I bought a '72 Chevelle that came with a 307 from the factory. A couple of days ago I found the casting numbers on the block and heads and had them decoded. The engine is a 14016379 casting which is a 350 from 1977-79 2 or 4 bolt main. The heads are casting #14014416: 1980-86 305 HO 58cc heads. I don't know what cam it has in it, it has a edelbrock performer intake, edelbrock q-jet carb, and stock exhaust manifolds. It burns a little oil and leaks some too, so my buddy and I are going to rebuild it. Any suggestions on the setup? I want a nice street car with some performance but nothing major. Would I be better off getting new heads? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

To answer the question in the heading, most any 350 blocks makes a good base for a performance buildup. Some are better than others, but all of them are pretty decent.

Vortec or aftermarket heads are hard to beat. If you have money in your budget for them, use them.

Mike

I have a budget of around $1200 for the entire rebuild. Am I better off changing the cam or the heads or both?

I will second that thought on the 350 block. I'm sure it will be fine for what you want out of it.

Your budget is a little tight, so you'll want to examine your options before spending your money. I have no experience with the heads on your engine. I don't know what the compression ratio would be with your pistons and heads. You'll want to get the compression somewhere in the 9.?:1 range for decent all around power. It would be nice and safe for you to hit 9.5:1, but I know there are some guys out there running closer to 10:1 without detonation, but I think that depends on your piston and head choice. I understand that the Vortecs resist detonation pretty well.

We are using a '76 block with flattop pistons and Vortec heads. We're somewhere in the high 9s or low 10:1 ratio, run 93 octane, and haven't had problems with detonation. My one guess about your heads is that they were added by someone who wanted to bump up the compression. That's merely a guess on my part.

Vortec heads are a good option, and I have been nothing but pleased with our combo. However, two things to take into account are the fact that the Vortec requires an intake manifold with a different bolt pattern, and you need centerbolt valve covers. That was not an issue for us, because we needed to buy both an intake and valve covers, so we were going to spend the money there anyway.

You may have centerbolt heads. I don't know if those HO heads have them or not. You'll need a different intake if you go this route. You may be able to find some other heads that suit your needs without changing intakes, since you've already got a good one. Or, you could go with Vortecs and sell your used intak to make up some of the difference. You can see a little bit of how our combo has worked in the link in my signature below.

If you need to change pistons, you may be close to your budget limit by the time the short block comes back from the shop. I would do some real good shopping for heads and see how those would fit into the overall buildup. There are plenty of folks with plenty of opinions on what type of head would be good for you. I'm sure they will be happy to chime in.

Before you do anything get the block maged. those years haver a bad habit of cracking.