ok its just about crate engine time need a little advice ive been thinking about a zz4 because of the simplicity as ling with pretty decent numbers. give your opinion if not the zz4 what? remember Its gotta be under $4,000 total cost

 

I always say that it depends on what you want to do in the future. The ZZ4 comes mostly with Powered Metal internal components (ex: pushrods, connecting rods). This leaves things limited when it comes to major future modifications (ex: forced induction) because it already has 10.0:1 compression.

If you keep it simple with bolt on's such as headers or a nice carb, the HP and TQ numbers can really get up there. However, you can only peak so high.

What are your future plans with it???

Nick

 

keeping it simple nothing dramatic it has to be a daily driver

 

Then I say def go with the ZZ4. The engine is reliable, affordable and can provide plenty of power. It also gives you the opprotunity to get much more HP and TQ with a few blot on's. Of course, I am totally biased with this engine because I have one myself.

I am very happy with my ZZ4 purchase.

Nick

 

then what would be a good crate engine for forced induction?

 

http://www.wheelermotorsports.net/en...83/prices.html

Get one of those 350 or 383 motors, much cheaper and better parts, then put some decent heads on it. GM's crate motor is good, but not the best for the price.

 

i have ZZ3 with Air Flow Research 190 ST heads for sale if you are interested its in the parts for sale section

 

nice

 

Son ,can you say HEMI! J/K

Sorry couldn't resist.

 

Just out of curiousity has anybody built a Fuel Injected ZZ4 i'm thinking about replacing my 305 with it in the near future and I wanted to keep the FI. But if I absolutely have to go Carb which one should I get.

 

If you can do some PROM tuning, you can run FI on the ZZ4. I have seen a factory TPI get used with some tuning. The cam is more geared for carb'd applications, but with tuning, that can be overcome. A simple cam swap and you can do bolt ons for the most part with EFI. Well bolt ons in terms of parts juet getting bolted on, i.e. - intake.

As for a good crate for forced induction, personally, if it were my future engine, "crate" and "forced induction" don't go in the same sentence. If I'm going FI, i want to customize the engine around whatever i am going with.

 

What do you guys think of the 350 H.O. Crate Engine? Is it worth my money? I'm not going to be ready to do this until next spring so i'm just kind of getting an Idea as to what i'm going to need. I'm going for the deluxe version just to save money and so I can put my own personal touch on the motor. I think i'll go with a carb this time since everybody seems to swear by it and their dyno numbers don't lie. After driving with this TBI 305 since november i'm ready for a change. Sorry to hijack the thread and thanks for your opinions.

 

I was going to suggest the HO. While also not particularly suited to forced induction it'll make a great budget daily driver. And I'm of the opinion that it's 330hp rating is conservative (so as to not overshadow the ZZ4 for cheaper), at least if you outfit it with headers and a decent intake. CarCraft or CHP recently took one, with headers, a Performer RPM intake w/ Holley 750, standard HEI distrib, etc, and made 370hp... They started with the deluxe HO, but unfortunately didn't dyno it with the GM intake setup I don't believe, instead using the rated power as their "baseline". That was a big fat copout IMO, would have liked to see how it performed straight from the factory (I only have the second part of this series, so maybe they did detail more on the deluxe engine with no mods, the wording in this article I've got makes it sound like they didn't truly baseline it though... )

Anyway the thing to do to me seems to be start with the base HO for around $2400, add some good aftermarket intake/induction parts and you'll have a strong performer for pretty cheap.... While the ZZ4 does have some better parts in it (forged crank I believe, Hyperuetectic pistons, etc, it's not that much beefier for too much more money. If I were going to spend that kind of dough I'd want forged pistons and better heads than the tired AL L98 heads, etc...) The HO comes with stuff plenty good for a street driven budget setup, 4 bolt main, new nodular iron crankshaft, powdered metal connecting rods, with the main downside being the cast pistons. But at the compression level the engine is at you'll have no problems if you're not chuggin' NO2 or running forced induction...

 

That's the plan it'll be my first motor swap so hopefully everything will go smoothly. Any recommendations on carbs, intake manifolds, and so on and so forth?