Water in cylinders, now what?

[LT1B-Body]

I got it unstuck! Only got it rotated about 270 degrees tho.
I used a sweet little flywheel turner.

 

[Wageslave]

Buy a wrecked or blown trans g-series van with a 350 engine. Running should be $500 or less for the entire vehicle.

Pull the engine, scrap the remaining 3500# for $300 and sell the cat converter.

Engine is free, direct swap it into your car in a couple hours labor.

Done.

If you go this route, as an additional incentive you can take the TBI wiring harness and computer with the motor.

It only takes about 30 minutes to remove and is basically a stand-alone EFI system. Being in a van, there is extra wire lengths to work with and the computer slots right in where the CCC computer would be in the passenger footwell.

 

[ck80]

If you go this route, as an additional incentive you can take the TBI wiring harness and computer with the motor.

It only takes about 30 minutes to remove and is basically a stand-alone EFI system. Being in a van, there is extra wire lengths to work with and the computer slots right in where the CCC computer would be in the passenger footwell.

Also, depending on year you choose, comes with a bonus serpentine setup saving a couple hundred

 

[LT1B-Body]

If you go this route, as an additional incentive you can take the TBI wiring harness and computer with the motor.

It only takes about 30 minutes to remove and is basically a stand-alone EFI system. Being in a van, there is extra wire lengths to work with and the computer slots right in where the CCC computer would be in the passenger footwell.

This is a good idea!
I have a tbi 305 in my caprice wagon, so I already have a bit of experience with it.

 

[bracketchev1221]

I got it unstuck! Only got it rotated about 270 degrees tho.
I used a sweet little flywheel turner.

Did you rotate it backwards too?

 

[LT1B-Body]

Did you rotate it backwards too?

That's how I got it free

 

[bracketchev1221]

That's how I got it free

Rotate it till it gets stuck and soak it again.

 

[LT1B-Body]

Earlier this morning I hooked up a fresh battery and cranked it over, and it made it past the rough patch. It's spins freely now.
I'm still try to get it started though.

After it starts and I can test the trans, I'll pop a head off soon to see how it looks.

 

[LT1B-Body]

What color did chevrolet paint their engines in '78? Did they go to black yet?
I scraped some grease off the oil pan, and chevy orange shone through.

 

[ck80]

What color did chevrolet paint their engines in '78? Did they go to black yet?
I scraped some grease off the oil pan, and chevy orange shone through.

Change to blue was supposed to be in 1975 when they went to unleaded gas. Some people say they had some 76 trucks with orange, but may have been summer/fall of 75 builds. Also recall that engines would be assembled a few months prior to installation at a different plant.

Pretty much anything built later in 1976 calendar year onwards switched over is the concensus