Build an Affordable Street Engine Like Jeff Smith's 355 CID Small Block Chevy

When it comes to affordable, no-nonsense power, the Gen 1 small block Chevy is still the king.Performance guru Jeff Smith has built more than a few. For example, he put together a 355 CID small block Chevy with off-the-shelf parts from Summit Racing that makes plenty of streetable power—378 horsepower and 419 lbs.-ft. of torque—without punching a big hole in your wallet. To quote Mr. Smith:

“This is not a race engine. It doesn’t even pretend to be a race engine. Our goal is to build a simple and efficient pump gas small block Chevy enhanced with a few performance touches to make a little more power than a traditional entry-level Chevy crate engine.”

If that sounds like something right up your alley, follow the build on our OnAllCylinders blog at the links below and check out the parts used for the 355.

Build Your Own Budget 355 CID Small Block Chevy Part 1
Build Your Own Budget 355 CID Small Block Chevy Part 2

Short Block
The foundation for the engine is a 350 CID short block from a 1990 Chevy Suburban. It has a one-piece rear main seal and oil pan gasket to minimize oil leaks and is already set up for a roller camshaft, a nice plus for future upgrades.

The block was decked, align-honed, bored .030-inch over and final-honed with torque plates installed. The factory crankshaft was fitted to the block with a mix of standard and .001-inch undersize Summit Racing™ Main Bearings to get the proper oil clearance. The stock connecting rods had their big ends resized and were upgraded to ARP rod bolts.

A set of Summit Racing™ Coated Hypereutectic Pistons and Piston Rings complete the rotating assembly. The flat top pistons have four valve reliefs and a skirt coating for improved thermal and wear resistance; scuff and seizure resistance; and less ring groove wear. Made by Hasting, the piston ring set features moly-coated cast iron top rings, iron secondary rings with a reverse-twist taper face for reduced friction, and stainless steel oil control rings to eliminate blowby.

Flat tappet camshafts are affordable and can make good power, so they’re an excellent choice for a mild street engine like this 355. Jeff chose a Summit Racing™ Classic hydraulic flat tappet camshaft rated at 214°/224° duration @ .050 inch of valve lift and .444/.466 inches of lift. It has a nice lumpy idle and makes excellent low-to-midrange torque and horsepower. A set of Summit Racing™ Hydraulic Lifters transfer cam motion to the valvetrain.

Rounding out the combo is a Cloyes Heavy-Duty timing set; a Mahle gasket set; Summit Racing main and rod bearings; Dura-Bond cam bearings; and a stock replacement Dorman harmonic balancer.

Oil System
The small block’s oil system is simplicity itself—a Summit Racing™ Stock Replacement Oil Pan, Summit Racing™ Oil Pump with a tack-welded Melling oil pump pickup, a one-piece gasket from the Mahle gasket set, and a high-quality oil filter like the K&N Gold filter in our combo. The oil pan is made from stamped steel, holds five quarts of oil, and has a stock-style baffle. The oil pump is standard volume and standard pressure, which is perfectly acceptable for a mild street engine. The K&N oil filter traps contaminants as small as 10 microns and has an inner core to provide extra structural support and prevent filter collapse.

We also include five quarts of SAW30 Summit Racing™ ZDDP High Performance Motor Oil for engine break-in and five quarts of 10W-30 Summit Racing ZDDP motor oil for the standard fill. Both oils have high levels of ZDDP for enhanced anti-wear protection for flat tappet camshafts. The break-in oil is specifically blended for initial break-in of camshafts and piston rings.

Cylinder Heads and Valvetrain
The combination of the Summit Racing Classic flat tappet camshaft with a pair of Summit Racing™ Vortec Cylinder Heads are ideal for making good power on a budget. The cast iron cylinder heads have 175cc intake runners, 67cc combustion chambers with 1.940-/1.500-inch stainless valves, and 1.250-inch valve springs rated to .520 inches of valve lift. A set of Melling stamped steel rocker arms and Summit Racing™ Chromoly Pushrods complete the valvetrain.

Jeff did run into an issue with piston-to-valve clearance. With pistons sitting lower in the cylinders than anticipated, using the original .0041-inch thick head gasket would have dropped compression lower than desired. A swap to 0.16-inch thick Fel-Pro steel shim head gaskets allowed a static compression ratio of 9.85:1. That helps improve throttle response.

Intake and Ignition
Air and fuel are mixed by a 750 CFM Summit Racing™ M2008 Series Carburetor with vacuum secondaries. The all-aluminum four-barrel carburetor has a 30cc accelerator pump, annular boosters, interchangeable discharge nozzles and idle circuit restriction, and an electric choke. Other features include a one-piece design that eliminates gaskets below the fuel line for leak-free operation and color-coded vacuum ports for easier installation.

The carburetor sits on a Summit Racing™ Stage 1 Intake Manifold. The Vortec-style dual plane intake has a high-flow runner design to deliver improved power from idle to 5,500 RPM.

The ignition system features a Summit Racing™ Blueprinted HEI Distributor, Summit Racing™ 8mm Spark Plug Wires, and Autolite Copper Core spark plugs. The distributor has a 50,000 volt in-cap coil, mechanical and adjustable vacuum advances, and a machined aluminum housing with a shaft riding on precisely-aligned bushings for durability on the street.

Finishing up the combo are a pair of Summit Racing™ Steel Valve Covers, Summit Racing™ Dowel Pins, and Fel-Pro intake bolts.

Other Parts and Tools
This combo includes a Summit Racing™ Freeze Plug Kit with brass block plugs that won’t rot out like steel plug do. The kit also includes a steel cam plug and oil galley plugs.

We also include several tools to make your build go smoother:

The ARP rod bolt extensions are especially handy—the tapered aluminum extensions screw onto the connecting rod bolts to prevent nicking and scratching the crank journals. They can also be used as guides during piston and rod installation.

The Summit Racing™ Piston Ring Compressor has a tapered inner bore that gradually compresses the piston rings as the piston and rod assembly goes farther into the cylinder. That keeps the rings from hanging up in the cylinder for a smooth installation.

The Summit Racing™ Degree Wheel will help you degree your camshaft correctly. It is calibrated to read the same as cam specification cards and can be used to measure cam centerline, valve timing, Top Dead Center, and Bottom Dead Center. The degree wheel has a 1-inch diameter center hole that accommodates aftermarket crank sockets.

Rounding out the combo is a can of Dupli-Color engine paint in the requisite Chevy Orange. The paint has a durable ceramic formulation that is dyno heat-tested to 500 degrees F and is resistant to oil and gas.

CHECK OUT THE JEFF SMITH 355 CID SMALL BLOCK CHEVY PARTS LIST