I have an early 70's 350 sitting in my garage and I'm contemplating building it, but I'm not sure if it is worth the cost. I'm thinking about buying a stroker kit and making it a 383 but I'm not sure if this is the right block to do it with. It has the 4 bolt mains on it, but does that justify using such an old 350? any thoughts? It was free, so if it's not a good engine to do this with, then it won't hurt my feelings to scrap it.

 

Please post casting numbers about the flywheel at the rear of the engine.Is this just the bare block??.

 

I'm not at home right now, but it's just a bare longblock. has heads, intake, crap like that. no accessories or anything, so I thought it might be a good place to start building from. it's the only reason I'm asking. If it's an expensive or impractical idea, I have no problem scrapping it.

 

Well to add to what your asking is the casting numbers.Just shooting from the hip not knowing that info-there are advantages to the roller hydro blocks.Surely you can convert to that,but that is a expense you wouldn't need to spend if you had a block for that already.

Then you would have to verify where you are with the bore size and how much it would take to clean them up.

 

casting number is 3970010. sorry it took so long, it's been hectic for the last few days. is this a good casting number? anything to watch out for?

 

Probably the most common block out there for this kind of thing.

I'd wait for a 1pc RMS roller block. It's just worth it to get a newer block so you can use a roller cam.

 

Alright I'll do that. To the scrapyard it goes! lol

 

It's not without value just because you can do better these days with something else.

Don't necessarily scrap it. CL it. Make sure you put "4-bolt main" in the ad title. Even say "said to be out of 69 Vette" or some similar non-lying weasel-wording, like some scumbags do, if you're feeling sufficiently unethical.

The "greater fool" will surely come along that will want it and will pay good money for it. Won't be me, blee dat; but someone will. They always do.

 

Listen to him.

It's still a 4-bolt main 350. A lot of people will want it. But people with distinguished tastes will prefer newer roller blocks.

 

huh. well if you think someone would want it, then I guess next question is, what's a good price to ask for it? I don't really know much about it, it was given to me as a freebie when I bought my car.

 

There, fixed it for you. If you aren't a teen, then don't use teen slang.

 

It'll still be a perfect block for an older, non-roller cam guy. Perfect for a solid-lifter cam. Perfect for LOTS of things, just not for a late model engine.

The hydraulic lifter part is easy to "fix". The 1-piece rear main though means a different flywheel than what late model engines come with.

Old does not = scrap. Probably a stronger block than what the newer stuff was made out of anyways. You can always use it, just not in the exact same way. If it is free? Then convert it & use it. Cheaper than finding another block. Just go get it magnafluxed before doing anything to it.

 

I disagree. Retrofit HR lifters, with matching pushrods, will be over $400.
A late block, with used stock HR lifters, and the spiders, dogbones, and pushrods, can be had for under $200 around here. One of the local yards gets $150 for any complete V8.
Plus the later blocks tend to still have a crosshatch in the cylinders, rather than ring ridges, thanks in part to the reduced fuel wash of TBI.

 

Agreed. A newer block is usually much, much cheaper than the hardware needed to convert an older one to work with a roller camshaft.

 

Actually, the later stuff is superior to the 70's and early-80's stuff.

 

I agree that you're better off starting with a roller block. That said, for a mild build especially, there's nothing wrong with the old style. My IROC motor has a 2 bolt 71 or 72 350 block as its base.

 

Not only do you get to use the easy seal instead of the one that seemingly very few people can put in without it leaking; and the roller lifter system that, if you can use it, costs about a third as much OR LESS than what we all used for all those years back in the Revolutionary War days; but also, you dodge all the hideous quality non-control that went on back then. No more The Starter Bolt Hole Problem, The Lifter Bore Problem, The Bell Housing Dowel Pin Problem, ½" casting shifts, oil passages that line up so poorly that the front half of the block is starved for oil, cylinders that are ¼" in front of or to the rear of their crank journal, and on and on and on and on.

While there's "nothing wrong with" using an older block, if it doesn't have any of those issues, it's just an altogether better deal, for a 350, to get a newer block and not have to worry about it.

 

just wanted to jump on this thread real quick...Im about to acquire a 72 350 out of a vette...what kind of headache am i looking at to swap it into my 92 firebird...is it possible to keep fuel injection with this block or am I going to have to go carbureted? also is it worth the build?

 

"Vette" doesn't matter.

Don't pay extra for that: it's the most common lie in the book. EVEN IF there was something inherently "better" about such a block as compared to a block out of, say, an Impala, or truck, or Nova, or whatever. I bet there's AT LEAST 1000 times as many motors running around today that are "out of a Vette", than all the Vettes ever made. Best to just banish .... that .... from your vocabulary forever so you don't advertise that you've been had by an unscrupulous seller, and haven't figured it out yet. Reminds of a time somebody I know went to buy some heads or something "out of a Vette"; the seller goes out to his back yard and pulls whatever it was from out of the back seat of an opld wrecked parts-car one. Guy complained; seller says, they're out of a Vette, you saw me take em out with your own eyes. Yeah right.

That aside:

Yes your FI will work fine on it. No difference in the block whatsoever in that regard.

Only things that will be different is you'll have to downgrade from a roller cam to a flat-tappet; and you'll have to change your flywheel or flex plate to the 85-back bolt pattern while keeping the same size; and that block might not have the bolt hole drilled in it for the starters in these cars. And of course, worry about the crappy 70s quality control. Altogether, not an ideal plan, because you have to spend extra money to get less than you would if using a newer block. As cheeeeep as blocks are, bypass the "Vette" sucker line, and go get a newer one with the roller facilities in it.