what year is my engine?

[beermonkey9417]

well i found a 350 on craigslist for $100. its a 4 bolt and still has crank, pistons, cam and paint. i emailed the guy to send me the casting code on the block so i dont get scammed again. then prolly pick and pull some heads and get them cleaned up and start from there. also gotta have an engine stand, found one for $40.

 

[81_2dr_bu]

slow down killer just a heads up after you get the 350 block it would be a good idea to tear it down and brought to machine shop and have it cleaned and checked for cracks theres a chance its a good block but theres also a chance it could be bad is it worth the risk . the time and the $$ just something to think about also to add i had a 383 built all new i mean a new block not a machined one it cost me $4 g's done by a builder on a 350 it needs to be machined for crank clearence theres alot to do to redo blocks and heads etc so do alot of homework finally i will tell you one of my experiences /mistakes you can learn from i had a 350 4 bolt i had in my chevy truck i had the block cleaned and checked i bought pistons,crank.connect rods and all bearing from a friend after the machine shop checked it all i was up to $950 plus $300 for the pistons etc next i bought a set of old skool camel hump chevy heads used $200 i lapped the valves and changed valve seals bought a lunati voodoo cam $113 installed new lifters ,push rods ,timing gear set up ,new arp main studs $75,new arp head bolts $75 me and a buddy assembled the engine we broke it in everything went ok the next time i ran it a screw in rocker stud broke so i replace it i am a novice on engine repair so i run it again next thing i know something went wrong in a bad way i tore the engine down a valve snapped and stuck in the piston cracked a hole in the head ,bent the connecting rod,crack the cylinder wall . a couple vital steps i did not do is replace the valves and have them machined also did not have valve clearence checked by machine shop . thats why i spent the cash to have one built my builder broke it in and made it so all i had to do was install the motor and tweak the carb i learned a expensive lesson not saying you will have a bad experience and you might know more than i do about motors just saying dont skimp it could be costly Good luck

 

[beermonkey9417]

yeah i understand i gotta tear it down to make sure nuthings broke or wrong, but dood... theres this thing called a period(.) and, a comma(,). i musta read yer post like 5 times before i understood it correctly. but yeah i actually bought a book called "how to build big-inch chevy small blocks" by graham hansen. i also found the rotating assembly from eagle, its a 383 kit thats balanced for $799. i gotta plan, now i just gotta follow instructions.

 

[81_2dr_bu]

ehhhhhhhhh the comment on the periods and commas made me smile and my excuses are( i graduated high school in 1989 pulling c averages due to smokin pot and beer. <<<<<<<<< period If i was writing congress i would take the time to do it well or pay the educated .<<<<<<<<period well sorry you struggled reading my post and good luck with the build and one more thing how is doode spelled correctly i thought it was dude or is it doode j/joking

 

[81_2dr_bu]

oh and i forgot to mention in my excuses LSD . i posted this pic for inspiration

 

[Doober]

David Vizard is another good author to read.

I can't tell you how many times I read through this book before I built my first SBC.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Chevy 307 ... maybe an improvement if it WAS the Olds - kidding. They were alright if memory serves essentially a destroked 327.

Nope, a Chevy 302 is a destroked 327, a 307 is a stroked 283. The 302 had the bore of a 327 with the stroke of a 283 (4in bore, 3 in stroke), while the 307 was the opposite: bore of a 283 (I forget off the top of my head) and the stroke of a 327 (3.25 in). It is not as bad as a 305, 262, 265 or 267. All of those have smaller bores than the 307. The 305 is basically a debored 350, and has a 3.48 in stroke with a puny bore that I once again forget, but is obviously much smaller than a 307's due to the difference in stroke. Of all the crap SBC's (262, 265,267, 283, 305, 307), the 307 is probably the least bad, if that makes any sense. (The Good SBC's are : 302, 327, 350, 400. All but the 400 have a 4 in bore, the 400's is bigger.)

 

[beermonkey9417]

i just relised how lazy i am, i was gonna ask the ball park range for getting a block checked at a machine shop, but i think ill just call them and let you know...

 

[Doober]

It may vary by area, I'm not sure. I called for a few different services on my motor (balancing, cleaning, etc.), and they all seem to have been within about $20-$30 of each other.

 

[beermonkey9417]

well i went to the lee auto by my houes and got a topend gasket kit, compression tester and a scraper. i asked about getting the heads cleaned up and they said around 150, but they werent totally positive because they send it to the des plaines lee whitch has a machine shop inside it. so i gotta ask them. so now i gotta find a place to do it