Im looking at 350's in junkyards around me (slim pickings). I am having difficulty telling the difference between a good 350 that will last that just has some road grease on it from a bad 350 that has or will spin a bearing in a few thousand miles. I can hear a few run even, some have bad valve seals. But besides a compression test, look for oil leaks, and listening for knock, what can i do? Thank you for your help.
Matthew

 

Look inside the valve covers for sludge, see if it has signs of being well maintained or if it looks like it's been run into the ground like have the sparkplugs been changed within the last century, look at head castings and pick one with the best heads you can find (NOT 882), get one that hasn't already been rebuilt which you can often tell by looking for one of those freeze plugs with the "telltale" that melts when the engine overheats (and if you find one that has that, see if it's melted), look at the exhaust ports for signs of oil burning

 

With the spark plugs out I would take the cap off line the engine up to TDC and turn the crank from left to right until the rotor moved. This will tell you how many degrees of slack are in the timing chain. Four or 5 degrees is the most I would accept. This is also a good indicator of mileage. If you have tons of slack that bad boy has been around the block a few times.

 

:I have 882 heads.

You guys are picking on my heads(

Eric

 

I ditched mine and swapped to Iron Eagles and picked up 6 mph in the 1/4.