Sometimes it can feel like today’s performance community is leaving the small-block crowd behind with LS and LT swaps. That said, if you still have an old-school 350 or 305 in your G-body, B-body, C10 pickup, or if you just snagged a good junkyard pullout for your beer-budget project, there’s still hope. Here are some simple, effective, and budget-friendly upgrades that’ll add solid horsepower to your tried-and-true small-block.

A modern engine swap might be today’s performance go-to, but if your small-block is in good shape, it might be best to not tackle a big swap and modify what you have.

Maintenance First

We’re going to start with the cheapest, easiest, and most often overlooked: a good old-fashioned tune-up. As hot rodders, we tend to keep horsepower and engine modifications at the forefront of our minds with the hunt for more performance. But you may be neglecting basic maintenance and tune-up intervals that are actually robbing us of the horsepower we’re searching for.

If your old small-block Chevy is still stock, which we assume it is if you’re reading this, there is no reason to go overboard with parts selection. Spark plugs, spark plug wires, and a distributor cap and rotor kit from Accel, combined with a trip to your local auto parts store for a good-quality stock-replacement air filter, fuel filter, and PCV valve can have a noticeable effect on power.

Your ignition firing accurately on all eight cylinders is crucial for performance. New plugs, wires, and distributor cap and rotor ensure each spark plug is getting full voltage to ensure a complete burn. Items like a Mr. Gasket air filter and fuel filter help your small-block breathe clean air and drink clean fuel without choking. Even the PCV valve can affect performance. Proper crankcase ventilation improves the seal of the piston rings for better compression and reduces windage and oil aeration, which can cause drag on the rotating assembly and rob your small-block of some of its power.

If you have some extra bucks in your budget, you can buy a nice new air cleaner from Mr. Gasket instead of a new filter for your stock air cleaner.

Exhale Easier

Now that your small-block is back to running the way it should and you regained some lost power, it’s time for some budget small-block Chevy upgrades that add a little more under your right foot. As they say, the internal combustion engine is just an air pump, so the easier air can go in and out, the better it will run. A cheap way to help in this department is where it can exhale with headers and exhaust.

These Flowtech long-tube headers are budget friendly and over the performance benefits of a four-into-one collector.

Swapping your cast iron exhaust manifolds out for a set of tubular headers will add horsepower and torque across the entire rev range. The scavenging effect of the primary tubes on the headers exiting through a collector, versus the log-style exhaust manifold forcing the exhaust gases to clash, draws the exhaust from the cylinder head more efficiently. Even if your stock small-block is from the malaise era of the ’70s and ’80s, a set of Flowtech long-tube headers can still free up 10 to 15 horsepower at the crank.

If you’re changing to a set of headers, you most likely will need to also change the exhaust, not only for fitment but to match the new freer-flowing headers. There is no need to go crazy on header primary diameter or exhaust tubing diameter, headers with a primary size of 1-1/2 to 1-5/8 inches with a dual exhaust system with 2-1/4-inch tubing or single exhaust system with 3.0-inch tubing will flow more than enough. Also, headers and exhaust can save you some weight. Removing those big cast iron manifolds and quiet factory mufflers for some tubular headers and free-flowing performance mufflers can save up to 20 pounds in some cases. Going on a diet with your project can be just as effective as adding power.

Headers can help lose some weight, but so can a new exhaust with aftermarket mufflers.

Inhale Cleaner Air

Your small-block is running smooth, with a little more pep, and even sounds better as a result. The next step is to help get more air in now that you have more air coming out. The stock intake manifold on your engine is made from heavy cast iron and was designed to simply get fuel and air from the carburetor to the cylinder heads.

Aftermarket intake manifolds are one of the great budget small-block Chevy upgrades. An aluminum dual-plane Weiand Street Warrior intake manifold offers increased runner volume and smoother runner profiles to make it easier for the engine to fill the cylinder as it draws in air and fuel. Also, just like your new light exhaust, you can save about 20 pounds or so with this intake manifold swap. If you’ve never held a stock cast iron intake in your hands, it can easily double as an anchor for a cruise ship.

With an electric choke and vacuum secondaries, the Holley Street Avenger series carbs are perfect for performance street engines.

Can you run your stock carb on that shiny new intake manifold? Sure, but chances are it may be old, and worn out, and you can unleash more power if you rebuild it or replace it. The factory spread-bore Quadrajet carburetor that came on most ’70s and ’80s small-blocks flows great and works fine in stock and performance applications, but after so many years and miles, it might not be feeding your engine exactly what it wants.

The Holley Street Avenger carburetor comes with gaskets and parts to help install on your project car.

As long as the throttle shafts haven’t worn out the baseplate, a rebuild and a jet change can liven things up. But if yours is worn out, or yours came with a two-barrel carb, a new carburetor to match your new intake is the way to go. A Holley 670cfm Street Avenger carburetor will offer easy starts and great drivability combined with a big bump in part-throttle and wide-open-throttle performance.

Bump-Stick Swap

By now, you’ve added quite a bit of performance and drivability to that old small block. It’s breathing right, sounds meaner, and you’ve also set it up to handle more mods if your budget allows. Now that the basics of budget small-block Chevy upgrades are done, it’s time to dig a little deeper. The camshaft found in most base model small-blocks from the ’70s and ’80s is tiny to make gas-efficient torque and a smooth idle, and we’re willing to sacrifice some of that for more power.

Even the base-model 350 in late-’70s Corvettes had a camshaft that measured in at wimpy 195 and 202 degrees of duration and very low valve lift at 0.390 and 0.410-inch. Even if your small block was equipped with some of Chevrolet’s lower-flowing cylinder heads and a compression ratio of only 8.0;1, there is still some room to add more horsepower and torque with a cam swap.

A bigger camshaft will have more duration and lift, but going too big can ruin low-end performance.

A flat-tappet camshaft and valve spring kit can be had under budget for your small-block Chevy and can be installed on a weekend. Just be sure to follow the manufacture’s instructions for install and break-in so the cam lobe and lifters break in properly.

We recommend, due to the stock cylinder head flow and lower compression, to not go crazy with a big cam hunting for high-RPM horsepower and a radical sound at idle. The result is usually an engine that runs and drives terribly on the street, needs a looser, high-stall torque converter to drive, and actually runs slower.

You can do a cam swap while the engine is still in your project, but it sure is easier to do it while the engine is out.

When hunting for budget small-block Chevy upgrades, it’s best to plan accordingly by picking parts that are designed to work together and to be realistic with your goals. If you follow our simple plan here, you can do these mods yourself in the garage on the weekends, have a strong small-block Chevy that makes 300 horsepower like it should have from the factory that you can drive every day, and take to the drag strip for some cheap fun on Friday night.