I am currently the proud owner of a 92 RS with the all mighty 305 power plant.

My mom is junkin out her old car, a 89 Caprice police package with a 350. Car has 190k miles but has been taken care of and runs great. I can get this for free.

My brother in law is upgrading his Nova from a 350 (late 70s) to a 454. The 350 has been punched out to a 355 and has a really nice top end on it, Motown heads, roller rockers, big cam, 750 holley ect. Never been dynoed but we assume it is putting out 400+ at the flywheel. His 72 Nova will run 8.6 at 87MPH on the 8th mile with this motor. He is willing to sell it to me for $600, I figure thats a hell of a deal.

Of course I would perfer the built up 355 but I am still going to take the stock 350 off my moms hands. So if all goes right I will have both motors sitting in my garage this winter.

So what I am wondering is if I should just through the 355 in or if I should make 1 motor out of the 2.

Would the 89 block be better and would it bolt into my car with less hassle?

With almost 200k miles on the Caprice motor I figure its due a boreing. So if I had it bored would all the internals bolt right up, except maybe the crank (2 piece rear seal vs 1 peice seal)? The crank in the 355 is a stock crank.

Are there any differences between the 350s used in the Caprices vs the police package Caprices?

I am sure I will have plenty more questions as I go (:

BTW I have been reading these forums for over a year. This is my first post since every question I have had about my car I can find the answer to on a previous post. Bravo to you guys with all the answers. This site rocks (:

 

your exaclty right, make 1 good engine out of both, and then put the crap onto the other block and sell for alittle cash.

take the 89 block (roller and 1 piece same as your 305) and have what work needs done to it. Freshen it up.

then take the top end of your bro's 350 and put it on the roller 89 caprice 350, now you have a kick *** roller 350.

and you can put the top end of the caprice onto the bottom end of the nova block and sell and sell your 305 ..... and get some cash back for it all.

 

Yes..

Use the roller block, as you can add a roller cam at a cheaper price than adding a "retro-fit" roller.

If the engine in the Caprice has been treated to regular oil changes, and taken care of as you stated ( ESPECIALLY if it still runs well ) machine work won't be that bad.

Take it to a machine shop..and in THIS Order:

- have it vatted
- magnafluxed ( checks for cracks that aren't visible, and saves you from putting $$$ into a junk block / crank / rods etc )
- Bored / hones
- I'd also measure the deck and have it decked IF necessary
- Have the crank mic'd ( measured ) and ground down IF needed, then polished

IF it were me I'd go ahead and buy some new, reconditioned rods w/ ARP bolts already installed. This is almost always CHEAPER than having the stock rods redone...

Then buy a basic rebuild kit -

-Pistons
- Main / Cam / Rod bearings
- Rings
- Oil Pump


I always use Detroit Gasket or Fel Pro gasket kits, I don't like the gaskets that come with most "budget" engine kits

Go ahead spend the $$ to have the rotating assembly balanced igf you can afford it... it's WELL WORTH IT.....

Have the heads off the other engine checked, and if they check out, run 'em.

As well as intake and carb if you're going carbed.


You could probably get a good bit of money back by selling the shortblock from your brother, plus the heads from the Caprice ( worth a few $$ to someone... )

HTH and good luck