304 304 tickle up

[jap h8r]

hey all.
So ive just come across this forum page, (very nice btw) and i was wondering if i could get afew ideas on slightly doing up the old 304.
Im just a young chap but ive been working at an engine re conditioners for the last few years and ive just got my hands on a manual ss vn and i think its time to put the skills to the test. The old ss has a strong donk in her, nice set of extractors and exhaust sys and a bored tb, so im not wanting to muck around with the bottom end but afew things id like to do is

remove the heads and raise the c,r to 10.5 to 11.0 to 1
match port the heads to the manifolds, slightly port the inlet maniflod (closer to the head side, ive heard the std manifolds are abit restrictive.)
3 angle seat job
a big fat lumpy cam with shimmed valve springs to keep up
and have a upgraded memcal installed.

any other ideas to throw into the works would be much apreciated, cheers lads.

 

[304runner]

They are a nice engine and the mods you have chosen are great, expensive but great. The sad thing about these engines is that they cost a fair bit of money to get minimal power gain.

I'd also suggest getting some diff gears too, 4:11 are nice.

A lumpy cam sounds great but remember bigger isn't alwys better.

If you go for a massive cam the you lose all the streetable power you had with a stock cam. Unless your car see's the strip a fair bit then the benefits of a lumpy cam are just for wank factor.

Do all the engine mods as mentioned above the speak to a cam builder, explane what you have already done and he will custom grind you a cam.

A daily driver would suit a smaller cam that produces a **** tin of torque down low and will give you a fighting chance to pull away from anyone at those lights. Where as a lumpy cam with big overlap will be useless until you get up around 3,500rpm through to about 7,000rpm and by that stage you're well and truly breaking the law and will always be pushing your car to illegal limits.

My point is, why have a car that you need to flog just to achieve its potential?

It will only end in tears. But each to their own.

Stock 304 heads are good for about 440+ hp so if you think you're going to make above that then your budget is about to blow out.

You will need a girdle to strengthen the block as they like to twist up and cause things to go bang.

Just at a guess with a new inlet manifold, and the head work you have mentioned and a cam + tune, I would be surprised if you got much change out of $5000.

To run just a cam that I was offered (it had a massive lift ect) required new roller rockers, machining the inside of the heads to fit the rockers, bigger inlet manifold and obviously a dyno tune and all fitted by myself was going to cost $3500 and I already had the cam and lifter and springs.

And what for? A new VE v6 will smoke it....

So if you have a VN SS (and they are very rare in Australia now, so I can't begin to imagine how rare they are in New Zealand) I'd be looking at restoring it to its former glory cosmetically and just getting the engine running nice. You will always grab more attention with a clean looking car then a banged up car that sounds fast but actually isn't.

 

[jap h8r]

I build and modify engines daily so removing and maching the heads wont cost it will just be a time factor. so far ive priced up 350 for a billet cam ground to my spek from our supplier and then another 250 for full top half gaskit kit. tuning over here is worth 100 an hour so hopefully it will only be a half day session. angry cam is what im after as breaking speed regulations is not a factor for me haha.

 

[sporty custom]

go a centriv supercharger you will love it thats what i done 3000 stall 4.11s all the power you will ever need on the steet. and good on the strip my setup owes me $2000.00 spend that pretty quick on pistons and cams and so on , best of luck with it anyway

 

[juiceie vh sle]

304runner knows his stuff mate you should take all of his info into concideration.

if your working at a recon shop why dont ya get a 5.0 block and start going to town on it. smooth out all the oil gallerys, blueprint the block install new bearings and get a nice stroker kit seeings you can do the machining your self.

 

[jap h8r]

ok dont get me wrong a blower and a fully tricked motor would be the bees knees but i just dont have the funds for that. 2nd hand blower kits for the commys over here are near non exsistant and then you must cert the car for it to be road legal, with over a 20% power increase the factory brakes must be upgraded and then the dollars start flying, and then to build a stroked monster its the same old story. not after earth moving power but just enough for a fair bit of fun. so only interested in playing with the top half of the engine at this stage maybe a msd and injector upgrades???

 

[VR38]

You work in am engine shop, machining engines and you need our help to build an engine?

 

[Cava454]

Be lucky to get 9.5:1 let alone 10.4:1 by just shaving heads.

Don't waste your money playing with a 304 unless u go forced induction or stroker.

 

[MATTRESS]

Change the manifold to a come or similar ttb and a nice mild cam will get you pretty good gains with a good tune.
I just rebuilt a series 3 vs ute and put a motec ttb manifold on it with a custom ground cam to get 270 Rwhp if u ask me that's pretty good gains for a relatively minor mod and completely stock engine although the later model 304s are roller cam id expect any old 304 to get up around the 250rwhp mark wich I believe isn't bad for an engine that's lucky to punch out 190rwhp in standard form

 

[97VTSS]

Be lucky to get 9.5:1 let alone 10.4:1 by just shaving heads.

Don't waste your money playing with a 304 unless u go forced induction or stroker.

Sorry have to disagree there.
I got 10.1:1 on my VT 304 by......
Shaving the heads, port matched and polished.
Mafless tune.
Custom Chip upgrade.
Crane 888241 roller cam.
yella terra roller rockers.
Custom N/A intake manifold.
Extractors.
2 1/2 inch cat back.
254 kw @ the fly wheel.... 203 rwkw. revs out @ 6200 rpm....700 rpm increase from stock (5500 rpm)