Okay, Ive been calling up salvage yards in Indiana and asking if they sell bare engine blocks. They say, what kind are you looking for? I say a 350 Chevy small block. They say, hold on...... Then come back and say, what year make and model is that for? Then I say, it doesnt really matter, but its for an 82 camaro. Then they say, we dont have that. Is there any difference between an 82 bare 350 block, and a 92? or any other year, or car for that matter? Ive heard a lot of people saying they put a 454 block from a GM truck in their camaro. I am however looking for a block that will accept roller lifters, but I thought that was the only main difference. Any block that will go in my car will be a good block, but they always ask me to specify a single year and model. Can I just ask them for any 350 GM block?

Thanks

 

Just ask to talk to someone who knows what they're talking about. 80% of the time at better salvage yards these days, they use a computer system that tells the phone operator what they have and they can't find out if they have what you want or not without typing in a make/model/year into the search fields.

Some better ones like the system used at the recycler I was at a while back had very good interchange information right there on the screen, but the doofuses that they typically hire still aren't bright enough to take advantage of that information.

If you want a factory roller block, then any GM Corporate GEN I motor from 87 and up will work. You can retrofit roller cams into any GEN I block without machining with kits available from cam manufacturers.

 

big differance is the main seal, 1 or 2 piece, they changed in 87, along with the center bolt valve covers and roller lifters

 

Actually 86 had one peice also , and some of them has the stands for the lifter retianer but they weent tapped.

 

Don't forget that the dipstick changed sides too. Also it could matter if it's for an auto or a stick, because they all didn't have the mount holes for the clutch linkage. Older smallblocks 68 and back I believe had smaller main journals too, but that won't affect a 350 unless it' a 327 block. then as said, the rear main seal changed, and the older ones won't accept the factory roller setup.


Ain't that the truth I asked for some spark plugs for my 305, and after telling the dolt at pep boys every option my car had, on top of what engine, he brings me four of them.

 

ok evil thanks for setting me straight ,i guess i know that but forgot. i was more interested in running up my post count than passing on accurate information. i know every time gm makes a change it seems to take several years for them to get it all done, like the boss for the spider but no holes, same with 26 and 28 splined axles.

 

OK... for 82, anything 85 back will work, except that from about 80 back the dipstick was on the left, which will not work in one of these cars unless it has headers.

No factory roller block will bolt into a 82 car without changing the flywheel or flex plate, because all the factory roller blocks are of the 1-piece rear main seal design, which has a completely different crank flange from the 82 car.

The reason they say 'we don't have that" is because their books don't show it, because it was never made. Sounds to me like you talked to a lazy or non-Chevy person at the yard.

Calling junkyards and asking for stuff like that on the phone never works very well. Professionals don't ask for stuff that way, and they know when they get asked a question like that, they are dealing with a retail type customer, which they hate to do because it's so much work on their part and so high a probability of problems (returns and such). The far better approach is to educate yourself about exactly what you want, go there in person and ask to look through their motor room, and when you spot the perfect one for you, buy it.

All blocks will "accept" roller lifters, you just have to have one of the specially modified ones to "accept" the factory's goofy Rube Goldberg. If you can get an engine with the roller lifters still in it, then it's worthwhile; if you can't, then don't bother replicating it, just use the link-bar type lifters that all the rest of us had been using for decades before the factory actually looked at the world around them for the first time and discovered this great "roller" thing, then sodomized it.

 

hey, thanks for all the great input, i appreciate it. I am going to build the entire block from scratch and with mainly new part (probably not stuff off my old block) so I dont have to worry about matching anything from the old block to the new one. And I am going to go with headers too because I want high intake flow, and a hot cam, which would be wasted on a car with poor exhauste. I am going to match everything so it works well together, but first I have to get the block to start with. I guess if i cant find a block with the roller lifters in it, ill just go with a good set of hydraulic flat tapped instead. I also would like to go with a decent manual trany to replace my 350 turbo. Any suggestions on what kind of block and trany would work well together?

thanks again.