Summit racing sells this crate 350 with an est 370hp. Says that its designed for carb use. I wanna know from the experts, must you go Carb, instead od 350 tbi? I have an old faithful LO3 eith an auto. Will my trans work?
i just wanna know if anyone has done this swap and what it took to make it work. Thanks!

 

The cam may not be particularly EFI friendly. Also, might be a flat-tappet, not a roller-tappet. Do not want.

Details matter sometimes.

Sometimes the best thing to do is to hit your local buzzard nest, and pay em for THE CHERRIEST L31 (96-2000 truck) 350 they have, WITH A WARRANTY. Like I said, PAY EM whatever they want, for THE CHERRIEST ONE they can come up with. Tell em you need one to get yer landscaping business trailer pull truck, or yer plumbing truck, or carpet-laying van, or WHATEVER, going again. For all I know, maybe you're in a business that it wouldn't be a lie to tell em such as that. DO NOT utter the word "Vortec", DO NOT let em think yer a hot-rodder playing with himself with toys, DO NOT put on airs about how much horsepucker you want or any of that. You want to FIX YOUR TRUCK, PERIOD.

You'll need a different intake, specifically, one for Vortec heads (I suggest a Performer RPM), a set of 350 TBI injectors or maybe even the whole TB off of a 87 - 95 truck or Caprice or something, and a 4-bbl -> TBI adapter. Other than that it's pretty much a slap-in.

 

Incidentally, for your signature, to bypass the obscenity filter, replace the ! with ¡, the inverted version like in Spanish. Hold down the alt key, type 0161 on the num pad with num lock on (won't work off of the regular keys), when you let up the alt key, you'll get that lovely ... letter.

 

Get yourself a couple of your favorite beverages handy, google "blueprint engine problems" and prepare to spend a while reading. Then make an educated decision..

 

you know, i did that after i posted this. And im still on the fence. i also youtubed a couple vids and i saw alot of what the complaints were.

What do you guys think about rebuilding a junk 350 vortec?

My expectation isnt so high. I want to at least reach 300hp, with minor mods if need be. Its going in my convertible, and i just dont feel like this is the ideal chassis for moderate to big power. Even with subframe connectors. I really want to cruise in it again, and still spook a couple modern cars from light to light.

Thanks for the advice in advance, guys!

 

i also see where youre going with this one. I went to the county pick and pull to see what i may find. They haD a few 98s there, but nobody around to get pricing. (Covid in Miami, people are afraid of being near each other)
4bbl, will i still be needing ecm function? (Rookie question)

 

I'd vote yes.
At 300 HP, you wouldn't need the typical high zoot mods the Vortecs require. I went bone stock out of the box with mine, a cam that was 218 @ .050" w/ .454" lift, RPM Air Gap and a 600 Holley. Great little engine.

 

I second rebuilding a 350.... IF you have a good machine shop that does quality work, otherwise you're right back at square 1.

In my younger days when money was tight, I've went as far as pulling the motor completely apart, cutting the ridge from the top of the cylinder, honing with a 400 grit hone to clean the bore up, put new rings and bearings in on a crank polished with 400 grit wet/dry paper, power wash the block at the car wash, clean up the heads and lap the valves with compound, put 'er back together and run it. Drove the car over 20000 miles and sold it to a guy who drove it for another few years. Had a little piston slap, but didn't smoke or leak oil.

My .02, if you try to run the Vortec heads, or any head advertised as "fast burn", you'll need to burn chips to limit ignition timing, most older small blocks like 36-38 degrees timing, vortec and fast burns only need about 32 degrees. Too much timing will burn it up.

 

I wouldn't "rebuild" ANYTHING, except maybe to put new valve springs on the heads.

That's why you go to the junkyard www.car-part.com and PAY WHAT THEY ASK to get THE CHERRIEST ONE they have. THIMK: grandpa was driving his truck down the road one day, had a brain cramp, and the truck is totalled. (only takes about $2000 of damage to do that) It was JUST FINE up until THAT LAST INSTANT. Grandpa probably kept the oil changed, didn't abuse it, etc. etc. etc., meaning it's PERFECTLY FINE still. Pay what it takes to get THAT ONE. That way you DON'T HAVE TO "rebuild" it.

Nobody said anything about "4-bbl", except for the adapter you'll need to re-install a TBI on a 4-bbl intake. That being the best choice for a project of this nature. Using a stock 96-2000 truck motor, which of course came with EFI, means you don't "have to" worry about whether you "have to" change to a carb. Frankly I wouldn't if I were doing this: I'd "rebuild" the TB and injectors (soak in lacquer thinner for a few hours, put back together with new O-rings & gaskets) and leave the rest of it as-is.

Oh, I forgot to mention, you'd probably also want the ECM from the 87-95 truck or Caprice or whatever, or at least the PROM chip; its calibration will be more appropriate to a 350 than the 305 setup you have now.

 

blueprint has been around a while. seems that a large portion of the complaints I saw were older. the main issue I see is that when there is a problem they immediately say send it back. well shipping a motor or even a cylinder head is expensive. Ive see a lot of these in person at car shows and the owners were happy. im all for the L31 though. for a car that's going to be a driver the power they make is plenty good. a small cam change and ya got something.

 

i have had a 355 for over 6 yrs now from blueprint an have NEVER had any issues an i race my car almost every weekend track days autocross an the back road bet downs an this engine is as strong as the day i put it in.i run a holley stealth ram system on mine an it work great.also have a couple friends with there engines they also have never had issues.yes its a flat tappet motor but like i said never never have i or my friends had any issues.wouldnt think twice about buying there engines again.i also have a monster transmission 700r4 in my car people talk **** about them also an again no issues at all.would like to think the ones having issues are the problem.**** does happen but like i said bet most is the person doing the installing

 

I've got a 383 Blueprint motor in my 1980 Buick G-Body and after I got it dialed in it's pretty good. Well built, and it even withstood a few major major screw ups on my part with no issue. If I had to buy it all over again I would.