I have a 1995 Chevrolet Z71 extended cab short bed.

Long story short I picked one up a little over a year ago. It is in pretty decent condition for the year. It needs rocker/cab corners of course the typical areas that rust.

The motor is pretty much shot at this point. The body has 140,000 miles on it. The owner before me was a drunk. He ran the tar out of it.

I picked up a 2 bolt main (350) for $100.00 1980's 350 block.

I'm having it bored out to a 355. I'm going to use forged internals. Not sure what brand of rebuild kit I'll use just yet. What do you guys suggest on a cam???

I've had a guy tell me not to use a roller cam since I use the truck to pull utility trailers with etc..

What about heads?

I was leaning towards vortec heads from summitracing.com

I'll put long tube headers on it, no cats, true duals, h-pipe, and flowmaster 40 series mufflers.

The biggest thing to consider is its a 4x4 truck. I will be using the 4x4 during the winter. I don't want to 'over build' the engine to where its going to burn up transmissions, snap half shafts, and eat rear ends.

BUT if I'm going through all this I want a more than stock engine and I want it to sound like its 'built' and I'd like a little performance out of it over stock.

Next summer I will do all the body work and re-paint the truck. I plan to keep it forever. That's the reason I'm willing to put so much time/money in the truck.

I know this is a car forum but I'm hoping this post is okay here!

I'm also open to any other suggestions on the engine build and eventually transmission build

 

...anyone ?

 

It makes zero sense for anyone to say to not use a roller cam because you'll be towing. Use a hydraulic roller cam. They are reliable, require no break-in, and make more power under the curve than a flat tappet counterpart. Since you are towing, you don't want to go too wild with the cam, or else you are going to sacrifice low-end power.

Personally, I would move up to a 6" connecting rod and use a flattop piston with a 1.26" compression height. The longer rod will help reduce side-loading the piston. You can stick with factory Vortec heads, or you can get some aluminum heads with 62-60cc chambers. The Promaxxx heads are actually a decent bang for the buck, or you can get the Summit brand heads.

With a 4.030 bore, 3.48" stroke, Fel-Pro 1094 .015 head gaskets, 62cc heads, and flattop pistons with 5cc valve reliefs and are .025" below deck, you would have a healthy 10.6:1 motor.

 

+1 on hydraulic roller. However, you're looking at link bar lifters at least or a complete roller retrofit kit since there's no provision for roller lifter retainers or cam retainer plate in that pre-1987 block. You'll be needing to run a cam button or have the block tapped for a retainer plate. I'm bench racing at this point since I haven't started or run my truck yet but my cam and heads combo should be approaching 500 ft. lbs. torque at 2800, so a healthy cam isn't necessarily going to kill your low end torque. Since it's 4WD you'll want a cam that works with the stock stall torque converter stall range (or maybe 200-400RPM over or it'll be crap in 4WD and surge like a bastard. I like Comp cams, others have other preferences. I'd suggest this retrofit cam or one like it if you're dead set on keeping that non-roller block:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=165&sb=2

You going carb with mechanical fuel pump or (?)
Truth is, you might be better off picking up a hydraulic roller block with the provisions in it. They're not that expensive and would save you some headaches. You've already said you want some forged internals, might as well put them in a decent roller block. You'll have to get some machine work done for the crank anyway (line honing, etc.), might as well do quality 4 bolt mains while you're at it. Also have the block decked. I wouldn't go zero deck though. .015 is a really good number for flexibility either way with piston choices and leave you with choices on head gasket for a proper quench of .035-.040. Achieve proper quench and you can get away with more compression with less issues with detonation. I'm running at .041-.042 quench at 10.2:1, 8.3:1 dynamic with a .015 deck and a .026" gasket (Mahle/Victor/Melling 5746). Aluminum heads will be better for a higher compression engine than iron and save weight to boot. Sure, they're several hundred more but worth it IMHO.

True duals you're going to pay for. Trans crossmembers on these trucks suck for getting in the way of duals. My engine is offset about 1 1/2 - 2" to the passenger side. Not sure if that was true in 95. Be sure to get headers that are correct for your application. The fuel tank completely takes away the driver's side for duals and you have to cross over immediately off the driver's side header and run both sides down the passenger side. I notched my crossmember in 2 places to make my duals fit even with the immediate cross over. I'm trying to find someone near me who can fab me a custom one so I can put cats on it (Thunderbolt/ CANAMEX 200 cell/in.).

4L60E can be built to hold quite a bit. Ask the F body guys. You may already have a thicker K case since you're 4WD. Figure 1300-1800 for a trans that will hold and last. I've heard nothing but good about Performabuilt. If you do go carb, you'll either need to change to something else and have to do some driveline alterations to find a 4WD tailshaft housing to fit to your transfer case, etc. Otherwise keep the 60E and run the PCM as a trans controller or find another standalone trans controller. The more you diverge from factory layout and choices the harder/ more expensive/ more time-consuming it's going to get.

 

I haven't decided on carb or mechanical carb.

I'm trying to keep this project simple as possible. I don't want to dump 2-3K in the engine alone. That's the biggest thing. I was hoping to bore it out to a 355, good internals (forged, but maybe I shouldn't go forged), decent cam, and eventually upgrade the heads. I'm not dead set on long tube headers with true duals. Its just something I'd like if it can be done 'simple'. But sounds like it isn't so simple. I appreciate the advice from both of you. It has helped me out A LOT!! I have some more research to do and need to make some decisions on which route I want to go with this build. You guys opened my eyes up that's for sure!

 

Ok, so... get your budget together. You said you were willing to put time/ money into the build. You need to figure out how much you're willing to spend on what. you also said you want to keep it simple. Let's review:

You have a 95 TBI 5.7 with 61# injectors, which are capable of supporting about 220HP at 13-14psi, on top of a working TBI setup.
TBI pump puts out no more than 15-16psi max on a perfect day, though would be enough to support a return style carb setup. Has to go if you're not carbing it. EP381 is the Vortec pump, great upgrade for power mods all the way to ~470FWHP.
The TBI heads, casting 191 or 193 are crap for flow above 4500RPM or so. They need to go, obviously.
The TBI intake isn't all that bad, actually, but there is room for improvement. Lots of guys get a carb intake and put a TBI adapter plate on it to bolt the Rochester 220 TBI unit right up. Very common.
TBI cam no better than the heads. Has to go. Head choice needs springs that match your eventual cam selection.
Forged internals- not needed. Stock cast crank is plenty strong up to 5500-6000RPM. We both know it won't spend much time there in a 4x4 truck anyway.

Your TBI block is probably a 727 casting with no roller provisions. I never heard of a 95 that had them, they had pretty much stopped putting any of those in the trucks by late 92 because they were more needed in the B bodies just before the B and F cars went to the LT1. IF... by some chance your current TBI block has 3 raised bosses in the lifter valley you can have it worked for a roller setup and bored out .030, have the rods reconditioned, ARP bolts on the big end, rotating assembly balanced with your new pistons, cam retainer bosses tapped and be ready for hydraulic roller. You can also find non-truck L05 engines in the boneyard for next to nothing. They have all the hydraulic roller stuff already (92-93 Caprice and Roadmaster, 93 Fleetwood, several others). Start with one of those for a base at the machine shop...

Essentially, your best option is to reuse what you can for fueling and induction. Reworked and bored TBI units are available for not a lot of money. There are 2 very good outfits that do this, PM me if you want the names. They take your unit and work it or you buy one of theirs, send your old one back for the core. Google search "Ultimate TBI Mods" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Hydraulic roller setup under TBI induction with decent Vortec style heads/ intake and mild to moderate roller cam is what I see meeting your goals. The downside would be the 16197427 ECM. It uses a chip, not a flashable EEPROM, so it'd mean burning chips, or having someone do it for you. Google search will show you that there are a number of tuners for TBI that do it. Feelings are mixed about how each of these does, but what you're after is fairly straightforward and would be pretty easy to nail in a tune. I spent $450 on a custom ECM so I could do my own tuning without chips.

Vortec or Vortec style heads: bolt onto any SBC but intake bolt pattern is unique and intake must match. Square bore Vortec carb intake on top of Vortec heads, add the TBI adapter plate and reworked TBI + decent cam, lifters & pushrods, bump fuel pressure up around 18PSI with EP381 pump and a replacement FPR spring or external AFPR + not too difficult mail order chip tune, and you're in the 320-330FWHP/ 400-420FWTQ range. Think 96-up Vortec truck with a very noticeable power bump... very fun to drive.

Also, take a look in the glove box, gently clean the RPO codes label and see what rear end you have. It will start with GU or GT.