i recently came on an 85 chevy swb with a 97 5.7. It runs decent but def needs a new carb and timing tweaked, what would someone recommend for a new carb or size, and any cheap and easy ways to add a little bit of power. only mods are high rise dual plane with edlebrock 650 and long tubes/ flows with turn downs

 

I have had two engines like this. On the one in my 72 truck I used a 750 holley with vac. secondaries. It took some time to get dialed with it. On the 83 4x4 I used a 650 holley with vac. secondaries. It was a lot easier to get to run like I needed. Good luck with your project, hope this helps some.

 

would you have any idea where to pull the specs on that motor. i am told it is a roller motor and to change the cam and lifters i would need to change the rods and rockers. is that true? i need to figure this out so i can figure out what i need to get..

 

a nice mild cam like the lt4 hot cam lots of people use . can use stock rockers and push rods . need ls6 beehives springs and comp 787 retainers unless u get the heads machined .

 

I'd do the usual...cam, heads, long tube headers, and matching torque converter and gearing. If you get your hands on some decent dough, I'd swap in a 383.

 

I agree its a nice daily driver cam. It has a decent sound at idle and I've idled as low as 500 without much chop, it has great drivability and overall runs really nice. The cams claim to fame is the mid range torque which it definitely has but with vortec heads it still has good topend too. I went with PAC racing 1218 springs but LS6 springs would be sufficient too. Comp also makes a thinner valve spring lock that locates the retainer another .050 higher but they are super thin and I actually had one that was cracked straight out of the package and another one cracked while installing. I threw them away and went with stock locks the 787 retainers and pac springs which is good for .550 lift on stock heads.
IMO heads aren't worth it. The stock castings are sufficient for around 400 hp and the biggest hang up with them is the exhaust ports. For what he's doing I wouldn't touch them.


There is no reason to change the lifters pushrods or rockers unless you just want to. You are going to have to pull the intake and pull the rockers (no cam spinning like LS engines) but aside from that no reason to replace anything else unless you want to. ALL vortec 5.0 and 5.7 engines were roller engines. Some of the 88-95s were but they were mostly in vans of B body or F body cars.

 

i plan on a cam and lifters as the next mod. it has long tubes now and a high rise. i plan on a holly 650 with a vac secondary. the cam im looking at is a comp cam with a 280 dur and 480 lift. the stall is 2000 but the rear is 2.73 posi. thats one the next things to go.


my only real goal is to have a decent cruiser with a little bit of power when i want it