I picked up a 350 block several months ago and I have just now had the time to have a good look at it.

The guy said that it was from a late 80's vette and it would spew oil out of the dipstick. When I took the pan off, it only had 2 bolt mains. I thought that all vette's had 4 bolt mains. I looked up the serial number and it says that the block os 2 or 4 bolt, roller and nonroller. I am almost positive that it is a roller block since the cam has the same wear pattern as another roller block I used to have. The listing also says that it is an 87-95 block (I think thats it, i can't remember off hand)

Now, the real qestion I have is that when I took the pan off, half the oil pump fell out. The 4 bolts that hold the plate that keeps the gears in was gone and parts of the plate were in the pan. To me this isn't good, but what do I know? I then took the front and back bearings out. The center section of the front bearing is slightly dull but thats about it. The rear bearing has some pretty deep grooves in it and is quite dull... if you run your finget nail accross it, it gets caught in them.

So.. should I expect the crank to need to be turned down? What other things are there that I should look for? It will be taken to a machine shop to be bored .030" over but I would like to know what I should expect from them.

Sorry this is so long, I appreciate any replies.

 

If you finger gets caught on any of the bearings... definetly time to grind the crank down. Dissemble the whole thing and look at the crank journals. Or better yet, have the machine shop look at it and see if it needs it.

 

I secont that get the crank turned, do you know what year vett it is supposdly out of? only HI-PO vetts had 4 bolt mains but all had a high vollume oil pump, you can tell it is a high volume pump if you take it and put it next to a regular oil pump the case of the pump goes deeper, the gears (inpellers) are longer and they had to strech the case. also make just a tidbit of info '84 vets came with an option for a 305, man they must have sucked

 

I have no idea what year "vette" its out of, I will try and track the guy down who I bought it off of. Here are the specs.



Casting # CID Year Main cap bolts Notes

14093638...350...87-95...2 or 4.................Roller or flat tappet cam
one-piece rear seal.


Can anyone tell me how good/bad the rods are from this block? Should I keep the stock ones or go aftermarket. All bolts will be ARP. I am looking for a reliable 350 HP engine when I am done.