
XE 268 compcam(recommended to me by compcam rep)

I currently have headers, true dual exhaust. Th350 tranny. 3.42 gears.
I've read every article in my "vortec searches". Learned alot over the past 2 months, but I seem to have a hole or holes in the equation. Sorry if I sound like I want you guys to do the work,thats not the case it's just that I've seriously read dozens of articles and tons of threads on all these questions and still not sure were the problem is.

Note this is still gonna be a (10-20 miles) daily driver. Don't mind sacrificing fuel mileage, but don't wanna get too crazy. Is this asking for too much? Let me have it fellas, I can handle the truth. :crying: j/k But any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Xeno... http://www.njfboa.org/forums/images/smiles/STFUsign.gif

Xeno... http://www.njfboa.org/forums/images/smiles/STFUsign.gif


:lol2: After you big mouth.

<----------- *gettin the ban stick ready*

you guys either need to start playin nice or your going... Seeing this in everythread is getting on my nerves. I have tried to be nice about it but, enough with the flaming already

Get back on topic please.

Hypsi87

get those heads worked over, port n polish, and mill em down a bit to raise the compression. that cam seems a bit small to me too.

did u say u had the work done already and a rep told u it didnt have 300hp? if that is correct have u had it dynoed yet? having certain set ups will give u a good guess to how much power u got but because every car is different yours may have took to the upgrades better than others. you may have 300 already. seeing that u are a airforce guy like myself (retired) i would hook up with some of them jet engine techs and see about custom making some stuff. i have a guy here in tampa who is a helicopter tech and his engine has shit in it i couldnt name. people joke about it all the time but aircraft techs do some crafty shit, take it from a guy who has 2 yrs of that under my belt before i decided to be a cop. get that car on a dyno and see what it is realy running.

did u say u had the work done already and a rep told u it didnt have 300hp? if that is correct have u had it dynoed yet? having certain set ups will give u a good guess to how much power u got but because every car is different yours may have took to the upgrades better than others. you may have 300 already. seeing that u are a airforce guy like myself (retired) i would hook up with some of them jet engine techs and see about custom making some stuff. i have a guy here in tampa who is a helicopter tech and his engine has shit in it i couldnt name. people joke about it all the time but aircraft techs do some crafty shit, take it from a guy who has 2 yrs of that under my belt before i decided to be a cop. get that car on a dyno and see what it is realy running.


Get us some pics =)

Yeah, we can tell you dont know what your talking about xeno ;)

About the CAI for a carbed car, they have the CAI that go on the nose of the aircleaner, but thats mostly for a stock air cleaner (the one thats closed on the sides)

because every car is different yours may have took to the upgrades better than others.

true. I was suprised today when I watched Horsepower TV. they dyno'd an LS1 with headers and catback and it only came up with 280hp. Ofcoarse, they added a little juice and got it up to like 350-360hp. But I was shocked to see an LS1 with full header-back exhaust only getting 280. They did pretty much the same stuff to their "LS-GUN" and got 300hp even. (no Nitrous) same engine, different results. Screw that rep, man. He's just trying to sell you more stuff.

im telling you guys. i think i told u about my 2 friends with the same year ws6's, they did the same upgrades, and the same person did the work on both cars...real good work not half assed, and one car put down 597 and the other did 540. needless to say from that point on the higher hp car took very well to its upgrades and the other isnt at all. and the kicker is nobody including our engine builder can find anything wrong with the other car at all. i said it once ill say it again; its all in the day your car rolled down that line. u could have had your car built on a day where the guys at the plant all went out and got lucky with some fine ass chicks, or it could have been made on a day when the crew got toasted and had a bad day. it sucks but that ls1 story that put out a 280 car is the perfect example. hell thats almost running what a lt1 is.

oh and xeno since his car isnt at the shop i cant snap a pic just yet, ill have to wait for him to bring her to the track, hes not done with the car just yet, we found out today something went wrong with his set up and its being worked out. im not sure if u ever seen what a nitrous engine looks like but its wild as hell. u have all these little lines running through what look like co2 cartridges. and what he did was custom make his lines and they bridge over his throttle body. it stands out and from what he told me he got the idea from how a helicopter engine looks like. plus he has done some other stuff that i havent the clue what it is