Fakser

Finally, the time has come to assemble my 355 SBO. This is a happy time in my house because for the last year I have been saving and buying parts here and there, hiding cash from the wife, stealing from my kids piggy bank, eating smaller lunches, bumming rides to work, hooking on the street, and the toughest of all I did not buy one boxing pay per view this year.

Ok so this is my build and feel free to critique, no thin skins here I value other peoples opinion. I have a 71 Cutlass S am rebuilding the rear end at a later date with 3.42's so keep that in mind because it currently has the R2 code on the axle shaft granny 2.56 I try and keep a good attitude by telling my friends it's better fuel economy.

350 bored .030 355, block decked .015 somebody overheated it before I got it.
#5 Heads minor port and polish job (and that takes a long time if you haven't done it had to buy an electric die grinder at Harbor Freight because my 60 gallon compressor was taking a beating)
#2711 Performer intake Edelbrock type
#1406 Performer carb
Icon forged aluminum flat top pistons 4.087 purchased from Mondellos ( I know a lot of you guys don't like them but I live in the same town and Junior is prior military and I am Active Duty in the Army so we get along and he treats me right....I don't know why I feel the need to justify this?)
Comp roller tip rockers
Engle cam int .488 ex .496 216, 225, 112 purchased at Mondello JM 18-20
1 3/4 long tubes
No A/C
HV oil pump
Melling moly rings
and some Royal Purple max tuff assembly lube to glue it all together.

I'm gonna post pics when I'm done and let you all know how the build goes

Wish me luck!


Poutine!!!!!!!! haha thats still funny........or is it just me

cutlassefi

To my knowledge the small block Icons aren't out yet, are you sure that's what you have? Are they maybe Probes? Got any pix? If so they are a good piston.
That cam is noisy, I had the same one. But you already bought it so....
I'd do the RPM intake instead of the regular one.

Otherwise sounds fine.

Fakser

Yup they are Icon the story given to me was that Lynn set up an "exclusive deal" I know Junior was trying to pump up the product I mean thats his job but he told me then my machine shop who is familiar with Mondello's also said that he knew Lynn had worked out that deal also. Junior said the PR in the casting was for Paso Robles the city name that Mondellos is located. When I brought them to the machine shop to have my pins pressed Hap (from Hap's Auto Machine Shop, now called Pioneer machine shop enjoy the retirement) puled out the piston and gave me the same story without me telling him anything.

captjim

Well thought out combo, couple of thoughts;
I agree with Mark, the RPM is a better choice.
The carb is too small.
No need for the HV oil pump.
Degree the cam, use a Cloyes timing set.
Upgrade the converter.

Fakser

Well we have hit a snag, got the crank installed plastigagued the journals and all was good. I was getting a good rhythm going and went to install the first piston, it slid in easy then turn the crank and heard the scraping. The top oil ring popped up and folded along the side and put a minor scrape in the cylinder. I probably didn't need to but I have a lot of cash invested in this engine so I took it to the machine shop for a hone just to be safe, I refuse to put together an engine that is questionable I tell my soldiers bad work bites you in the *** and gives your wife that ammo she needed to back up her favorite line of "are you sure you know what you'e doing?"

I had been mulling the idea of the RPM intake and will probably go that direction I bought the performer from O'reilly so I can return it. As for the carb I have heard both sides of the coin I don't have a lot of experience with olds engines and haven't done any performance builds but 750 seems like a lot for this size motor.

Any recommendation for converter stall? The cam keeps lift under .050 and recommends 1000 I was thinking 1500 is where it should be.

As far as timing set I got a double roller from Mondello I'm not sure of the brand but it doesn't look like cloyes.

Will degree the cam I have an Isky degree wheel and I'll bring a magnetic clamp home from work to get the timing set.

Thanks for the input guys I appreciate it

380 Racer

x2

Run to Rund

If you are using the stock 4 quart oil pan, I would prefer a standard volume oil pump. I'd recommend either a bigger pan or the standard pump. With the size cam you picked, you won't be going over 5000 rpm anyway, so the stock pump with stock pan is fine.

TripDeuces

I like your choices and disagree on using the RPM. That is a small cam and carb but very streetable for your combination. Most stock converters stall around 1300 anyway so you might think more in the 2000-2200 range. Run to Rund has a point about the HV pump. GL with your combo.

I don't know what the compression ratio will be with those pistons. Anyone know? CR and cam need to be matched together

captjim

Cr should be around 10 to 1, +/-. I had the 16-18 cam, one size smaller, in a 9 to 1 engine with a 2600 converter, worked great. Stock 350s came with a 750 CFM carb, IMO 600 is too small for a mildly modded engine. IMO, Olds engines "like" big carbs.

P.S., the only real advantage to the HV pump, IMO, is the bolt-on pickup.

deejai35

Fakser, thanks for sharing. I am working on an SBO 355 and gathering similar input. I am stashing parts now too. I haven't hit the kids' piggy banks yet... good idea.

cutlassefi

A lot of misconception when it comes to carbs.
You can't compare the fact that they came with a "750" vs today's stuff. With the small primaries that carb acts smaller.
GM inventoried as few carbs as possible, that's why they put them on everything, besides the small primaries.
That same size carb went on a lot of stuff, from 307's to 400's. They put Holley 780's on 302 chevies, the same carb they put on early big blocks. Guess why? Part of the reason is they had it in the shelf.
I'd do a 670 street avenger or similar, the rpm and with the 10:1, a larger cam than you have.

Jmo.

rhett838

I want to boost my 350, but I don't know where to start, but I think I'll be using your setup as a blueprint.

I get lost at the cam and the heads. I can't find heads that fit a sbo 350, so what do you do just grind out the original heads a bit?

There's also so many different variations and brands of cams I don't know where to start.

I'm just lookin to get a little umph when I hit the gas.

I'll continue to research.

380 Racer

Mark, this is one thing we disagree on. A 350 needs a 750, be it vac secondary or dbl pumper. This is from results on a drag strip and of course my opinion.

cutlassefi

Agreed, but with that Mondello cam, which has minimal off the seat time, I'd be hard pressed to believe you'd see much of a difference between a 670 Holley and 750 Qjet.

Jmo

Fakser

Well I didn't share the intent of the engine at the beginning of the thread, this car is for my son to drive during high school so I'm not making it a racer or anything to leave everyone behind (lord knows a dumbass teenager doesn't need too much horsepower). My choice on the cam was because it would be noisy and that would give him the cool guy factor. I pocket ported and polished because I knew one day he would come to me and say " hey dad I have a friend that can port and polish my heads" (all dumbass teenagers believe in their dumbass friends).
I'm gonna stay with my setup for now and pump it up with the carb and intake as rewards during school.

Great advice though I have a 69 on deck after this one gets done and I'm thinking of going all out on that one.

I'm gonna paint this thing budget flat black out of a Hot Rod magazine article because I'm sure my son will scratch it all up before he realizes it is a super cool car. If he makes it into a good college I'll get him a good paint job or if he gets into a college in the San Francisco area I'll buy him a Pious Prius! to fit in with the muckity mucks!