vortec 350

new to this sight looking for info
im thinking about doing something with my 97 silverado with vortec 350 ive heard that the vortecs are kinda hard to get any hp out of,so i was wondering if it would be waste of time with putting upgrades on the 350 or should i swap it out with a 6.0 or 8.1

ive had a bunch of these trucks tbi and vortec and my 97 is by far one of the most gutless turds and worst fuel milage out of any of them ive owned,in the past if ive done anything i swapped to carb but id like to stay with injection any insight or recomendations would be appreciated  

Noone can tell you what to do, but if your 350 is worth redoing go with that. There is so many articles on the Vortec 5.3 and 6.0. I would pull up some articles on them, and maybe that can help you decide which way to get with your project.

Right away you have the expense of buying either a 5.3 or 6.0 from the bone yard. From what I've read those engines are a little expensive I've seen $1200 to $1600. For a low mileage Vortec. I would cosider redoing your 350, if it;s not hurt.

You can stroke it to 383 cubes and they have come a long way with parts. You can call Jegs or Summit and order the complete kit. You can make 375 horse power with that in a heart beat. All your parts will fit and the maybe upgrade the induction system. There is alot of choices fot you. Good Luck.......  

I forgot to welcome you aboard. A friend purchased a crate engine from Jegs it was the 350 260 and when he recieved it I brought it in my shop and I did some work on the heads and put a nice Crane cam in it with a good Cloyes timing chain. It was going in his 87 GMC pick up step side.Upgraded the ignition system with a MSD 6AL Box and a billet distributor. He also picked up an Auburn Posi unit for it.

He always had a problem with the TBI in that truck. So he dicided to put a carburator on it. I'll tell you he is hard on this truck. I told him he should buy a nice Nova or Chevelle to beat on. Their easier to work on. I was really suprised at the way that truck ran when I was done with it. The combination was just right. He would just hammer on that poor truck. It was a 4X4 short bed stepside. The engine has 3 year 50,000 mile warranty. He blew a lot of clutches out of that rear, but never blew the rear up. It had 4:10 gears in it. He said he should have put a carb on it years before when I told him to. Those engines are rated at 260 HP 4 bolt main decent rods and crank and it didn't come apart the way he drove it it spoke for itself.Just a thought. Lots and lots of crate engines out   there.  

You could also put a turbo, or a supercharger, just some things you can do. It all depends on your budget?    

thanks pepsi,theres nothing wrong with motor in it has just a lil under 130k on it,i know where i can get a 5.3 under 100k for 600 with harness & ecm i just dunno if i want to go that route,with the miles on mine i might just take my money and use that towards waking it up i think first thing its gettin gear swap,lt headers,vette servos in trans,and see where that takes me.

if i do a cam swap ive had a couple motors with a comp cam magnum 292/501 really happy with that cam in my past motors,since id have to have to put new springs in heads idk much about vortec heads are they worth doing some work too or should i just do a head swap?

thanks again pepsi for the comments and welcoming me to the site  

steppininstyle: Your welcome. The 5.3s have a different firing order then your 350.Gee that's a deal, I don't know if you plan on rebuilding it, but I'm a maintenance freak.

Now is the best time to go thru the engine not after you do all that work of putting it in and finding out it's a smoker or it has a rod knock, check it now and be safe. I'll tell you the 5.3s are little power houses. I believe that comes to 327 *** what you do is your choice. But at least pull the pan, and check the thrust bearing main, and a couple connecting rods. It won't hurt.

It will deffinetly blow the tires off your Silverado.............GOOD LUCK  

new vortec style aluminum heads like the Ederlbrock E-Tec heads or RHS.  upgrade the spider fuel injection to the marine style intake with fuel rails summitracing EDL-7138/ .  I had a big long post but it was lost when I sent it???  so this is the cut dow version!  You can also S/C it.  

Mine is a 1998 was bored to 397 at the factory. Good engine I have a complete exhaust system which helped a lot. I get decent gas mileage on mine about 25-26 average in the freeway and 18 in the city. I also heard that some people use the vortec heads on other applications to get some hp too!    

thanks for the info on the upgrade on the spider inj.i havent been on in awhile,now im looking ro rebuild my 350vortec,and wanted to keep it injected trying to fig out what i can get away with with it being comp.controlled and injected,