Hey Guys,

Well, I was in the process of building a 355, and I was just going to wait to put the heads and cam on that, but I am on a college students budget and I realized that if I wait to get the money to finish the 355 I might not have it done for at least 1 more year.

I have everything I need for the heads & cam except the timing chain, and I can take care of that any time.

The motor seems sound, and I have no reason to beleive it is in anything but the best condition possible, but still I was just a little worried that 105K might be a little late to do the swap. I would still finsh the bottom end and have it in by next winter or spring, but this way I could actually get some power out of the car for the summer.

Let me know if I should just wait or if there would be no real problem with swaping them on now and running on the stock bottom end for the next year.

Oh, and if it matters, the car that this combo was last on made 370 RWHP and 385 RWTQ with a so-so tune, so I am expecting a little more on top of that. I know that there are a lot of stock bottom end cars making that kind of power with no real problems, but again...just a little worried about the mileage.

Let me know what ya think.

Thanks,
Eric

 

Do a compression check first. If ok I'd go ahead and install it. Buddy of mine just did heads and cam and he has around 109k miles. He's running heads, cam, NX 150 shot on the 109k stock shortblock. 11.10's @ 121+. So if the engine is ok I say go for it.

 

your just breaking the engine in at those miles...there are guys on here with ALOT more miles and doing cams and heads...the bottom end is strong

 

I just did mild heads and 224/230 after I blew the headgaskets, 125,000+ on the clock and still running strong. Lotsa pop coming through those long tubes

 

I had around a 112k when I swapped mine out, it now has 115k and still running strong. made 447rwhp 470 rwtq on the spray.

 

Did mine with 103k on the clock. Sitting at 116k now and all is well.

 

Just had my black car done with the 224/230 and heads over the summer. 107K miles at installation. Still had cross hatching on the cylinder walls. Go for it!!!!

 

Sounds good guys!

I will still be spraying a 100 shot...maybe 150, but it looks like you guys are all having good luck, and after some research it seems like there are quite a few other too.

Like I said, it will only be for a year or so, so I should be fine!

I'll do a compression check 1st to be sure. What numbers should I be looking for?

Thanks,
Eric

 

i did mine at about 200,000 miles but it only lasted 10,000 miles cause i bent a rod....

 

I did my heads and cam at 125k, I'm at 133k now with no problems. I wouldn't recommend putting any spray on top of it though. It might be ok, but personally I wouldn't feel comfortable with it.

 

You were the guy I was talking about.

 

Like I said, it will only be for the next year, which for me is about 6-7 months of driving and at most probably 8000 miles. And I seldom run the spray anyway...a couple times a year at the track and once in a while on the street when there is a pesky competitor that I need to make sure isn't gonna beat me.

 

I've got a pile of customers with 100-150k miles (not easy ones either LOL) on stock shortblocks & making in excess of 470hp SAE without issues. One on this board, Dobe (brian), has rolled 409rw sae ~10k miles after the initial tune where it was blowing quite a bit of smoke. I think he even rolled close to 500rw SAE with a little dope through it.

The stock stuff with good tuning will take more than most people think IMO.

 

I did my heads/cam at 94,000 miles. Cylinder walls still looked great.

Frank

 

143k miles on the bottom end
i got Advanced Induction's ported lt1 heads and their "211" cam 409rwhp and still going and this car is wideopen everytime its driven
only problem i have had witht he bottom end is rings are bout gone and i got plenty of blowby