Hello MD, This is Jeff, I owned the white 88 T/A (bone stock 305 L03 auto) in desperate need of a car wash, interior restoration and hatch struts to replace my baseball bat at the July meet. I met another fellow from the St. Mary's area (I think he said Hollywood, which is where I am also from). He had mentioned a speed/performance shop that does rebuilds for relatively cheap. I think he said it was off of Rte. 231. He had one of the red camaros, but I [embarassingly] forgot his name and screen handle. He also claimed to have a couple of 350 blocks in his garage, or something like that. Anyway, I'm looking for him as I discovered while changing the oil today that the Trans Am is leaking oil from multiple places, which can't be good. One place is around the valve covers, one place at the base of the intake manifold, another place at the crankshaft, and places underneath, though they may not be points of leaking just in the path of the other spots I mentioned. So either I'm going to get the engine cleaned up and rebuilt (.030 boring and new gaskets, etc etc) or I may consider buying a 350 block off of him or any of the fellow MDers that have spare blocks "laying around". So could the person in reference please pm me, or someone let me know who it is to contact. If someone else has an engine they're willing to part with, I'll no doubt need a complete or near complete engine (minus the A/C, alternator, water pump, etc. of course) and ECM (unless I buy another L03). Thanks guys. I'll try to make the next outing if possible.

You're thinking of jichniow.

MuttandJeff

First about the engine shop: I’ll give them a plug on here cause they did such a great job for me. It’s called Samakow Racing Engines. They are located at 101 Skipjack Rd up in Prince Fredrick. They’re in an industrial park near the Benidict bridge. Their phone number is (301)-855-1339 if you’d like to give them a call to ask about prices and such. They really aren’t the cheapest place to go, but after looking around they’re just as expensive as Hayden’s or Yates. They specialize in building high dollar engines for some serious racers, but they also take care of us little guys for a cleaning and boring. I’m still impressed with the quality.

For the 350 that I’ve got laying around: It comes complete with heads but will need the intake and the rest of the induction, along with valve covers. I do have a water pump for it. It came out of a 92 Chevy pickup so the cam is mild and doesn’t have much top end. I might suggest replacing the cam while it’s out of the car. Ran great but needs new valve stem seals like just about every other 350 with some age.

I’ve also got an extra ECM out of a Firebird that I think had the L98. The Firebird was in the junkyard on 235 up in Oakville, just north of us. The rest of the intake and induction parts may still be sitting in the car. It’s a good opportunity to change over to TPI if they’re still there.

If you have any other questions feel free to email me or post it right up here.

Thanks jichniow,

I think I'll call the engine shop first and see what they have to say. Only problem I would have is that I don't have an engine stand to pull the engine so they'll probably charge more if I just park the car there.

I don't know if I want to venture into the TPI route just yet. That gets exponentially more expensive to upgrade and budget is tight for the moment.