Need help on measuring pushrods in SB Chevy 350

[dougfather]

I purchased a Chevy 350 engine a while back that had been rebuilt (I know the person who I bought it from). Anyway, here's what I have and what I plan to do:

Have:

Block
3970010 - 350, rebuilt, bored 0.030" over. Used from 1969-1979..80? 2 bolt main. Under 5,000 miles on rebuild.

Heads:
14022601 - (used on 305 from 1980-86) w/ 1.84"/1.5" Valves, 53 cc chambers. Appear to be stock rocker arms.

To Do:
Add Edelbrock Performer intake (Idle-5500RPM)
Add Edelbrock Performer Cam and Lifter set
Add Qudrajet or Edelbrock Carb..Not sure yet

I measured the push rods with a pair of calipers and comes to about 7.8" from end to end. My question is, how do I determine what length of rods I need with the new cam? I tried to search the part number of the cam online, but not sure what it is.

 

[megaladon6]

as long as you don't change the rocker arm ratio, stay with the stock length push rods. you only change rod length to correct valve train geometry. probably the easiest way is with an adjustable rod length checker. i believe the rocker is supposed to be dead level at 1/2 valve lift. compcams should have a detailed tutorial on their site.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The Perfromer cam is very mild and should not require non stock length pushrods. As to the combo, I would consider a better set of heads and maybe a more aggressive cam as they would make a significant power difference without having to sacrifice driveability. I have stock idle quality in my engine and have almost 15 degrees more duration than the cam you wish to run. Also, unless the engine has dished pistons you will probably have too much compression with 53cc heads on a 350. Try to get a set of 67cc heads if it has flat top 4 eyebrow pistons as it likely will keep compression to around 9-10:1 ( this is off the top of my head and I do not know an exact figure).

The very mild cam coupled with what could be as much as 11:1 compression would create excessive cylinder pressures that would likely not live with pump gas. That much compression is usually used as an offsetting factor to keep up low RPM cylinder pressures in an engine intended to run at high RPM's with a fairly radical cam. However, those heads will not flow well enough to be able to run the RPM's necessary to make the compression worth while with a larger cam, nor will it like running pump gas without detonation.

 

[dougfather]

Per Edelbrock's Tech Support, the pushrods I need to use are part number 9630 (7.8" Long, 5/16" tube). I plan to use stock rocker arms.

As for the heads, I bought the engine this way. It also had a Torker Intake (don't know why). The cam had the following number on the end: 119306-975002. I can't find out what it is though.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Sounds like a really oddball combination of parts! That intake will not work well with the RPM range of those heads. Those sound like the "Good" 305 heads for an HO 305 engine, but good is a relative term here as no 305 head really flows well on a 305, let alone a 350.

 

[megaladon6]

so you know, i have 350 heads (reg and vortec) and a performer intake in the for sale section under "cleaning out my garage"