Need Help Getting More Gitty-up '89 K5

[blandq]

Hi All;

 

A good friend of mine has an '89 350/290HP stock K-5 Blazer. He has recently gotten the itch to get substantially improved acceleration out of it and is looking at crate motors. He is beginning to focus on 350/383 stroked, TBI in the range of 350+HP/400+ft.lbs.

 

I have a good idea what he's looking for and primarily it's a seat in the pants feel when he puts his foot in it from a dead stop. He has little to no interest in going past the 85/90 speedo rating. I'm a pony car guy with a 2500 lb. car and 441 dynoed ponies with a trans and rear-end to match....I'm not the guy that understands the benefits/limitations of his tranny 700R4 W/OD?, stall converter considerations, shift-kit options, etc. that when combined with 400+ ft.lbs will give him the acceleration he's looking for.

 

Specing the engine is pretty straight forward, he's willing to put $5000 into a crate motor, but I'm not confident it will get the results he's looking for if we do not balance within the complete drive train. In addition, he does tow on occasion as well as 4-wheel. Nothing extreme, a nice bike trailer/Harley for towing, and muddy fields (not mudding, just getting across it.)

 

Any recommendations or representative trucks out there for him?

 

-Q

[sonoramike]

rear end gearing?

 

agree that throwing a new motor at the problem probably isn't a cost effective first step

 

I'd look at distributor advance degrees, a cam tuned for low end torque, torque converter stall speed, and shift kits before I swapped a new motor. The "Butt Dyno" usually responds better to torque vs HP