Back in the early 80s my dad was a bit crazy. He had a 72 Malibu Coupe that was in pretty nice shape. He put on some air shcoks aout back and big block springs in front (I beleive this was before everyone started using the high jacker rear shocks and jacking up their cars). Anyway his drivetrain was rather mudane. This was his first musclecar. Anyway it was a 350 with a TH350 and the original rear end ( a non posi, 3.08 maybe?). The 350 blew up and he needed a new engine so he bought a 307 from my grandfather's friend looking for more performance. I know what youre thinking, 307s were stones. This 307, however, was raced at The Danbury Racetrack, presently Danbury Fair Mall. It wasbuilt with a 327 crank out of a Vette(he thinks), Vette Fuelie heads that were ported and polished, and about an 11:1 CR, he doesn't quite remember the specifics of the crank. It had a .586 Reed cam and a Holley 650 spreadbore double pumper. The thing was the craziest, hairiest engine he or anyone who rode in it has ever seen. He left in the TH350. When he started it had to be imediately shifted into gear or it would stall when he did it after waiting a few seconds. It barely idled. He remembers having it up to 8 grand. He remembers bagging an L78 Nova. They took off and the 307 lagged out of the hole. The Nova pulled out about 4 or 5 carlengths before my dad was at 4 grand. The 307 hit 4 grand and all hell broke loose. The thing just slammed my dad into the seat and quickly sung up to 7800 rpms when he had to let of the gas and put it back to the floor because the TH350 didnt know to shift and the engine continued to sing once it hit 4 grand in second gear which came about much quicker because he already had momentum. He won by about 8 or 9 carlengths when he backed off before he hit third. Anyway, my question is why did he have to let off and slam the skinny pedal to the floor to shift. I think it was because the engine could have breathed up to 9 grand and the torque cruve wasn't falling enough for the transmission to know to shift. Could this be it? It shifted fine when he wasnt hitting it hard but not when racing. BTW, he drove it everyday until he finally got tired of adjusting the lifters and changing lifters and vlavle springs and the cam lobes were wearing lol. Sorry for rambling.

first off, I love the little motors!!

I woulda used a 4-speed! End of converstion.

I don't know why he had to back off it to make it shift but I do know it was done!!

pdq67

I would have too lol:D

If the block was bored .030", that's a very NICE 333ci! I'd love to build one of those if I had a really light car :thumbsup: I'd also go stick. Was his TH350 stock? Do you know what stall it had? If I were him, I woulda ran at least some 4.56s out back :D Those little motors don't have all that much tq, but they sure can pull in the upper rpm range! :D :D :D

If the block was bored .030", that's a very NICE 333ci! I'd love to build one of those if I had a really light car :thumbsup: I'd also go stick. Was his TH350 stock? Do you know what stall it had? If I were him, I woulda ran at least some 4.56s out back :D Those little motors don't have all that much tq, but they sure can pull in the upper rpm range! :D :D :D

Whoa Alex, recheck your calcs my friend. The 307/327 both used the same stroke crank so it isn't like building a stroker. The reason for the 327 crank would be that some of them are forged and will survive high-rpms. Even at .03 over a 307 block isn't 4" to make it a 327ci mill.

Yeah, he was weird. The TH350 was stock and so was the torque converter. He only had the engine for about a year and a half though and had gone through a set of lifters, althought they weren't completely new when he got the engine, and the new set was wearing fast as was the cam lobes and his foot from using that brake pedal with such little vacuum. It was .030 over or .060 over, I think .060. Then he got a 327 out of a 66 Nova 327 350 hp. That engine took some unsuspecting suckers off the line because it idled pretty innocently and the exhaust wasnt loud although it was very nice sounding. It then went from the 72 to a 68 that was an original 327 275 hp car with a granny tranny powerglide and he switched it to the 350 hp 327 and the TH350 with the 72 rear end. It sounded even better too, he had a pair of blown out Maremont cherry bombs, hush thrush mufflers, and Black Jack headers. Nothing sounded like it, people always told him they suspected a 33 Ford to roll up with a 5 K paint job all polished up because it sounded so cherry. If someone tells me how to post pics I can try.;) And yeah, Slowpoke is correct. It wasnt a 333. It was, if it was .60 over, a 314. The 327 crank was used because it was forged. The 327 has .12 inches of bore on the 307.

Whoa Alex, recheck your calcs my friend. The 307/327 both used the same stroke crank so it isn't like building a stroker. The reason for the 327 crank would be that some of them are forged and will survive high-rpms. Even at .03 over a 307 block isn't 4" to make it a 327ci mill.

DUH!?!? :clonk: My bad! You got me Enrique, that's why YOU'RE THE MAN! :thumbsup: I don't know why I was thinking stroker. I guess my mistake was ASS-uming 350 crank, which would make it a stroker.

Thats ok. If I could only count the times I completely thought something wrong for absolutely no reason.....:clonk:

Thats ok. If I could only count the times I completely thought something wrong for absolutely no reason.....:clonk:

LMAO! :D :D :D

my little brother had a 69 camaro with a stock 307 3spd manual in it, after having about 2 weeks he spun 3 rod bearings. when he rebuilt he raided my parts collection, he had a steel 327 crank, polished rods, ported and shaved fuelie heads, a lond duration mid lift cam ( dont rember the specs). a lite weight flywheel, hays clutch (would bend the linkage every couple days). true roller chain, and degreed the cam for high rpms, a weiand hi-rise single plane intake and a 650 holley,and an old saginaw 4spd. with the stock 2.73 gears. he would shift at about 8500, the tach only went to 8 so when the needle hit the stop you shifted. best the car ever ran was mid 14's at 99mph but would spin the tires 3/4 of the track. the shifting was scary the car wwanted to make a right turn every time the clutch was let out. it was kind of fun to get on the highway and be able to drive 50-60 mph and still be in
1st. it had cheapie headers and glasspacks at about 7000rpm it sound like a jet engine. dad had made little steel shields that covered the top of the water pemp and alt pullies to keep the belt from flying off. still have the engine sitting at dads I think he wants to put it in a fiero or something- go figure

I'm thinking my next small block may just be a decent 307! I've done a lot of reading on them in the past few years and believe they got a bad rap for no reason. I can fully believe most of the stories and they are fun littel motors with a little work. Gotta first understand that they share the same crank as a 327, so as was said, the 327's many times got the better forged cranks, so it's a popular swap. The 307 is really just a stroked 283 and we all know how much fun those little hig-winding motors are! The bad parts of the 307 are the heads... totally built for smog and almost no flow. A decent set of heads really wakes one o these up! Same for cams and other parts... just some good parts and advanced timing (I understand they were really retarded for emissions) and better compression can make a real runner out of one of these. Right now I'm just looking for someone to be throwing out one of these 'boat anchors'!

Bill C.

307's had large journal cranks. i thought large journal 327 cranks were just cast units. or am i wrong on this?

BC, the 307 is a great engine. It has more torque than the 302 and Chevy used that for racing and made great Z28s out of it so I see no reason why you cant run an engine with a longer storke. I would reccomend, however, that if you have the money just go with a 327. The extra cubes make it cheaper but a 327 block will cost a bit more but will be a bit easier to make power for in the long run. Also they use 350 pistons because they both have 4 inch bores. I think my dads 307 should have been revved to 9 grand to get best times so I wouldn't use the same cam, I would go a bit shorter because it would still be capable of 8 grand. Nothing sounds like a V8 over 7500 rpms.:D

327's don't use 350 pistons unless you change out the rods. A 350 piston in a 327 would end up something like .115 down in the whole with stock rods.

327's don't use 350 pistons unless you change out the rods. A 350 piston in a 327 would end up something like .115 down in the whole with stock rods.Change out what rods?Where?Are you trying to be funny?

Change out what rods?Where?Are you trying to be funny?

If I remember right, a 327 crank, 6.00 rods and 350 pistons. could be wrong but I rember reading that somewhere. I've got a 327 now, trying to decided what to do with it. maybe a 9000rpm screamer something to think about

Change out what rods?Where?Are you trying to be funny?

About what? Either you change out the crank or you change out the connecting rods if you want to get the quench distance anywhere in the ballpark. You need pistons around 5.8" long with the stock 327 crank or use a 350-size crank with the stock 5.7" rods. I guess you could try decking the block .1" too.

Standard Deck Height= 9.025

Standard 350 piston height = 1.565

327 Stroke = 3.25

SBC Rod= 5.7"

1.565 + 1.625 + 5.7 = 8.890"

9.025-8.890= .135.......that's a HUGE gap. It would run, but its not anywhere near ideal.

Just because they share a 4" bore doesn't mean they share pistons.

About the smallest motors you see anymore at the track are 383 cubes, if you're gonna build, may as well go big :D cept for the rare 355 like Joes;)

Sorry for the confusion. I really didnt think about that much. I checked a long time ago and I do remember needing different pistons for the 327. Slowpoke is correct.

About what? Either you change out the crank or you change out the connecting rods if you want to get the quench distance anywhere in the ballpark. You need pistons around 5.8" long with the stock 327 crank or use a 350-size crank with the stock 5.7" rods. I guess you could try decking the block .1" too.

Standard Deck Height= 9.025

Standard 350 piston height = 1.565

327 Stroke = 3.25

SBC Rod= 5.7"

1.565 + 1.625 + 5.7 = 8.890"

9.025-8.890= .135.......that's a HUGE gap. It would run, but its not anywhere near ideal.

Just because they share a 4" bore doesn't mean they share pistons.
No one has a sense humor anymore.