Sorry this is so long... Just getting excited about the build

So I've had my '90 RS since this past summer. I bought her from a guy who obviously sucked at life when it came to cars. Now I'm not genius but I think I know better than this guy. While he had it he replaced the stock 305TBI with a carbed 350 from an 85 pick-up. Now I thought this was a fairly great idea because it would give the care more power. When I bought the car, I knew I would be rebuilding the engine as well as trying to fully restore the car with time. I just recently pulled the engine to find out what a crappy job this guy had done on this car.

I had been having starter issues with the car for the past few months and thought my flywheel was "egg-shaped". However, upon removing the engine and tranny It was easy to see that some how this guy managed to break block where the starter mounts. He then tried to fix this problem by welding on the block. Obviously this can't be done, well it can but he obviously didn't do it properly. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to rebuild this engine because of a cracked block or other reasons, but no I can't do it because of such a small thing such as this.

HOWEVER, luckily my father had an older 350 that had been sitting for awhile. It had been sitting for over 20 years. I took it to the machine shop and the owner told me he would have to tear it down to see if he could work with it. It was in bad shape but luckily he things its going to work. The shop is having to bore it 60 over because of the rust. He's doing a total rebuild for me. He's going to go up one step on the cam and use the LT type springs. I'll be adding a Weiand Stealth Intake manifold and a 650 Holley double pumper. I'm hoping that this will finally fix the issues I had with the other engine. So as I stated above, I'm beginning to get excited about this build. Any suggestions would be great.

-G.

 

Get details on the cam. It may be a "step up", but a step up from where?

Also, get the casting #'s off of the heads. About 85% of factory 350 heads aren't worthy of a Weiand Stealth. If something like 882, forget them entirely. Find a set of Vortec heads instead. Have them worked over, new valve springs, cut the top of the valve stem seals for positive type stem seals which will also allow more valve travel. The Stealth is available in the Vortec style.

 

Before you go buy the used vortecs, find out about what it will cost you to rebuild them , because after the work that you have done, that aluminum heads aren't really much more expensive.

 

I'll look into the vortec heads... what type of cam do you guys suggest. I know that this car won't be street legal because of the emissions laws but that is what I'll be using it for. It wont be a daily driver but I don't plan on taking her to the strip.... at least not right now.

 

retrofit roller cam with roller lifters.

 

A lot of coin for very little benefit.

If your block is set up for factory roller lifters, then keep it roller lifters. Otherwise, flat tappet is fine unless you're building a maxed-out engine.

 

My engine will be done next week and we plan on dropping her in within the next couple weeks. Found out he's using a flat-tappet cam. I know i shouldn't have stayed with the stock heads but as of right now (which i'm sure you're all thinking i'm gunna regret) since they are in fine working order I'm just gunna keep them. I've also had to replace the torque converter because the bolts ended up getting loose (2 were lost) and it egg-shapped the holes where the bolts mount. Did the same thing to the flywheel so that had to be changed too. I got to take a look at the engine a few days ago and it looks great, compared to what it did look like. It's amazing how they can take a block that has been sitting and rusting for over 21 years and make it look brand new... I'll keep you updated

 

If you get vortec heads look for the casting number 062 not the 906 supposely ive heard that the 906 have less of a power increase unlike the 062. Can anybody support me on this?

 

No, the 062 vs. 906 has been pretty thoroughly debunked. The magazine that started it all later retracted, but of course the damage was already done.