I pretty much have the same set up in my 3rd gen camaro.. Forged flat top pistons, 15 thou shim gasket, vortec heads screw in studs, ls springs and comp retainers with valve job 1.6 ratio rockers 3'42 gears 700r4 trans and it runs fantastic, pulls hard and makes a nice street driver highway cruiser with the 600 holley vac secondary.. If light foot work on highway if I had to guess I am getting 20+mpg. Its just a nice running motor fantastic driving car.

For a dude that loves his 96 Chevy 1500 with the L31.. this video is life :))

If running a hydraulic flat tappet I highly recommend the Isky 292 mega cam! Will rip right up to 7,000rpm's and make awesome power everywhere!

I ran a 40 over chevy with vortex 194 heads in my dirt car. I turned 7200 rpm on a regular basis. Never any problems

That engine sounds so great on the dyno at 4:08

Man that’s awesome! Makes me excited for my L31 build for my 3rd gen Pontiac lol. I think a good carb and some head work for a bigger cam is all I have left. So far on my future build “list” is: Aluminum intake, HEI distribution, long tube headers, forged flat top pistons, head work for whatever cam I choose, and a bigger stall for the 700r4 after it gets built. I have an Edelbrock 1406 right now I’ll start out with but I might switch out later on down the road for something a bit heftier

The L31 heads are underestimated and have great mixture motion and brake specific fuel consumption. As long as you don't eke out to much iron, they are a real advance on any other SBC grouped exhaust head. A factory Double Hump match mate.

Did that build almost 23 years ago. Worked well for many years.

Richard, i watch every video you post and love them, share them, watch a lot of them twice or even thrice. PLEASE specify the headers as to tube length, diameter, collector diameter and length...many of your fans need to know

I recall a car magazine Danger Mouse build some years ago and they claimed 415 hp and @400+ft/lbs torque with Vortec heads and XE262h flat tappet cam in a 355 sbc. Richard Holdener's dyno seems to be more honest than the DM6 from a magazine article from years ago.

I have a L31 Forged Crank, PM rods, 9.5:1 with a Edelbrock Performer Rpm Top End 64cc heads CNC Ported/Polished heads and intake, 650 cfm AVS 2 Carb, Bullet Cams 226/234 530/530@.50 110+4 LSA, 1.5 Edelbrock Red Roller Rockers, Summit Racing LS7 Lifters, 1 7/8 Hooker Competition Headers it made 441Hp and 444 Tq with a 2200 FTI Stall and a 700r4 heavily built Trans with 3.42 Richmond 10 bolt in a 72 Nova excellent daily driver by far the best street build I have ever done...

I used to build 2bbl street stock engines. The cam I used was basically a Lunati Voodoo 294 and could get around 360 wheel Hp. We did tighten up the LSA around 106 I believe. Vortec heads were a game changer then.

The problem with the Vortec heads, is that they are very thin castings, and they crack very easily. When Richard said they cut .030" off them, I almost cringed! I'm sure they are fine as long as they dont overheat. That's what makes them crack wide open right between the two center cylinders.

GREAT VIDEO RICHARD!!! TOTALLY AWESOME BUILD!!! THANKS FOR SHARING!!! I LEARNED SO MUCH.

Well, Rich... you have you Vortec L31 heads now, along with improved springs and a hydro-roller 350. Guess you can do that Vortec/TPI-350 build you've talked about now! Just one small suggestion: I've heard swapping the Ram-Jet 350 cam into the stock Vortec 350 w/factory long-runner intake & "spider"-injection helps wake it up, and make a real stump-puller out of it... so you might want to consider that.

Finally superchats won't let.me comment any more.think you for this

We took a motor out a 98 Z71 and milled the bosses, put an XR288HR cam in it with 987-16 springs and screw in studs and it ran 11.90s on motor in my weekend driver 1987 Z28 with a th350 and a 4200 converter with th350

Great video. I don't know why we're so addicted to 350 motor builds, but we are. Richard do you have a test video where you don't change anything on the motor but do manifolds, shorty headers, mid length and longtubes on something like this?

Shoot. I would have started out with the xe274. I had a Monte Carlo with a old low compression shortblock and added 906 vortec heads with big springs and the xe274. 3.42 gears and a 3000 stall that I couldn't make proper use of cause I ran pepboys 295-50 radials. But even creeping out of the hole at the track is still ran 12.70s

I’d like to see this engine with a set of the $200 eBay 200 cc heads…

We really enjoy your explanations, again we in south Florida would love to see a build to really max out Torque from idle to 4800RPM's SMB chevy. for Marine uses.

One of the largest suppliers of cams is having issues with flat tappet lifter pitting. Even using recommended oils and break in procedures. Choose wisely

B-O-W T-I-E!!! 😁 you da man, Richard!

Interesting that the lots bigger cam made no difference in power below 3250rpm and neither did raising the compression but the hood long tube headers made a big difference.

I have a 96 vortec and I changed to carbureted and I put the hyd flat tappet k12-600-4 comp cam and since it's time to put it away for the winter I'm taking the engine apart and studding the heads plus I broke a rocker so now I'm Changing to 1.6 rollers rockers

Between the head and the block you shaved off a lot of metal, did this affect intake manifold fitment? And did you have to use custom length push rods????

I will always have a soft spot for the good old SBC.

love the 350 builds especially with 650 carbs. I would be curious to know what jetting you used?

I had a setup in my k10, it was a vortec 350 motor with the edelbrock intake and carb with ls3 springs and comp cams retainers with an lt4 hotcam…. Had a little too much fun in that thing.

Really loving the vortec testing Richard thanks a bunch! Have you ever ran the tune port with vortec heads under it? Think SDPC makes the lower to make it all work. Seems like it could make a good stock appearance sleeper build up.

My guess on the cam is its something similar to the old Crane 302H06... 246/246 .500 .500 106 lsa

Stock valve train can only take .480 lift….because the seals. You have to run offset keepers to gain more lift when using higher lift springs. Unless you cut the seats down. He didn’t mention any of that being done

All jokes aside I love your Chanel brother you always teach me something but today I scrolled through a video a dude that looked like you or so I thought 🤣 got me thinking so I had to search it up and bam get a grip garage pops up 🤣 the weed is getting to me 😭💀🤣

If anyone is interested I have a set of these heads, an Edelbrock dual plane that fits them, couple different carbs and cams all from an old project (you could pick what you want). Shipping might be a bit steep but the seller is motivated (ie, I could use the space and cash 😁).

This is a very good timing video, I'm just starting my 1996 vortec 350 build..

I love when he does circle track engines

Richard is the only person I know of that can continue to make money off of a 4 engines he dynod 10 years ago.

Dont know what junkyard your finding these motors ...ive been searching for months....need a 350 or even 454 for my 87 gmc k10.....cant find a damm thing here in az

Doesnt the l31 use the same D dish pistons as the tbi 350 and both have the 64cc chambers

How About A Set Of 062 Vortec Heads With Screw In Studs, Bee Hive Valve Springs And An Edelbrock RPM Air Gap Intake On An LT1 350 360, A 327 350, A 327 365 And A DZ 302...I Think It Would Be A Very Interesting Comparison...And Then Switch The Cams Around, Put The DZ (duntov) Cam In The LT 1, Then Go Comp 268 Cam In All Of The Motors Comparing That Cam To All 3 Of The Stock Cams In The Hi Perf Small Blocks...Interesting Series Of Tests Then Just For Yuks Put A 294S In All Of Them...

I'm a simple man. I see vortx tree fiddy, I push like.

When are you going to do the Big Bang Chevy 350?

Gotta include a cheby small-block video every once in a while just to pay the bills.

zero deck and steel shims? Thats tight. About .035 is about as close as i would dare piston to head.

That mystery camshaft is gonna be probably like right at .495/.495

4:07 I did not expect that 😂

I’m taking out my 5.7 from a 98 Suburban for a rebuild. Love all this information. Question though? Pushing it up to 300+ HP will that screw up my Smog Control? Sucks I live in California. I really wanna screw with peoples heads at stop lights though

Lt4 hot cam sounds great in the vortec 350

Love the power adder 4bbl horsepower sound!! How much hp is a Richard sound effect ?? 25hp ?? Lol. Cool 😎 video. Those sbc are buildable but n/a has its limits.

If you didn't know what cam was given to you. Why didn't you throw a degree wheel on and find out?

what cam would you suggest for a l31 block thats been bored.060 over decked and has cast iron vortec heads with bee hive springs skip white rotatory assembly forged dish pistons,carbed havnt decided,its going in a 4x4 jeep with a 700r4,It will have 35" tires on it and rearend is 4.10 ford.I have two blocks other one is stock cleaned hasnt went to machine shop yet,good block,thanks for your vids ive been learning alot

I’ve followed you for a while bc i love all the information and it’s been helpful on my project build which is getting a 5.3 and turbo and cam and everything. But i just inherited a gmc van with the 5.7 vortec in it and i just want it to be a little more responsive and powerful for towing the car. So i was excited to find this video.

How about comparing power curves on off the shelf oval track and street strip cams of similar lift and duration in same engine combo?

Suddenly my '92 Z28 350 TPI looks like a project again.

If I understood correctly, you have roughly .030" quench with the shim gasket? Im worried about quench too tight on mine, is why I asked. Building an L31 long block very similar. True decked a few thousandths, not zero decked, align honed 4.00 x 3.48, forged/bushed 5.7 rods, Scat 9-10526R steel crank, H631CP 5cc flat tops, Melling 22280 Roller(220/224,495/502,110Lsa/106 factory center). 787's with beehives and long slot 1.5 rockers. I'm .016" in the hole and with .015" Fel-Pro 1094's, that's a tight .032" quench. 85 Jeep CJ7, 2900lb, 3.08's, 4spd trans=opportunities for unintentional 6k+ mistakes but will have an RPM limiter of some sort before 1st start up, even if its a simple digital 4pin hei module. 1) Do you think .029-031" quench is too tight for me? 2) Pros and cons of advancing centerline to 104°? 3) Thank you for taking the time to help us mere mortals! 😊 I have applied a tremendous amount of knowledge to my project from you, your pals @ Engine Masters and all your video content. Thank you Mr. Holden for helping the little guys accomplish a dream.

Just what I wanted to see after last night.

I have a L31 engine in my 97 OBS how would this set up work if I kept it with the factory EFI system instead of doing a carb set-up? Great video.

What’s a good cam to replace the L31 motor cam without having to change the springs and rockers out any recommendations

Did you machine the valve guides, or just change springs and retainers?

I have a 2002 gmc Savana 3500 5.7 vortec. I would just be happy with more power, efficiency mpg, reliability, and ease of maintenance. The less computers and scanner the better. But nothing for me I don't think?

Have you ever played around with cutting 2.2 rocker trunions and running ls rockers?

I have a vortec with an LT1 rotating assembly, gm LT4 hotcam, LS6 springs, 1.6 rockers ,holley rpm air gap intake, short tube headers and a mighty Demon 650. What's your thoughts on going single turbo and e85 blow thru carb to this setup. Bottom end is rock stock . I will gap the rings. 906 heads are just a quick valve job .

Didn't catch this first time around. You zero decked the short block, and then used a .015" steel shim head gasket? .015" quench total if I heard you right? Or do they make a thicker steel shim that I'm unaware of? Not nitpicking you buddy, just genuinely curious as I have a 350 I plan to do a comparable build with.

I like to get up into 400 ft lbs as quick as possible w/out sacraficing top end.. Roller Cam. Dulcich's "Budget Sledgehammer"/Nov 2006 one of my favorite magazine builds of all time. Straight cut 224 @ .050 cam and .550 ish lift on 108lsa. 10:1 comp, 447hp on EQ vortec heads and re-ringed L31 junkyard shortblock. Engine broke 400ft lbs at 2900rpms w peak HP coming about 6000rpms. "Secret Short Track Spec Cam" was probably a short track cam from Speedway or Howards- it's torque curve was peaky.. and late to 400ft lbs... Not super impressive for all the "guarded info" Mr. Short Track brought to the table. Comp XFI 230/236 with a better LSA (108-110)would knock that short track cam into the drink. Great comparison here Richard.. thanks.

Awesome info! Do you have dyno proven results of going full roller? I’d love to see a before and after of switching to roller cam and lifters.

Richard didn’t seem all that impressed with the cam guru lol

I'd like to see what kind of numbers a sbc 400 with vortec heads could put down

When you add Vortec heads to a flat tappet cam engine, do you have to worry about the valve springs that come with the Vortec? Possibly too stiff?

without boost and nitrous ?...... WITCH WITCH! there's a witch!!! :) :) :)

When you put Vortec heads (presumably designed with a roller cam/lifters) on an older SBC with a roller cam, do you use the pushrods designed for the Vortec heads or the pushrods designed for the flat tappet?

I bought my old school, 350 with 305 heads, mystery cam, about 13-15 in vacuum. Git some good 96 vortec heads 906 free... what should I be worried about

Hey Richard any videos on stock vortec with a lt4 hot cam swap? Thanks

Rpm intake 2256 pistons bore as needed 270 cam and enjoy

3800 ported heads ever coming??? Nice video!

Do you have any idea how much compression you ended up with after shaving the block and heads and using the steel gasket?

Hi Richard, great vid What’s the common wisdom on cam selection if this was to be a 2bbl motor with no lift rule, has to be flat tappet but can be solid

WWWWAHHHHH 😜😜😜😜that you making engine noises Richard????

Hey Richard I've got a big issue with a vortec 5.7 engine that I built for my brother's '56 Chevy wagon. I left the original truck roller cam in it and it keeps eating distributor gears, even using bronze distributor gears. By the way it's running a GM Performance carb style aluminum intake on it

Is there a specific part number for the spring retainers and and locks? I took my vortec heads to the machine shop and they wouldn’t do the LS valve spring swap because they said the retainers and locks wouldn’t work with the LS springs.

Being an oval track engine, why did you not advance the cam?

try vortec 383 richard wanna See the power gains ? cam lift no more then a .550 lift.thankz

What the hell was that at 4:08? 🤣

Gm 602 I need more pull out of it on a 3/8 asphalt track turning 6200 pulls hard off but runs out of the pull 1/2 way. Needs to be 9.2:1 comp flat tappett cam is only rule I’m not in a 602 class I just have a 602. What do u suggest to get this 602 to pull longer and harder cam and spring swap ??

You didn’t check the cam specs on the cam Dr?

What would you recommend for me to help my performance on my 1998 Chevy Silverado C1500 5.7 v8 all i done to it was put a cold air intake in it

How much power would you guess a L31 350 vortec would make with a good cam upgrade and a set of AFR heads?

What did the stock heads make on that "190hp" engine? I'm guessing around 250-260

Hi master Richard, can I use this combo en 350 tune port injection engine ?

I see you have a air gap intake. Do you know the difference roughly between it and a regular dual plane intake on a L31 engine?

Richard, what would you suggest for a highly streetable superchager for this setup? Block: 350 bored 60 Pistons: SRP 139634 Forged Dish -24cc Carb: Summit 600CFM SUM-M08600VS intake: EDL-2716 Holley 650 carb Heads: Vortec 10239906 64cc surfaced 10 Valve Springs: 26915-16 Lifters: 853-16 roller Pushrods: 7815-16 Cam: Comp 12-422-8

Oooh lower compression good boost motor

>laughs in big block as my lobe lift is more than the small block valve lift

Any tips on using round port headers on a set of vortec head?

So what about a daily driver truck application? These mods did nothing in the lower rpm range where most trucks are driven. I’ve got a 95 gmc with the non vortec 5.7 and I do a little towing with it. I want to keep my rpm’s in the 2500 for fuel economy, but need a touch more torque. All the tests I see are awesome for racing applications where you have high rpm’s, but not very applicable when you’re building something for more practical use. It’s not something I have seen on here or engine masters and would like to see.

Hey Richard, building a motor for my boat. Stock boat manifolds. 5.7 chevy roller. The problem I'm coming across is everyone's saying they need all torque. And Don't spin over 4800 rpm. Is there a cam that pull just as good low rpm but more on top end also? Like the sloppy cam for LS? 260hp factory just isn't doing it for me anymore. Haha

What hydraulic rocker camshaft would you suggest for a l31?

Will just doing a 1.6 valve upgrade increase power on a vortec head. And how would a 383 perform with a vortec head with .0540 intake lift/.0560 exhaust

Omg that's the same build as my l31 in my 2000 Chevy express van lol

Did you use offset keepers of have the guide bosses milled down for more clearance? I've read that anything above a .420 lift on a stock Vortec head you risk the retainer hitting the valve seal.

So could you run vortec heads on a TPI Setup, wondering if this is a good option for my 85 Flat Tappet C4 that’s all cast with factory forged pistons. I wanna keep fuel injection and TPI as I love the look of it, as well as the characteristic of the superb low end torque.