Hey everyone, I have a 1971 Chevy Monte Carlo with a small block 350 that I bought about 6 years ago. I always had the idea of dropping a larger engine in it when I got older. Recently when talking to my mechanic, he mentioned that I would be better off to just bore out the motor I have. Any advice or previous experience with this project??

 

if your going to pay to have the motor built i would say it would be more cost effective to get a crate motor for it.

 

You could bore it out to make it larger essentially... Or drop a larger motor in there. Tons of things can be done with 350's. Just a few decent gaining mods off the top of my head - big aftermarket cam, this is just an example - 750 carburator, different heads. If you want to throw some nitrous on it, go for it. Don't rule out boost either.

 

the bottle is for babys imo. (nitrous) i had a small block 350, done right, and she put away a 66 corvette with a 427 in her. the 350 i had was bored .060 over, a nice cam, quadra jet, headers and 2 1/2 exust, eldalbrook manifold and heads. there was a bunch more done to her but it was awhile ago ill have to ask my father and post again all he did to her. but i would stick with the 350 couse there is power to get out of em while saving the weight of say a 454.

 

If I was going to do it on a budget, assuming the motor ran fine.

Options:
1. Start with headers, small block headers will fit most small blocks
---a. upgrade cam
---b. upgrade intake
---c. shift kit for tranny
2. buy a crate motor
---a. install said crate motor

Crate engine places.

http://www.cmengines.com/Engines/Per...3/Default.aspx
http://www.crateenginedepot.com/stor...ngines-C2.aspx
http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_..._rpm_410.shtml

you can buy a crate motor for a decent price and would cost little to nothing to have installed, I would still suggest the headers first, you will want them after wards.

 

I would keep the 350, and do some of the mods mentioned above. There is SO much aftermarket support for the GM 350.

 

heyy! welcome to the forum!

 

yha, you should try to stick with the 350, even more so if its got the 4 bolt main whatever the heck they are called, lol. TONS of aftermarket stuff avalible for 'em, for any budget. go to a few swap meets for the real bargens. try to find a set of "fulie heads", get a good cam, headers, a good intake / carb combo..... they are SO simple to build, & can make a ton of power

 

heads,intake,carb,cam,headers,some freeflow exhaust, carb spacer gf's dad had a 350 punched to a 355 with a set of dart head edlebrock intake luniti(idk if thats how u spell it) i donno the specs of

 

cam but it wasn't crazy, 750 carb with a supersucker carb spacer.. at the dyno 415 hp at the flywheel...never had it on a chassis dyno so i don't have the whp