Hello everyone. After my father passed away last year, I decided to began restoring his 1979 Silverado that he wrecked about two years ago (damaged hood, front bumper, passenger fender). My uncle use to drive it around on his farm to keep the engine running, but it has been sitting up for about 9 months because he said it may need a new carb. I have decided to get it and restore it. My dad would want that because he use to keep it clean. So, all I know is that it has a 350. I have been doing reading, and to get more power out of it, I could get a 4 barell carb, headers, and exhaust to start. My question is that what is a good four barell carb a lot of you guys are running on your 350's? I heard Holley is a good manufacturer. Just give me some ideas to make this truck have the most power on a budget. Thanks in advance.

 

Does it have a 4 barrell on it now? If not, you'll have to change the intake manifold, thats for starts.

 

Out of the box carb that works good is edelbrock preferably with an electric choke in a 600 cfm. Holley makes an excellent carb but really needs some fine tuning out of the box IMO. If you know anybody that knows there way around a carb, I would go Holley. Kevenkpk is right about the intake manifold. Headers into 2 1/2" dual exhaust with an "H" pipe will help considerably. Plugs, wires, cap & rotor, fuel filter along with fresh fluids before you start it back up. I would also suggest you unhook the coil wire from the distributer and crank the engine over for about a minute or so to build up oil pressure before you start it back up for the first time.

 

I haven't seen the engine since I was like 12 years old. My dad moved away when I was that age. I plan to go to my uncle's house and look at it tomorrow. I just assumed it has a 2 barell carb. I will take pics and upload them tomorrow. My father in law is a mechanic, so he will help me get everything in sync. When it comes to upgrading the heads, will the cam have to be upgraded to certain specs?

 

A better cam would definately take full advantage of a better set of heads but cam replacement is not a necessity. However if you are going to open up the engine, a $150 or so cam upgrade is definitely a good idea. Just what are your plans? Full rebuild? I thought you were looking for a little more power from bolt ons. Full rebuild you should consider bumpin it up to a 383. Lots of power and torque.

 

Do you think you're dad would want all these upgrades or for it to be restored back to its original? You have to remember more times than not originality is more important than burning the tires off.

 

My plans are only to get a little more juice out of it. I am not planning on taking it down a drag strip. I am thinking of only upgrading the carb, headers, and exhaust. I am basically wanting it to sound good, and have sufficient power just in case I have to end up hauling a lot of weight, and I want it to look look good like my dad had it. I set a budget of ~$2,000 to put in the whole truck. The speed demon inside of me is waiting until I can afford a new Camaro SS or Mustang GT (I know that's apples and oranges, but they both are SWEET!!).

 

That sounds like a good goal. $2000 don't go very far in the world of restoration tho so keep upgrades to a minimum until you 1.) make it safe, 2.) make it reliable, then 3.) make it pretty/fast. Good luck on your dads ol' truck.