i have an opertunity to get a rebuilt 83 350 v8 out of a scotsdal pick up truck for free right now it has about 10000 miles on it has a 2 baral carb and headers lol yes they put headers on it and it only has a 2 barral on it should i go for it or what.

also if i do go for it would i be smart to swap the heads from my lg4 onto the 83 350 or would i loose power doing this.

if i do go for it i dont plan on doing the swop untill i run my 305 into the ground because as is my 305 only has around 3500 miles on it after its last rebuild

if i do it i plan on taking all the performance goodies off of the 305 and converting them over to the 350

what do u guys think is it a waste of my time to get the 83 350 or not.

 

my 305 i have in her (83 z28) runs way to well to yank her at this point im just thinking about the futer.

 

Nothing at all special about it.

Yes you can put your 305 heads on it, probably better than what's there.

 

The engine thats most likely in the truck is ok for a start. Nothing special in stock form but most people go for the RV cam upgrade when they rebuild. The stock heads suck and most 4bbl apps came with the same size valves as a 305 so I'm sure if this is a stock 2bbl setup you would be better off using the 305 heads, you will loose some port volume but nothing special and the gain in compression will out weigh the loss. Got casting numbers???

 

you said it was FREE.......that would answer it for me

 

If it's free, and it is as lame an engine as you descirbe it should be perfectly seasoned for a nice rebuild with better parts.

Truck engine normally are 4 bolt too, but witha 2BBl not sure if that makes a dif for the block. Get casting numbers and check on mortec to what it really is, also 305 heads and intake with 4bbl on that engine much much better then what is on there.

 

After a little more thought, I can't recall that they put 2-barrel carbs on any motors in 83.... how much you wanna bet that when you run the casting numbers you find that it's really a 78 305 or something.

Free is good. But get casting numbers, and be certain of what you really have, before you spend the first dime on it. There may be a perfectly good reason why it's "free".... by giving it to you, the current owner avoids having to pay to get it hauled off.

 

i havent looked at the intake on it but the owner of it i could od sworn sed it was a 2 baral on it but i could be rong it doesnt sound roight to me cause the engine has headers on it and when it is idleing it has a mean idle to it like it has a cam in it. the motor is very clean uther then being painted all ornge. now that i think about it it might actualy have a 4 baral on it cause last time i glanced at it the carb looked a little big to be just a 2 baral to me.
im in school right now but when i get home from school ill take a look under the hood.

also the truck has a 4 speed in it and true duals right now if it helps at all.

 

Sounds like the truck has been worked over pretty hard.... who knows what's in it.... just because the sheet metal was assembled in 83, doesn't tell us a whole lot about what somebody may have put in it.

Anybody can stick a cam in anything, and headers on anything, and any size or design of carb on anything (well, almost anything.... any SBC anyway). That tells you nothing about bore and stroke, or head flow.

Don't worry though, casting numbers will tell all, everything else is just a waste of time and idle speculation. Nothing else is the truth (emphasis on "nothing").

 

You could still get just about any combo up to 86, you could even get a 3 speed saginaw on the tree to 86 but I havent seen any that new. Chances are this was a 305 2bbl the majority of the trucks Ive worked on were, and someone swapped a 350 in that needed an intake and carb so they used the 2bbl setup. But I have seen stock early 80's trucks with a 350 2bbl.

 

Thanks to Chuck's Chevy Truck Pages

 

By 83 GM stopped using 2 bbl carbs in V8 trucks. It's either a 4bbl as you think or someone swapped it out. If it's painted orange it's possible it's an older engine.