Before I buy a new engine for my car I need to know if it's worth repairing the one I have. First let me explain what happened. I was driving to the beach on a nice day (not too hot out). When my temp went up to red line. As soon as I noticed this I started to pull over when my engine just shut off. I was doing around 70mph at this time. I opened the hood and all this smoke started coming out of the engine. The coolent started bubbling out of the reservoir cap. After having the car towed to my house I looked at the now cold engine and notice oil everywhere. I checked the dipstick and saw white in the oil. <p>Does anyone have an idea as to what happened to my car? Also can It be saved? I'd rather spend $1000 to fix it then $2100 to get a new engine. But I'm not sure if it is fixable. I would like your opinions so I have something to compare against what my mechanic says. BTW the engine is a carbed 305 in my '82 T/A. Thanks for reading my long winded post!

 

You could have blown a head gasket, cracked a head, or cracked the block.

The only way to know for sure is to pull it apart, look for leak paths, clean everything up, and perhaps have things magnafluxed. Most likely you wiped out the rotating assembly (at least so that you would need machine work to get it working again).

New engine is a sure thing. Rebuilding a 305 makes so little sense.

 

I don't know if this helps but I was able to get the engine to run again but it made all this noise so I shut it off. The oil is coming from somewhere on the bottom passenger side of the engine.

 

Have you looked for a crack or whole where maybe a rod came thru the block?

 

I haven't notice that. I don't think the engine would even turn over if that was the case. The reason this seems so complicated to me is this: I have $3000 to spend on repairs. This has to include labor and parts. I need the car to be in running condition by the end of the month. I've thought about having friends help me put in a new engine but if we f up then I'm screwed. I've looked at the 350 engine at jegs as a back up but I'm not sure if my old parts from my 305 will hold up with the new engine. I'm stuck between a rock and hard place.

 

Man, I used to work at advance auto parts last year and I know that you can get an old style 350 long block for about 900 bucks. I know its not the best, but I didn't have any come back either. All of your 305 intake exhaust and distributor will go on no problem. Maybe you'll need to re-jet the carb.

I think a better alternative is to go to a big city nearby and get a complete engine from a wreck. You could get a 350 from an 80's 3rd gen for about 500-600 bucks with all of the accessories on it. Swap some of your 305 stuff to it and drop it in.

Either way, you need to dump the idea of rebuilding your 305. Sorry.

 

I've already covered that in another of your threads.

The carb will not have been hurt by whatever happened to the engine. It could probably use a rebuild kit, but that isn't difficult with a clean place to work where you can spread everything out.

The intake manifold can be cleaned while it's off the engine.

The damper & flexplate will not be affected.

The distributor runs in the oil, but it is not heavily loaded. It should be fine - if it isn't, find another.

Exhaust manifolds won't care what happened to the engine.

Water pump should be replaced, just because. $40, tops.

Same with belts & hoses. $75 at most.

Nothing else will care what went on with the old engine.

The junk yard option is a good one to consider.

 

Thanks that makes me feel better. I think I'll buy a long block 350 from jegs and just attach the old parts to it.