The Official LG1200 350 Chevy Build

[lg1200]

Well fellas after many months of bullshitting I've been bit by the bug and I've started the process of building this Chevy 350 to swap out this Olds 307 in my Regal (Dottie is her name)..after my beloved grandmother who was the original owner. Saturday after flying back in from NYC for a funeral I was itching to get this thing on the stand and get this cracking...so I rented a cherry picker and put it on the stand with the help of Mathematic (another board member) and this is how the story starts...

Bought the motor for $50 from a guy in Newnan,GA..this is how it looked when i picked it up..

After it was on the stand we started the break down..oil plug bolt was stripped so we carefully removed the oil pan and then poured oil into the storage container...nothing was in the oil so that was a good sign. proceeded removing everything in the pic below before getting to the pistons..

And this is what I was left with..

2 bolt main..looks ok for now..So I proceed to remove connecting rods, pistons, main caps and the crank...come to find out the block has been bored .040 over already...geesh..well let's see where this takes us..the cylinders look and feel fine but hey what do i know...

And here's what the block and cylinders look like after a pressure washing and wipe down..

I didn't want to bore it more than .040 over so I'm dropping it at the machine shop in the morning so they can check the cylinders to see if we can go forward with honing, magnafluxing and prepping for rebuild.

What are you guys' opinions on using a block already bored 40 over if it turns out to be a usable and leaving at 40 over and then going forward with honing, magnafluxing, freeze plugs, etc...are there any foreseen issues that i could have starting out with a 40 over block? Come on guys I need some good OG feedback..Thanks in advance.

 

[lg1200]

Seriously i need some feedback if any other board members have invested in blocks that were already bored, especially ones bored 40 over..

 

[zuma83]

no cracks or chips and u should be good if you ask me

 

[LSCustoms]

personally no, but you can go to 60 over... the only reason I wouldn't is because you start putting all that money in the motor and have no more re builds, if it were a 4 bolt, maybe and then it would depend on what the motor is going to be used for or how much was going to be spent putting it back together, if you are just doing a stock rebuild, no hi-per stuff and its not costing you too much, then go for it

 

[80ELCAMINOFLAKE]

Im in the same process of building my first 350 motor my self...so confusing but getting it...i can tell you this, your block looks better than mine...lol

But i think 0.40 is good to start off with...im only going 0.30 and keeping it a stock rebuilt...maybe a different cam...but we will see...

i still need to drop off at machine shop to get dipped and ready to build...good luck and i think your on the right track..

 

[lg1200]

well i dropped by the machine shop and had the guy check the cylinder walls and he recommended not going to .060 over because i'd be running the risk of overheating especially if i didn't get a new radiator..makes sense especially for a daily/weekend driver...

I left out the parking lot and dropped that block at the his metal/steel recycling spot and got $20 for it..i kept the heads, crank, cam but **** it i got something back..

So I got on the phone when i hit the highway calling around looking for my next block and what do ya know...my partner says he has a virgin 400 and 350 short blocks that i can have my pick of...i told him I wanted the 350 (stock bore,etc..) and i can pick it up this weekend or on monday if he's not back in town. So things didn't turn out so bad after all..i'm actually getting what i wanted. :wink:

And the price you may ask...no money at all..no cash exchanging..actually he's gonna owe me some more parts...i promised i'd build his website for his shop and we'd work it out that way. I'm a Unix administrator by trade but I'm also into design and a/v work as well so designing sites is cake for me...Now I'm just trying to get this site done mostly over the weekend so I can get back to wrenchin ya dig!! updates coming soon...i'm taking a trip down to summit to pick up some small pieces to start this stock pile of parts for the rebuild and may hit up the yards for a 700r4 or turbo 350 for the lowski..

 

[lg1200]

40 over motor got scrapped b/c it was gonna need boring again...BUT i got a stock 010 short block, standard bore, and a set of 062 heads for taking on designing a website for a mechanic friend of mine. disassembled the new core and will drop the block with machine shop on friday. a brother is stoked as fuccccckkkk!!!