my buddy has this freind that has a 350 that is torn down completely. i've never built an engine but... it really doesnt seem that hard to me....my question is................he just took the pistons out and didnt match them up..so i wont know ..which cylinders to put the pistons back in................................

my one freind told me ..that thing NEED TO BE MATCHED....

should i just buy a cheap rebuild kit.....and slap this baby together???

i'm looking at a budjet of 500 bucks..

thanks.

 

Have the block machined and get new why you have it down....fix it right the first time...your car will love you for it....check out these kits..http://www.speedomotive.com

 

i always put the rods and pistons back in the same place but i think you'd be ok if you just made sure you had the pistons facing the right way.

 

thanx guys


do you think 500 is enough..

for a bore....and a rebuild kit....

and whatever else i need...

i'm looking at a very low level project here... its better than my 305

 

theres A special order that the pistons go back in buy a chilton book on chevy 305 - 350's also remember to torque them

 

and no 500 is not enough

 

Around here the speed shops get $550 -$1200 just for the block work. Northernautoparts.com has COMPLETE 350 rebuild kits for $150.00 bucks. I know these are'nt the race parts many desire but for a first rebuild, what the hell! Get the block degreased and crack checked, throw a clean up hone at it if the cylinders aren't too bad then build it. Granted this won't be a street killer but a nice running rebuild is possible for $600. Then again if it's not anything fancy, take the motor to your local auto store and possibly swap it for a reman?. Reliable short block are cheap for a daily driver, it's the top half that makes power. Shop smartly!

 

I think you would have a good chance of finding a running 350 for 5-600 bucks, maybe less if you are patient and look around.

 

Yeah, I'm sure you could too, but to each his own, I guess one way to look at it (in my opinion) $5-600 for a mystery motor or $5-600 and you personally know what it is exactly and don't have to worry about the abuse it's actually been through. Either way it could blow today or tomorrow, I guess, but that's what makes hot rodding and budget building so fun. All the midnight oil and doing stuff twice after the ole 20/20 hind sight. The way I see it, the guy needs to seriously consider what the motor is going to be used for 80-90% of the time, how much knowledge/ability he posses to save himself money, and his maximum budget. I did the 355 swap a few months back and allowed myself $4000 (motor, transgo garbage, gauges). I came in a couple hundred over budget so the tranny swap is on hold right now (another $1200 for that swap). I just tried to keep it all in perspective so I did'nt go over board, really sucks cause now the car is'nt raceable, but it's a fun street terror.

 

Yeah, i was just throwing out some options...I also would go with the rebuild....I did the" friend of a friend" thing when I bought my 327...as a matter of fact, it was supposed to have been a 350..thus my screen name.....I got lucky and got a good motor.
I also know about budget, I put about 2000 out doing my swap, then another1000 getting it tuned and upgrading the tranny.
Seems to me there is no cheap way to build a performance engine...cost to build them and cost to keep them going...this has got to be one of the most expensive hobbies I've ever had..but I love it!
The wife and I are heading up to Scribner NE tonight. I wont be able to race, my tranny, stall and shifter are still sitting on the bench in the garage. Watching the races always rekindles my effort to get my car done....

 

My memories are still waaay tooo fresh of all the rig-a-mor-role we went through doing the swap, and there's no easy way to get tranny back out, so that's another reason it's on the back burner. If I could do it all over again I'd use the 3/4 legnth headers instead of the full tubes.

 

You can get a rebuild kit from www.northernautoparts.com for around $150...
I wouldn't pay more than $125 to get the cylinders bored,and a valve job is around the same.
If the heads need to be milled thats about $30 a piece..
So YES you can do it for $500........

 

I paided around $800.00 total for all the machine work and parts to get a great long block. I think machine work for the block alone was just about $400.00. That included complete cleaning, magnaflux bored .030 over with torque plates, zero decked the block, honed, mains lined honed and all threaded holes chased and cleaned and rods resized and pistons hung. If you shop aruond in your area I'm sure you can get a pretty good deal.