what to watch for buying a buick 350 long block.........

[85442/86buick]

hello ,

I have a line on a Buick 350 , going to look at it Saturday morning . cannot hear it run . it's sitting on a engine stand . Only seen picture or 2 , it appears complete maybe minus a carb.

it's the old story it's was running fine when pulled, to be replaced by a big block.

as it stands now , i have no history besides it was rebuilt 10,000 miles ago ...no details on cam , etc.

as a long term goal , i been looking for an engine expecting to rebuilt that .... and found this.

i do not expect it to be plug & play

so any tips as what to look for ?

what would you pay for this mystery motor ?

thanks for your time

Dave

 

[pontiacgp]

Get a camera to look down the cylinders to see what the walls and tops of the pistons look like. The USB borescope cameras are cheap. The oil pump is on the front of the engine, the pump cover is easy to remove to check the wear on the cover and what shape the gears are in.

 

[lilbowtie]

If it were me I need to get a good felling from the person I'm buying it from (not a line of BS). Look at the engine - a 10,000 mi engine should be pretty clean. Bar the engine by the crank and feel how much play is in the timing chain. If you like what you see and thinking about buying, ask to pull the oil pan and you might want to look under a rocker cover. It's already on a stand and if it's a good engine he shouldn't have a problem doing it. Check the bottom of the pan and I would pull a couple bearings and inspect(rear is last to get oil). At the same time with the pistons up you can check the cylinder walls and have a look at the camshaft. If it all looks good I would consider plug & play.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Compression test. Mount a starter, hook up a battery, crank away. 10k miles should show pretty high numbers, but consistency between cylinders is paramount. Clean internals would seal the deal for me.

 

[85442/86buick]

thank you all for your replies............. but the big question still is what to offer $$$.

yes it's in his way and wants it gone .

if all looks good.....i thinking start at $ 300 ....now that's canadian so it about a 6 pack american.

dave

 

[ssn696]

I have a Buick 455. Only 2000 miles south-west of you....

 

[MrSony]

Sweet! Another small block buick! My situation was a bit different than yours since my 350 was in the back of a bard with fluids in it for 10 years, and everything has already pretty much been said. Check oil pump for wear, ask if you can check rod/ bearings if there is no oil in it, and the camera is a very good idea. Keep us updated! And yeah, that seems about right for a recently rebuilt motor. I got mine plus a trans (turned out to be junk, busted bellhousing mounts, but only payed 75$ for it) for 375$ USD which i think is like 550 Canadian. So that's right on track. Really bug the dude for any receipts or paperwork or at least a Cam card that he may have. For me it'd make it worth more if I knew what I was getting.

 

[85442/86buick]

to update this , here's the picture from the kijijji ad.

yes , it's blue ......very ford blue and now sitting in the bed of my truck.

story is it was pulled from a 68 skylark , has TRW .30 over pistons....all to be confirmed

it did come with a box of bits , quadrajet carb , starter , exhaust manifold , etc.

it appears to be clean internally

i will started checking the casting number's

oh paid $ 400 CAD.

Dave

ps. all paper work for the rebuilt was lost in a business closure , the gentleman i bought from ran a mechanic shop in the past.

 

[ssn696]

Remove the tin and check the work. If you can get past the color, you may have lucked out!

 

[565bbchevy]

The thing I would have questioned since it only has 10,000 miles it still should be pretty clean from the original install yet he felt the need to apparently put a fresh coat of paint on it based on the fact that the hook holding is also painted blue, when people do stuff like that I feel like they are trying to hide something.