Ok, sometime in the near future I will be building up a 350 on the budget of ~$2000. It is going to be carbed. I already have the carb but I need everything else unless I use my 305 heads. What would you do with this budget?

 

Also, I went to a couple of junkyards today and none had any 4 bolt main 350 shortblocks! WTF is with that??? For such a widely used motor I would think they are easier to find... How much do they usually go for? BTW, I wanted the shortblock so I would already have the crank.

 

a complete motor around here would run $125. complete from intake to oil pan. so i would say 50-100 bucks for just a shortblock from a salvage yard..

 

If you really gotta have a 4-bolt main, keep looking, they're still around, but a 2-bolt main would work fine for a budget eng.

Used block= ~$50
Vat,maganaflux,bore,hone= ~$250
Master eng rebuild kit (or a stroker kit) $350-500. (powerhouse.com)
Cam, lifters, springs, roller rockers=~$400
Good aftermarket iron heads off Ebay =~$800
New Intake=~$150 Used intake =~$75
Timing gears/chain kit.=$100-150
Water pump=~$50-75

It adds up quick!

Keep in mind; you still may need to beef up the exhaust, cooling system, chassis, tranny, and rear-end.

 

Well from what I've seen in high hp applications a 4 bolt seems to be the best bet so that's why I wanted one. But a 2 bolt would hold up fine?

 

Yeah

http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...tart&catid=120


I have been debating the same thing. Well kinda..... I Could get some vortech heads, manifold, cam.... and spend a load of money or just buy a crate engine for about the same price. So I'm looking at that 330HP 350 and its looking a little better then heads and a cam. Easier to install too.

 

Are 400 sbc's hard to come by at junkyards?

 

If your talking aboutr adding that stuff to a short block you already have, your way off on the price. Hell, Im building a 4-bolt 383 with vortecs and I'm still coming in under the price of a chevy crate engine. Plus Ill pound one of those little 330horse jobs. 330 at the flywheel isnt all that impressive either. By the way, I'm only using the 4-bolt because I got it cheap. I started a post on this a while back and asked for REAL stories about blowing out the main caps because they had a 2-bolt instead of four. Im still waiting for the first story.

 

Depends where you are. Some will say "Hell yeah". Others will tell you where to find four just sitting in a bone yard.

 

Well, will somone please tell me where a standard bore 2-bolt 400 motor is; or hell just the block.

 

A 2-bolt main should be OK till you reach >500HP and >7000RPMs.
Don't think you'll be seeing those #s on a $2K build-up.

 

Well put.

 

hey, just to be argumentative my friends got a 7500 rpm spinning 2-bolt main pushing 750+ horsepower!
the main factor of the engine was cheap horsepower. simply big everything, big cam, big intake, big CC cast iron heads, big compression etc... its very easy to build a cheap high revving horsepower monster... its by no means a street car though... and he changes bearings about every 50-80 runs just to tear it open and check things out. it is a 2 bolt block however, and even though I think hes crazy using it, he hasnt had a problem yet. his last block was a 2-bolt, but the powerglide spit 2nd gear, the engine free-revved, and snapped all his valves off (1 piece manleys!) off at the face which did considerable damage at 12'000 rpms (it was a 10K rpm monster! this new engine is a kitty kat compared to the old one... )
just some background info, dont try this at home kids
the guy is 57 years old, does this for a living. (building engines that is, not racing) and has been doing since he was 19. (he helped my build my 500 horsepower blown 355 small block! so far... so good!)