Anyone want to talk Chevy! LOL

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I have a custom 55 Chevy 2dr BelAir hardtop SBC 400 with a 700r4 and 4.11 gears. It runs great, a lot of fun to drive....no wasn't built for gas mileage. I like your idea, clean it up, and let him enjoy it this summer. Sounds like it is a cruise night/car show car. It's would be easy to add a little bling to the engine as you clean it up. A little rattle can paint, chrome valve covers and air cleaner doesn't cost much. He can research, ask around at car shows, and with your help decided what he might want to do, if anything.
 
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For me, if I was upgrading that Camino, as a min. It would be the old boring basic 350/350/3.55’s. Mild cam and basic hot rodder package. Intake, cam etc...

I had a ‘79 S/S ElCamino.
Black w/ red interior.
The 305 in it was smogged down and gutless but it did drive everywhere at anytime for hours on end with decent mileage. Added a set of mufflers and it was all good.
 
Powerglides don't have a low gear. So, most of their applications had lower than normal gears. 3.73 is areal popular Powerglide gear.

Mopar snobs don't know just how closely related the small block Mopar and Chevy are related. They share the same valve arrangement, firing order, distributor rotation and are almost exactly the same size and weight. It's hard to dispute the durability of the first generation Chevy small block. They are fine engines, just like the Mopar small block.
 
Guy had a grand prix,cam,intake,4bbl,headers and 3”exhaust
I think that 267 was slower than before he touched it. Tried to tell him all the bolt ons in the world will not fix the displacement problem.

My brother’s ‘57’ chevy had a mild 350/th350 and 4.10/POSI (i can say that now)
That thing honked!!
 
Tooljunkie said:
I think that 267 was slower than before he touched it. Tried to tell him all the bolt ons in the world will not fix the displacement problem.
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The age old problem!

“I have a Chevy! It’s awesome! It’s great! It doesn’t matter how big it is, it’s a Chevy!”
 
rumblefish360 said:
The age old problem!

“I have a Chevy! It’s awesome! It’s great! It doesn’t matter how big it is, it’s a Chevy!”
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+25 for headers, + 25 for 4bbl, +25 for roller rockers. Chevy math is linear. It's the sum of manufacturer's claims. Just ask the guys with the 500 horse 327's. 435 horse 307 do-able? lol
 
The 307 dont have alot in stock compression so if a cam swap I would say no larger than an RV cam and keep the 4bbl to 600 or less. Chevys run hard when they are kept lean. The Glide and a TH350 will have the same position for the trans mount. The ones I have used on the street like a set of 3.70 gears coupled with a TH350 the shift linkage hookup will also need to be modified for that swap.
 
I had a friend in high school who for a time had the fastest car in school. It was a 70 Nova. When he sold it we were all standin around in his dad's back yard. Guy ran a paint and repair shop from home. He came out and said "that was the fastest 307 I ever built". We all took for granted.......even Jeff who the car belonged to that it was a 350. Had bow tie heads, big tube headers, LT1 intake......all the good stuff. Surprised the heck out of a lot of people.
 
Small displacement SB Chevy engines can be woken up without too much effort. I put a mildly built 262 SBC in my buddy’s 1962 panel truck with 3.90 rear gears. That truck shocked the hell out of a lot of people when they found out what was under the hood.
 
The small displacement blocks will Yodle if you let em. But with a slushbox you may sacrifice top end when you gear it like a tractor. But its sure fun.
 
I can find the pics of my buddy’s ‘62, but it looked a lot like this except with aluminum slots and BFG T/A tires...

39C0DC54-CF17-45C3-8949-0F67D75E7F9C.jpeg
 
ZMan67S said:
I have a custom 55 Chevy 2dr BelAir hardtop SBC 400 with a 700r4 and 4.11 gears. It runs great, a lot of fun to drive....no wasn't built for gas mileage. I like your idea, clean it up, and let him enjoy it this summer. Sounds like it is a cruise night/car show car. It's would be easy to add a little bling to the engine as you clean it up. A little rattle can paint, chrome valve covers and air cleaner doesn't cost much. He can research, ask around at car shows, and with your help decided what he might want to do, if anything.
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Yes this is exactly where we're at just the cheap Chrome dress-up kit a little paint a little smoke and mirrors maybe $100 Cam and lifters maybe a $25 timing chain and maybe some roller rockers that we could eventually put on something nicer. Again this was kind of the way I did my small-block amassed a bunch of the stuff on the 318 till I blew it up and then was able to transfer it all over to the Stroker motor.
 
j par said:
Yes this is exactly where we're at just the cheap Chrome dress-up kit a little paint a little smoke and mirrors maybe $100 Cam and lifters maybe a $25 timing chain and maybe some roller rockers that we could eventually put on something nicer. Again this was kind of the way I did my small-block amassed a bunch of the stuff on the 318 till I blew it up and then was able to transfer it all over to the Stroker motor.
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Add an aluminum intake, carb and headers. It will wake up nicely.
 
Ddaddy said:
Add an aluminum intake, carb and headers. It will wake up nicely.
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Exactly what I was thinking. I agree with you. And if we did some kind of upgraded 350 build that stuff could just be slapped right on it. I was thinking of just a simple Edelbrock 1406. It's stock jetting very economy like would probably be plenty enough for the warmed up 307. Or we could even tighten up the jetting if we needed to. And also this carburetor would work good for a nicely built 350 and then just widen open the Jets quite a bit. And if you wanted to start getting crazy he can go up with a carburetor and stuff easily. By that time he may be wanting a Holley and be starting to get crazy and starting to learn something about this stuff?
 
My best friend in high school had a 70 Chevelle, 2-door, it was jacked up on cragers, black with a 307 three on the tree 2bbl, it actually ran decent with 4.10 gears.

Had another buddy, had a 70 nova 350 with a glide, that sob about killed me in an old nova when he pulled that glide down into 1st gear doing 40 mph with 4.56 gears on a straight road, that car jumped sideways, in the ditch, jumped out into the other ditch.
Thank god no cars were coming the other way, but the tree branches left love dents on both sides of that old Chevy.
 
I don't think the words "307" and "performance" belong in the same sentence. I have never heard of a 307 that was very good. All I have ever heard is bad things about them.
 
harrisonm said:
I don't think the words "307" and "performance" belong in the same sentence. I have never heard of a 307 that was very good. All I have ever heard is bad things about them.
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I really think anything can be made to have some performance. People prove that with the slant 6's all the time don't they?
 
AJ/FormS said:
Well..........Three-OH-Seven,has a nice ring to it......like...................Four-Fifty-Four
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When I was looking up small-block stuff for the Chevy it mentioned all the other small blocks that the manifolds would go on except for the 307? But then I read it's the same as everything else like it's a stroked 283 or something. 283 with a 327 crank. Factory stroker!! LOL
 
The 307 had it's glory days here in the north east in the 70's and 80's. During that time we had a division called 318 sportsman. DZ302 were impossible to find, so people built them. A 283 small journal crank in a small journal 327 block. Then the SJ 327 blocks got scarce so guys would run a LJ 327 or 350 blocks with main bearing spacers. Then the 283 cranks dried up. There were lots of 327 cranks and 283 blocks laying around though (a 307). All the people in the stands would surely tell you what junk a 307 was, but didn't realize that over half the field was running them. They made 450-480hp @ 7000rpm with no exotic stuff.
 
Yall think the 307 got a bad rap? Look at the Ford M series engines The 351M and 400. Never came with a 4 barrel. Never had over 8.5 compression, yet they are arguably among the best engines Ford ever made. I get laughed at when I say that, but Ford wouldn't have put them in MILLIONS of cars and trucks from 1970 to 1982 for nuthin. With good performance parts and tuning they can be powerhouses. Ask me how I know.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yall think the 307 got a bad rap? Look at the Ford M series engines The 351M and 400. Never came with a 4 barrel. Never had over 8.5 compression, yet they are arguably among the best engines Ford ever made. I get laughed at when I say that, but Ford wouldn't have put them in MILLIONS of cars and trucks from 1970 to 1982 for nuthin. With good performance parts and tuning they can be powerhouses. Ask me how I know.
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Buddy has one done up in his 79 ranchero. Not my cup of tea but whatever. Old fart wont let me tune it. Says he doesent want to get a speeding ticket. He started with a 70 impala convertible . He went away and left the impala for me to address some leaks. I tossed a chrome kit on it that i had. I created a monster,weeks later we had it out and off to a builder. While it was out, car went for a paint job.
15 years ago. Then he built the ranch. Now he wants an elk.
Just like what started this discussion.
 
Tooljunkie said:
Guy had a grand prix,cam,intake,4bbl,headers and 3”exhaust
I think that 267 was slower than before he touched it. Tried to tell him all the bolt ons in the world will not fix the displacement problem.

My brother’s ‘57’ chevy had a mild 350/th350 and 4.10/POSI (i can say that now)
That thing honked!!
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267 needs to be treated , like it was built.. : a torquey low compression engine .a 3.5 bore , and a 350 3.48 stroke. A buddy scored a free J.Y .one , for a '70 Nove .The car had a stock TH350 , and 3.08 out back. Slid in a 112 lobe center 218/224 at .050 " cam , a Street Performer Holley intake , a Holley 600 vac sec. It ran high to mid 14's on the G Tech , got low 20's in the m.p.g. department. No slouch.
 
Just my opinion. Had a 307 in a '68 Chevelle when I was young. I'd just clean it up, dress it up, put some duel exhaust on it, and call it good. Sure, they can be made to run, but for the dollars spent to do that, there are better options.
 
'73red-duster said:
Just my opinion. Had a 307 in a '68 Chevelle when I was young. I'd just clean it up, dress it up, put some duel exhaust on it, and call it good. Sure, they can be made to run, but for the dollars spent to do that, there are better options.
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Did the 307 gig , '70 El Camino ... Was softer than a sponge. even with : 4:10' s and a good 11" inch 2800 stall. The 267 Nova , ate my lunch.
 
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