I am building a 350 and so i can gain knowledge from the process rather then just dropping a pre built motor into my car. Also it will be easier for me to spend $2,000 little chunks at a time rather then all at once.

I purchased a 350 fuel injected from a 89 silverado 2500 for $75 witch he said had a miss.

What do i want to do?
I think 300 to 330 HP is not unreasonable but other then that i have no clue yet. i would like any suggestions you guys can give me for parts. It will be for street DD/race so I will want it tame enough to drive as my daily.


Also i am planning to switch it to a carbed unless i can get some good suggestions for fuel injection. And if i go injected i will need to get a high pressure fuel pump which shouldn't be a problem.


Tear down

Here is the start of my project. as i said i purchased a 350 and it sat in the back of my truck for a few days. I have no engine hoist only an engine stand so I dismantled some of it in the back of my truck to get it on the stand.

cylinder on the left has a blown valve. the last 2 on the right had a bent rod for the intake valve. Cylinder walls look good.





Good amount of sludge build up. clogged a few of the rods.


bent rod. the other one was just as bad.


intake

 

Wrong heads for your HP goal. You'll at least need the B2L heads, IDK the casting number of them, but I can see you don't have them. You have 193s, and those just won't work for 300 HP with a daily driver cam.

 

i kind of figured i would have to get new heads.

 

Are you wanting an off-idle tire-fryer, that's all done by 5200 rpm, or would you prefer it pull best from 2500 to 5800?

 

wow bet that motor was making a hella noise

 

most of what i do is 0 to 45mph or off the line racing. with my 305 im shifting by 5000rpm

the guy said he didnt hear any knocking. but he looked a little over half baked.

 

here are some casting numbers

here is the only thing i found stamped on the heads


here is the block

 

more tear down pics

 

The numbers for the heads will be in the tops, under the sludge, between the valves.

 

Yep, under the sludge. If you're happy with idle to 5000, spend $ 147 for the GM 14097395 cam right away, and plan on some 1.6:1 rockers when the budget permits. You're looking at over 325 ft-lbs from 1500 to 5000 rpm, with over 375 ft-lbs at peak. Strong off-idle response, excellent mileage, smooth idle, emissions-friendly, computer-friendly, it's all good.

 

casting number on the heads

14102191
J258

 

Since you need new heads or rebuilt ones your money is best spent on some aftermarket heads. The better the heads the more driver friendly the cam. Of course pretty much any aftermarket heads will far exceed your power numbers.

 

You could do 300 HP with those heads.

You could do a lot better with Vortec heads (have a set available if you're interested).

If you want 450+, then start talking about aftermarket heads.

 

shoot me an email. sbrozak (at) gmail.com

 

Whether he can do 300hp with those heads is moot since those heads need a full work over and that costs about the same no matter the head.

I have seen you hot and cold on the vortec heads in the past. As you have pointed out before in other threads unless they are all ready set up for a hi lift cam they can turn out to be less then the deal they seem to be.

I know approx how much is costs locally to have a set of heads rebuilt and for that money you can get into a set of budget aftermarket heads. Not the latest greatest AFR offering but unless the goal is 550+hp then that extra money is just wasted. Nothing wrong with a set of cast iron RHS or World Products heads. The Brodix IK series head is pretty reasonably priced.

 

"Full work over" - $150-$200 for the machine shop, plus springs & retainers maybe $100. Most shops have serviceable used valves around that they'd throw in for little to no charge.

Pretty hard to find a ready-to-run set of aftermarket heads for $300.

Establish the goal, spend money accordingly.

BTW, that's a roller-ready block, if you want to consider going to a roller lifter cam.

 

Vortecs don't want nor like more than 0.480" intake lift. And if you get right up to that, and use a dual-pattern roller with even more exhaust, they're surprisingly excellent.
This is basically how I made a true street '88 IROC run low 10s with a naturally aspirated 355.
And they can still be found in good used, still-useabvle condition at Pick-N-Pull for $38 each.
this is why Vortecs are the ultimate bang for the buck in the world of SBCs.

 

ok im at a point where i need to make a decision of what i want my engine to do before i can start getting some work done.

i want low end torque i want my engine to top out at about 5,500 rpm. i started looking for a cam that will fit what i want to do.

also i am going with a carb set up for sure.

i also have a thread for picking some heads. would 327 double hump heads do what i want.

i have an email into this guy to find out what the cast # is on these.


here are some cams i found that i thought would fit what i want to do.
link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4

let me know what you guys think.

 

Heads that old means no accessory bolt holes - so you'll have to replace your accessories with old school ones that mount to block and intake (alt. p/s pump, etc) - or else have a machine shop drill the accessory holes and tap them.

 

that could be a problem. so the search continues.

 

Update

found heads and a cam.

heads
casting # 3927186
date code is H278 - August 27, 1968
intake 2.02" exhaust 1.6" chamber CC 63.305
a little porting done to them.
stainless 2.02 in manley intake valves
metal viton seals
3/8 rocker stud
magnaflux by the shop that did the work
ended up costing $400 but still a good deal.










New stuff


Cam
Comp Cam
Part #: 12-210-2
Grind #: 268H
RPM-Range:1500 to 5500
Lobe-Center Angle: 110
Duration: Intake 268 Exhaust 268
Valve Lift: .454


melling oil pump m-55hv

Cloyes Gear C-3023X Double Roller Chain

 

Update

here are some pics. taped and before and after paint.









what do you all think about yellow with chrome.

















water pump

 

last coat of paint went on today. also ordered some more stuff sunday.

check out the pics

 

My March Performance Serpentine Kit got to my house today.

 

Wow thats is beast... I am wanting to change my 86 camaro engine from the 2.8 5 speed to the 350... A lot of work tho and a lot of money but all worth it in the end!

 

i hope it will be worth it in the end for me. lol. im excited to start putting every thing together.

 

what heads did u end up buying, i would of went with the vortecs

 

casting # 3927186
date code is H278 - August 27, 1968 from a 302 (maybe from a camaro)
intake 2.02" exhaust 1.6" chamber CC 63.305
a little porting done to them.
stainless 2.02 in manley intake valves
metal viton seals
3/8 rocker stud

 

Update !!!!!!!!

I dont have pictures for all i have done as it was 9:30 when i finished and dark so the rest of the pics will come tomorrow.

got the crank installed. i plastigauged to double check what the machine shop did. it all looked good.

installed rings on the pistons. very easy yet frustrating at the same time.

got all 8 pistons installed just need to torque them all down tomorrow.

 

Update !!!!!

pistons installed



And pistons removed. 3 pistons had bent a oil ring.


then the pistons installed again




timing chain


Lifters

 

Pretty cool, man. It's funny though, I'm doing the same work to a 350 I'm rebuilding and so far your posts pretty much match my timeline since the spring as well. My buddy and I just got the pistons installed and the timing chain/oil pan on yesterday. Difference is mine is painted Gloss black and will have red Morosso valve covers. HA! Even have the comp cam roller rockers. Weird.
Best of luck and one question though... what caused the bent oil rings on the pistons?

 

Here's what the timing chain cover looks like gloss black with stainless bolts.

 

im sure it was during installation i had the ring compressor slip off a few of the pistons right at the oil ring as i was taping it in and that is what bent it. glad i pulled them all out and took a look.


i like the gloss black. i was going to go gloss black accessories on my yellow block but i decided on chrome.

 

ok. cool. I think I'm good with the rings. My buddy (he's done this before, not me) took care of that part as I guided the rod end over the crank. He would have mentioned if the compressor slipped off too early.

The yellow/chrome is cool. that's the fun part...making it your own with color choice etc. I like your pulleys. My original plan was to simply do a mild mod 350 keeping all accessories (mostly budget reasons for now) but that means keeping the v belts too. Of course the smog stuff will come off and compared to the tired old 1983 305 that's in it, a new 350 will feel WAY better anyway. But I think next year I will convert to the pulleys and serpentine belts as well. They will definitely look better if nothing else.
I'll keep up on your posts.
Good luck!

 

Update

got the heads on. got the pushrods in place and started getting the rockers in place. im just getting them tight enough to hold the pushrods and lifters in place so i can finish the underside.

also just beat halo reach as that was one of the things taking me away from my engine this week.

 

Update

oil pump


Oil pan. i also installed the rear main.


timing chain cover

 

I got some new toys.

MSD Street Fire HEI Distributor




Edelbrock Performer RPM Air-Gap Intake Manifold






GM Performance High-Amp Alternator

Power Steering Pump

 

Update

well in the process of tightening down my rocker arms i had a nut get to a point and then stop before it even got down to the rocker arm. i tried to back it off and no luck so i tried to turn past where the nut was stuck and snap. had one on the drivers side do that. went to Rojam Machine in omaha and he gave me a nice arp replacement.



now i got the the second side and got had 2 more do the same thing and as i went to back the nut off i actually had the stud come loose so i took the stud off and got the nut off and in the process completely destroyed the threads on the stud. and no they were not cross threaded.

i replaced 6 studs on the passenger side and i ran a die over all 8 studs and i replaced all 8 nuts.

but i got that done.

i also ordered the wrong alternator. the old style and new style housings for the alternators are both 10si but on the older style the bolt holes are 180 degrees apart where the newer style they are about 120 degrees apart and thus the bracket i have will not attach to the alternator so i have to send it back.

they also sent me the wrong power steering pump. they sent me a chrome one instead of black so i got $66 free.


I primed my engine tonight and installed my intake. and have my valve covers over the heads. the rebuild kit that the rebuild shop got me was for the year of my block so the gasket was for center bolt heads so i have to get a new gasket.

 

I like that timing cover where you get it i want one for my 454...and yellow looks wicked where did you come up with that might be in my final list of colors

 

The color is Daytona Yellow. I went with yellow so i could have something different. i bought the paint from the local auto store. engine enamel.

I ordered the timing cover from summit. Here is the LINK for the one i ordered. probably will not fit the 454 though.

 

T minus 6 days until I pull the old engine from my car.

 

Excellent job man. I love it when people do things tastefully and you hit the nail on the head. And nice decision on the streetfire distributor, I have installed those on countless vehicles with timing and stumble issues and they ran like champs afterwards....

 

Thank you. it has been a lot of work. i just hope it all pays off in the end.

 

Was that the factory stud that broke? or the comp cams stud?

i would recommend replacing all of them with ARP studs. I had one break while i was driving! nothing too serious, but i replaced them all with ARP pro series studs.

 

they were installed at a machine shop i think but i know they were not ARP. i think the threads were banged which stopped the nut from going on then when i went to take the nut off it got stuck so i tried to tighten past the area i was stuck and that is when it snapped. i dont think it was a weak stud. i did replace 6 on one side though.

i will see how it goes and hope i dont have one break on me. if so i will replace them all.

 

Very intriguing build you've got here, can't wait to see it dropped into the engine bay!

 

Man, I hate to bring this up now (missed it at the time), but those heads don't have hardened valve seats for use with unleaded gas. You may be able to get by with a gasoline additive, but under hard use, you're likely to have exhaust valve seat problems.

As to what they came on, could be a 302 (which would have to be a Camaro - they didn't put 302's in anything else), 327, or 350.

 

I like it , nice job man...

 

im going to check the machine ticket for the heads and maybe ill call up the machine shop and see if it had hardened valve seats put in because i think i have heard you can have that done.

 

I was going to get some double hump heads, but some work had to be done so it could run "today's fuel", so I did not have to run additives.