My car recently has given me a few problems to worry about- brakes are on the way out, transmission was just replaced...only thing im worried about is the engine dying on me (I have reason to believe the car has 147k miles on it).. Now, there are obviously lots of people here who have swapped in other engines on low budgets, perhaps junkyard finds- post your success stories with these engines! I could use some advice- thanks

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305IrocZ28- Al
1990 Iroc-z 305 TPI auto, Flowmaster exhaust, 2 Rockford 10'' Punch woofers w/ 160a2 amp, 2.73 rear (1650 rpms @ 60mph)

 

I have a short success story, that is the success only lasted a short time!! Took a 350 covered in mud, pulled it apart to find not only had it been used as a urinal for a dog, but for fireworks shows. The oil pan was filled with paper from firecrackers. Tore it down, washed it at the car wash, put new bearings, rings, gaskets in. One piston didn't even want to rotate on the rod. It ran good for awhile. Later my father bought it off a friend of mine who I helped build the car. The engine slowly ran worse. He tore it apart to find the wristpin on the piston that didn't like to move had decided to move right into the cylinder wall, and then in to the water jacket. My dad bought a short block from NAPA, and put the misc. parts back on, it runs great to this day. It was in a 84 Camaro.

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Joshua Johnston
1991 Z-28


350, T-5, K&N, Ported Vortec heads, Edelbrock RPM, Holley 750 D.P., HEI, 11.07:1 CR, Comp Cams Roller-.510"/.520"-282*/288* dur., Shorty Headers, Dual 2.5 Exhaust,Dynomax Bullet Mufflers, T&R Motorsports custom air intake

 

Oh yeah, it cost $50 for the rebuild kit, and $90 for the X-Celerator intake. Everything else was free.



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Joshua Johnston
1991 Z-28


350, T-5, K&N, Ported Vortec heads, Edelbrock RPM, Holley 750 D.P., HEI, 11.07:1 CR, Comp Cams Roller-.510"/.520"-282*/288* dur., Shorty Headers, Dual 2.5 Exhaust,Dynomax Bullet Mufflers, T&R Motorsports custom air intake

 

well i got my 350 from the dealership i bought my car at. the engine was running in a truck that they took in on a trade that had a bad title so they parted it out. i got the engine for 150 bucks carb to oil pan, put new gaskets and oil pump in it. i bought some used headers and a holley 750 VS at a swap meet, 50 bucks each. i rebuilt the carb and bought a cap, rotor, plugs, coil, air filter element. i put it all in myself then drove it open header after calling around to find the best price on a custom y-pipe, got it done for 130 bucks. i bought other things like guages, tools and diffent vacuum and fuel hoses.

i figure i got less than 650 bucks in the swap. the engine came with a NCC HEI, polished MT valve covers, a weiland intake that looks like a Team-G without an airgap under the runners. the engine was pretty clean inside and i am assuming it was rebuilt not too long ago. i think its got a big cam in it too, need to get a different one i think since i dont know what size the one in there is.

it dont run perfect but im still workin the bugs out of it. its a great running enigine and doesnt seem to use any oil.

the worst part about it is the cam and the oil pressure drops to 5psi at 800 rpm or below when the engine gets warmed up. ive heard this is quite tipical but even my oil burning backfiring 305 had 30 psi at idle all the time. and i think i dont need all that intake and should prolly get one that suits my needs better.

all in all i think i got a hell of a deal so far..

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former 305 crossfire fuel injection
350 cubes
hooker headers
750 vac secondary
700r4 with shift kit
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"no man with a good car needs to be justified."

 

this prolly dont make sense but what i mean is if i knew how to tune an engine better than i do it would run perfect, lol

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former 305 crossfire fuel injection
350 cubes
hooker headers
750 vac secondary
700r4 with shift kit
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"no man with a good car needs to be justified."