Hrsepowerz28

hey guys ive stumped my pals over at z28.com on what engine this is. Im looking at it right now talked to the guy but hes confused (wont tell me but obvious) about what engine is in here can anyone tell just by looking its advertised as a 350 but idk someone let me know.

heres are the pics

http://boston.craigslist.org/car/112456216.html

Apeiron

In fact, nobody can.

From the factory that car couldn't have had a 350, but one could have been swapped in.

Hrsepowerz28

i know they best they came with that year was a 305 but i mean can u tell or not? if not i can wait til friday and get the codes of the block

Apeiron

Not without checking casting numbers or pulling heads and measuring.

Crayz9000

Chances are, since the seller said "engine was REBUILT at 120,000 miles", it's the original block -- and that means it's an LB9 305. No thirdgen Camaro came with the L98 350 until 1987.

It'd be easiest if you got the codes, but I'd be willing to bet that it's an LB9.

Also, since the engine was rebuilt at 120k and the car only has 123k on it yet the engine has problems, I think somebody screwed up when they rebuilt the engine. You'll probably have some top-end engine work to do. (This is coming from experience... that's exactly the condition my car was in when I got it.)

Hrsepowerz28

im thinking he thought it was a 350 and put 350 heads on it and thats whats causing the problem? what was causing ur problem?

Crayz9000

Improperly indexed cam and overtightened lifters. Some idiot at the chop shop that rebuilt the car's engine forgot to index the original cam when he reground it. Then, when installing the cam, they screwed the lifters in too far.

The result was an engine that barely ran. It had a serious lope to it, heated the manifolds cherry red, and screwed the cat over because raw fuel was dumping into it. We had to pull the top end apart and give it a valve job while we got the correct factory replacement cam (though sooner or later I want to put a slightly more radical cam in, like a ZZ4...).

Hopefully this one isn't as bad, it just sounds like the owner doesn't really know what he's doing. All I'm saying is, expect problems.

90Formula-X-F

The 3 big numbers on the side of the block will be the last 3 of the casting numbers. That will make it really easy to tell.

Apeiron

If it has 3 numbers on the side of the block.

Vader

Wow. Is regrinding a cam even worth the labor? For a factory grind? An Elgin (OEM) cam can be had for about $40. That's less than an hour of time on a grinder, with setup, indicating it in, and grinding, that CAN'T be even worth the effort.

rjmcgee

How do you screw in lifters?


And dumping raw fuel into the cat and cherry red manifolds don't go together.

Crayz9000

Ok, it's been about two years since I had that engine apart (I've had the car since October 2003), so I forgot exactly what they did wrong. I meant they overtightened the lifters.

As for the cat, let's just say that it was f-ed up. The engine was running far too lean, and the cat was loaded. Now that I think about it, it was probably loaded from before they rebuilt the engine -- if it was running too rich or burning oil that would have loaded it up.

The O2 sensor was what got killed because of the engine running too lean.

Anyway, I don't want to hijack this thread with a discussion about my car, I was just trying to give a friendly warning...

Rob Wade

Who's to say the engine was even rebuilt. Could be the origional 305 thats just been beat to a pulp and never maintained.

spedrace35

If I was looking at any 85 camaro for $1200 I would be more concerned about the body and undercarge of the car. I would assume that the entire engine and transmission would need a rebuild!