I have been doing some searching and can pick up a 5.7 vortec 350 pretty cheap but not sure if its worth the money to put in my car. I'd be replacing my 2.8 v6 and trans. Any suggestions would be great thanks

 

do it. cant beat high compression v-8 power. only drawback is you will go thru tires faster.

 

I suggest the minimum with a used engine is a tear down for a bearing check/reseal and valve job.Leak it down and do your compression checks too.I had no noise on my donor 5.7,but found some very wore rod bearings.I was right at the edge of becoming a problem and it was a crate short block.I poured some money over it and it's magic,it grew to a 383.

Stick with a EFI too.The short term it might be a pita,but over the long run you won't regret it.

 

theres a lot more involved in the v6-v8 swap than just an engine, you need a bunch of little things. id brush up on the v6-v8 swaps before commiting.

youll need new front springs, a new transmission, if you keep the efi, youll need a new ecm and wiring harness, possibly a new fuel pump (dunno what the v6 puts out psi wise), and some other things.

 

If you are wanting a first generation small block, that one is the best you can find to swap.