I have a 71' Olds 350 that I am about to have rebuilt. It is currently stock with the exception of a performer intake. I believe that stock it is about 260 HP. I would like to get it at least over 300 HP. What can I do in terms of upgrades to get the most HP and torque without spending alot of money?

Basically Im looking for a budget rebuild to just give me maybe the same power as the 68-70 350's... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

I started with the same questions less than a year ago and ended up in "might as well" hell, in the end the best solution for me was to do it complete and do it right. Rebore, flat top pistons, cam w/springs, lifters, moly rings, valve guides, seals, rockers, push rods, check block, heads (magniflux), crank turned, a complete bearing kit (con rods, crank, cam), felpro gasket kit w/valley pan gasket, oil pump, water pump. I may have missed a few items, but in the end it cost me about $2K in parts and machining, I did all the work myself except for the machining...farming out the assembly I'm guessing would be around $1k. I'm not sure if this would be in your budget, but if your going to open up the motor you "might as well".

 

What kind of performance were you able to get out of the engine horsepower wise?

 

HP wise I'm not sure, it hasn't been on a dyno (yet). My butt dyno tells me that it's up around 300, the torque is amazing though...I'm now contemplating a posi to get all this new found power to the ground. The Comp cams calculator says 315hp/400 torque, but not an exact science.

 

You goals are pretty modest comparitively speaking. Some basic head work and a decent cam should get you there. Just make sure everything you get will work well together.