moderate Z28

Ok bear with me, long post but one that has meaning to me so please read to the end if you can. My dad has given me alot of parts to a 327 he used to race/toy around with in his 62 Buick Special in about 1980. Keep in mind all of these parts are FREE. He gave me a 350 block bored .30 over, a 327 crank that was ran in it, Forged .30 over .380 dome TRW pop up pistons ran in it, 461 ported double hump heads ran in it, and the cam he ran in it (said it was pretty big but cant remember the specs from so long ago). I plan to put all of this in a 93 S10 truck weighing about 2500 pounds. All parts are in good shape, just need cleaning/polishing and have less than 5,000 miles. He didnt run the engine long. He told me a long story about him, a friend, and Jack Daniels and losing control, hitting a mailbox, almost flipping the car, and almost going to jail lol. Anyway, I would love to put this engine back together he used to run for nostalgic reasons, and I bet he'd love to hear it run again but he said the CR was about 12.5 to 1 and that he had to run Amoco white gas which was like 100 octane. If I put this engine back together, and use say these 882 76cc heads he also gave me (CR will be about 10.5:1), would it be a dog? Would it make atleast 400 FWHP with a good size cam and intake? It would be waaay cheaper to reuse this stuff if I can for now while I build something better, but am I crazy to do so? I know just buying/using a 350 crank would maybe be better but then I have to buy pistons. Thanks!!

pancherj

Forget the 882 heads. Even with the compression drop, they will still ping like crazy and you will need to run good gas (and make less power). If you really want the 400HP, take the engine, sell the double hump heads and throw a set of AFR or other good heads on there and you can hit 400HP. Or, keep the double hump heads and high compression and live with mixing high octane race gas with pump.

moderate Z28

The chart on those pistons says 10.4 to 1 with 76cc heads

pancherj

10.4:1 would be way too much compression for iron heads with dome pistons and an "open" style combustion chamber. All three of those things are working against you if you want to use pump gas. If it was a newer vortec style head with a modern combustion chamber and flat top pistons, than 10:1 would be doable on pump gas.

If you are dead set on using one of the heads, use the double humps. They will make more power. You will just need to mix in good gas. Another possibility is having the piston dome machined partly off. Some of the older pistons had a solid dome that could be machined away (I had an old set of TRW's that had this done to them).

moderate Z28

They are solid domes, but I think I have decide to just buy flat tops, and take the pops up off and put the flat tops on, then run a 64cc vortec head with a rather large solid cam. I think pump gas will be fine on it 93 octane.

pancherj

That sounds like a good plan!

mytmouz

iTrader: (2)

Sold an S10 blazer with a similar set up, but flat tops. Drove it everywhere and good top end. Keep in mind that torque is your friend and all the hot 327's were stick shifts for a reason. I ran a 700r in the blazer with mine and while it was OK, I wouldn't do it that way again (The engine was really cheap, and the original plan was to fix and flip, not the first 327 I have done, lol)...

moderate Z28

I kinda have a soft spot for the 327.

cuisinartvette

Best to actually measure volume and find your TRUE compression ratio first
What is the PN on the pistOn?
Ran a high dome TRW on an old 327 I had, camel crap iron heads, Isky 280 cam etc etc never pinged once. Fun little motor.

If you went flat tops and vortec get a GOOD dual plane 650 douple pumper and a cam somewhere in the mid teens at .050. It will make crazy good toruqe and still rpm a little 1-5/8 primary ony, dual 2.5 youll love it
Toss some 283 stickers on the air cleaner lid and some long case turbo muffllers to make it stealthy...or better yet use Rhoads lifters to quiet the sound of the cam at idle they will think its stock. At cruie rpm they make a noise that mimics a solid flat tappet pure music and dont pump up at rpm
Love those things.

HISS

iTrader: (52)

You could always have the domes machined down a bit to lower compression and help flame travel as well. Just a thought, might be more expensive than it's worth.

cookseyb

The newer Vortec Heads are great BUT if you run over .475 lift on the cam they will require machine work.