I found a junkyard that will sell a vortec 350 shortblock for $350 but it's an hour and a half away vs an older 350 for $400 about 30 mins away. Both are ready to drop In once I put my own vortec heads and edelbrock vortec Intake manifold and carb on. Is there any real advantage to having the vortec 350 vs a reg vortec headed 350? I plan on picking one up today after work so need to decide fairly quickly.

 

All of the advantages depends on what year the other 350 is.

The vortec 350 has factory roller cam setup, powdered metal rods, hypereutectic pistons, 9.4:1 compression ratio.

Ther roller cam is the biggest advantage over a common non roller gen I sbc. The retro fit cam kit for a non roller is around $800-900.

Also keep in mind the vortec block does not have provisions for mech. fuel pump, so an elec pump must be used.

 

It's worth the extra 2 hrs to get the better core.

There's NO DOUBT that it will save you AT LEAST 2 hrs worth of work assembling it somewhere along the line, and more likely, more than 2 hrs of cost in parts you DON'T get with the older blocks.

The only down side is the lack of mech FP provisions.

 

Just because it is a Vortec block does not mean it lacks mechanical fuel pump provisions. The original engine in my 97 G1500 Express was an 880 casting 4 bolt main 350 Vortec and it had a fuel pump pushrod hole machined into the block and a factory block off plate. The cam however did not have a FP lobe.