spades

Well, I took my very first step into my 383 project. Drove about 3 hours, and picked up a 350 block for $150. The seller was trying to raise money for a local charity, and nobody showed interest, so he cut me a deal. Everything looks to be in decent shape. A mechanic friend looked it over, and the only thing is number 2 and 4 main bearings had been spun, however the damage was minimal. He says take some emery cloth to it before taking it to be machined, but it might need a tiny hone. I'm happy with my first ever block purchase. Pics to come soon. Warning, this thread will be pic HEAVY.

spades

The casting numbers are 10243880. Came out of a 98 chevy box truck. Had the vortec heads, but they were sold separately before I bought the block.









It's not nearly as clean as it looks in some of the pictures, lol. Gotta buy some brake cleaner and start scrubbin.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Take it to a machine shop. Don't touch anything. Let them take out the cam bearings, galley plugs, and freeze plugs, tank it, check it over. Don't spend any more money until they confirm it isn't cracked or has some other problem. Don't be surprised if it costs you a couple hundred to get to that point.

Then you can consider align honing or boring (whichever they recommend), and if the cylinders are okay to go with a glaze break or if they should be bored oversize. After the machine work is complete, the block should be cleaned again, getting all passages brushed and blown out, then cam bearings installed. You can do the galley & freeze plugs, but they probably won't charge that much to install them.

They may be willing to grind the pan rails for rod bolt clearance, but that can also be done after the rotating assembly is available. Of course, if you do it that way, you'll have to disassemble and reclean after the grinding, and before final assembly.

What happened to the two missing main cap bolts?

lunati397

or you can buy my 383 already built heads cam intake carb accy ect complete turn key setup

spades

Oh, for sure, first thing is having a reputable machine shop check EVERYTHING. I really hope they don't find anything bad, I've given it a good once over and didn't find any cracks, holes, or chips. But, I'll leave it to the shop to make sure. As for the two missing bolts, I really don't know, lol. I saw them when I was inspecting the block before purchase, and got sidetracked and completely forgot to ask.

1986Z28OWNER

iTrader: (1)

Not everyone likes buying crate engine's. A lot of people like doing things themselves.