First post here, had a 2nd gen years ago and this one fell in my lap. Anyway the motor is knocking its a 355(so im told) I have owned this car since last Monday and the knock was faint however now its back with a vengeance... is it worth buying a new one from jegs or trying to rebuild this one? This would be my first time for any of this, my wife wants me to sell it but a RUST FREE 92 RS is hard to come by these days lol. especially for 2k!! I thought the knocking was coming from the loose bellhousing bolts originally. My main questions are would the top half be salvageable or scrap it all. Jegs has a 350 for $1700 plus tax. Kicking around what to do so I can drive it this summer. thanks.

 

Sounds like you would be better off with a replacement. You will avoid a lot of crap wasted time and frustration trying to coordinate parts and machine work for not much reward in the end. My , just get a long block and call it a day. You can swap it out quick and be back on the road and get the wife off your back.

Assuming you are a TBI car, you will probably be looking at https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/059/8758/10002/-1

 

I would go with a roller lifter, one piece rear main seal engine.

 

Hi leaver, welcome to TGO.

Loose bellhousing bolts aren't as likely to cause a knock, but if the bellhousing bolts were loose, perhaps the torque converter to flexplate bolts are loose too, which most certainly can produce a knocking sound......

 

Rocker studs come unpressed and bend rods making a hell of a noise sometimes also. Could be an assortment of things. If the engine is bad though a crate engine is cheaper and easier in the long run.

 

Its coming from the right side of the motor towards the bottom, like a loud thump sound. I bought it from a 17 year old kid I work with. Was completely fine until the distributer came out and started knocking, hence why I got it for 2K.

but this is the motor I'm looking at. Its not a lot but if the intake, carb and headers can swap right over to this I should be fine.
Unfortunately with my second child being a few months old I don't have a ton of funds into this build so far. Has anyone used this before?
https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/059/7353/10002/-1

 

Its not TBI. This was a v6 car, has a 355(kid says it does) but its got an edelbrock carb currently.
All i know is that someone did a ton of burnouts because the rear inner fenders are CAKED with melted rubber and so is the underneath near the gas tank.

 

If its been carb'd then you can get any small block you want. You may need to get an intake compatible with the heads if yours is the newer style.

If the distributor came up and it still ran its likely the oil pump drive disengaged and you were running with no oil pressure and that explains the knock.

 

probably. any tips going forward? Never done any of this before.

 

What kind of oil pressure do you see right now? Have you checked your oil for bearing/metal? If you have low oil pressure (make sure you distributor is in all the way) and trash in your oil you are probably looking at replacement. Sounds like you don't have a lot to worry about if the FI has been removed, that will make things easier for a first timer, a real basic engine exchange.

 

they wired in a autozone gauge, stopped working before this. Currentyl leaks oil tho where the gauge is