so ya there is a huge hole in the block of my 1991 z28 5 spd car, whats the strongest engine i could put in the car that will allow cheap upgrades to it? id also like to put in a new tranny.

dont have much money though, they will be from a junk yard.

think i could possibly get a 327 or 350 and a 4 spd, 5 spd, of 6 spd tranny for 800? with under 100,000 miles maybe?

 

I would look for an older chevy truck motor if you are trying to find "strong" motors. I don't know exactly what you mean by strong, but the four bolt main is stronger internally than a two bolt. You could most likely find an '80s or even '90s chevy 1500 or 2500 with a decent 327 or 350. You might not get an EFI engine for that cheap though. What you should be on the lookout for is one of the 4 bolt main 350s which came carb'ed in most of the 2500 trucks throughout the 80s. Good luck on the trans, I would keep the one you have unless there is something wrong with the internals. I would expect to pay near 800 for the engine alone if it runs and is indeed a 4 bolt main 350.

 

A 2-bolt main engine is actually stronger internally than a 4-bolt main engine. All the extra two bolts do is help reduce "cap walk".

An '87-up engine makes more sense. The 70's engines were really poor from a quality standpoint, didn't always have things like lifter bores or starter mounting machined correctly, porous castings, casting shifts, etc., etc., etc. Quality improved greatly with the advent of the one-piece rear main seal engines.

Most likely the hole was caused by over-revving stock rods & rod bolts. You "fix" that by replacing the stock rod bolts with ARP bolts. And, not over-revving your engine.

The likelihood of finding a 350 in a junkyard with fewer than 100k miles is getting less and less with each passing day.