i spun a bearing in my 1992 305 tpi and i want to put a 350 in it but put the 305 heads and all the tpi stuff on the 350 but i need to know what year motor can i use? can i put my top end on something like a 1969 block? or does the block have to be a newer block like the heads? i really need to know and can't find the answer anywhere.

 

Those only fit on a run of just a few years.

Look specifically for one made between 1955 and 1999. Only those years will work.

Also, there's only a few sizes of motors that it will fit. Only the 262.5, 265, 267, 283, 302, 305, 307, 327, 350, or 400; or hybrids of those.

Good luck.

 

Well, he should get a 1987-1999 roller block with a 1 piece rear main seal to maintain the most compatibility with what he has now.
But you are correct, any small block chevy will work, just the later ones will work better.

 

Actually, '55-'57 blocks wouldn't work. They don't have side motor mount provisions. No proper starter mount, either

Since 350's didn't come out until 1967 (in Camaros only, 1968 for general consumption), you're pretty much limited to that year and later.

 

thanks i thought that but i wasn't sure.

 

Run it on what ever the only thing you will have to watch out for is the heads off the older ones will not directly bolt onto the TPI intake manifold because of the center bolts on the intake manifold the angle of the bolt location changes but noting a drill and or a local machine shop could not handle.

 

Look at his original post: He wants to put his current heads on up on a 350 block.

 

Right; the 350, specifically, became generally available in 69. It was in a couple of applications in 67-8 but for all "practical" purposes, appeared in 69.

Your 305 heads and your TPI will bolt up to ANY SBC from 55 to 99.

Putting it into your car, will require that the block be 58 or newer.

If you want a 350, it'll have to be 69 or newer (as far as what you're likely to find laying around... very very few cars had the "experimental" 350 in 67 and 68). There are millions and millions of cars and trucks though the 70s that came with 350s, so those years are the most readily available.

If you want your flywheel or flex plate to bolt up, it'll have to be 86 or newer.

If you want to run the factory roller setup, it'll have to be 87 or newer.

But it will bolt RIGHT ON TO any SBC from 55 up.

 

wait so my flexplate won't bolt up to a block older than 86? whats the difference between the flexplates?

 

Also how do you convert a pre '86 block to roller?

 

The difference between flex plates is, they're different. The bolt pattern changed when they went to the 1-piece rear main seal crankshafts.

You don't "convert" a pre-factory-roller block to roller. That's kind of the whole point to the original system: you just install it. No "conversion" whatsoever is required. You merely put the type of roller stuff in it that all the rest of us have been using for some decades, before the factory re-invented the wheel in the shape of a traingle, with their goofy system that requires a special block. All you need is a roller cam, a cam button, and the original design roller lifters, with the link bars.