MOTOR CAME TODAY! Woah, im excited...i need a towel. Completely rebuilt 350 w/ 4-bolt mains, never been run before. It came from S&S engines painted silver, and i want to paint it orange. Is it okay to paint over paint, and can i do it while its on a engine hoist? It came as a long block w/ a high volume oil pump. Is it hard to put the pump in? Will my 305 oil pan fit? I bought a chrome dress up kit for it, do i need a gasket/sealant for the timing chain cover, valve covers, or oil pan? How should i torque the valve covers/timing chain cover? Should i put the headers and ypipe i bought for it on before i put the engine in? It currently has 462624 heads with 1.94s and 76cc chambers...ugh. It also has an elgin E923P camshaft with .420 int and .443 exh valve lift. The .050 duration is 204 int and 214 exh, with an adv. duration of 270 int and 280 exh. I also have a comp cams xe268h cam in my garage. I have stock 2.73 gears with a stock 700R-4 right now, in a few months it will be 3.73s and either t-5 or t-56, and maybe slightly worked vortecs. Should i put the 268 in right now while the motor is out, or later, when its in. I dont want to over cam it. I really cant think of any more questions right now, but im sure i'll have some later. Thank you for your help.
Matt

 

lol... nearly identical to my setup. Those heads are probably garbage so id hold off on the cam for now untill you get some good after market ones that can flow enough to take advantage of the cam. Since the engine has a 2 piece seal oil pan (or the one from the 305) you can change the cam later w/o having to drop the pan. The rubber seal on the timing chain cover can be installed separatly from the gaket on the pan so basically, the cover goes back on w/o ahving to hack it apart or use tons of rtv. As for the t56 (no t-5, its too weak for a 350), in addition to the trans, i think the only extra thing you will need is a retrofit flywheel for the older 2 peice crank. As for the paint, i dont know. Itll probably be ok but sometimes it can aligator if you put too many coats on. I personally prefer black to silver or orange. Those are a little to flashy for my tastes.

 

Call the supplier and find out what kind of paint they used. Many times, teh light spray of paint is only for rust prevention and doesn't adhere very well once the engine is in service. You may end up sanding it all off, or just sanding the surface to get good adhesion for your new color coat.

As for the oil pan, the 305 pan should fit as long as the dipstick is on the correct side.

Regarding the chromed dress-up kits, many of these genuine "Chinesium" (to steal a term) parts are so thin and poorly made that fitment and sealing can be a problem. The timing tabs on the timing cover are almost never in the correct position. If you have a good fit, and the mating surfaces are clean, you shouldn't need to apply any gasket sealant except at the joints of the oil pan gaskets and seals. If you don't have a good fit, no amount of sealant is going to prevent leakage.

Don't install the headers before installing the engine, since you likely won't have clearance. You can trial fit them to be sure they line up correctly, but will probably have to take them off to get the engine in the top side.

If you are going to change the camshaft, now is definitely the time, since changing in the car is a lot more work. You'll be able to degree the cam a lot more easily now, too.

If you are afraid of too much cam for those gears, you could bolt a different torque converter on the flexplate before installing the engine. Something with a stall RPMof around 2,400 or higher might help the gearing, but if you don't have a locker or posi, traction is going to be more of an issue than gearing. I bust loose too easily with the stock 305 and 2.77 gears, so until you do some tire changing and suspension mods, gearing will be less of an issue than hookup.

 

Dont know what everyone elses opinion is on this but if your going to put the cam in now you should definatly consider getting better heads. Not sure what the specs on those heads are but the 268 will probably be on the outer limits as far as the max lift is concerned and they probably will flow terribly and would hurt performance if you left them in place. My opinion is probably not the best aporach, or the right one, for that matter, but im gonna risk it and contradict vader on this one (uh oh....). I say that if your going to leave the junk stock heads in place you might as well leave the cam there, too. After you go to change the heads down the road with teh engine int he car youll pretty much be almost all the way there as far as changing the cam is concered. Getting the cam out isnt too bad as long as you make sure you have adiquate clearence in front of the cam. Granted, i will agree that degreeing with the engine out of the car is alot easier. I have nearly the same engine setup and i think it works great with all teh stock stuff but if i where to switch over to the 268 i probably would change the heads, converter, and gears (as well as dump the tbi )

 

Thankee all. Its much appreciated. My buddy is comin over tomorrow with the engine hoist so we can get it off the crate. Long weekend this weekend, so i'll see if i can do all the major stuff by tuesday. Im changing over to carb, so i dont much have to worry about the shoddy ceasefire injection i have. I checked to see the fitment on the timing cover and valve covers and they seem to be decent, although they are indubidably made of 100% grade A chinesieum. Not sure exactly how the timing tab works, but i'll figger that out when my more experienced friend gives me a hand. Im definitely getting more and more excited. Im going to see how hard it is to remove the radiator before i put the engine in to see if i want to do it all over again for the cam swap in the future. I think that i'll probably go with the cam thats in it now, simply because it'll be easier on the valve springs, is allready in there, and probably performs much better with these crappy castings. Not to mention that new cam might void the nice 7 year 70K mile warrantee that i like so much. I still wouldnt mind seeing a li'l catfight between two greats such as dimented and vader. I keep going into the garage to smell that sweet fresh motor oil scent. mmmmm, eau du mechanic. Thanks for the help, and keep them suggestins comin if you still got em.
Matt

 

holley crap! 7 year warantee!?!? Damn... i wouldnt even touch it, or at least speak to the place you got it from before you make any changes. With a warantee that long it would be a shame to void it. Odds are nothing will go wrong with it but its good peace of mind. One final tip... make sure you do a good break in. Those first few miles are the most important for your motor. As for me being one of the greats.. I wish...

 

break in instructions for new motor