my dumbass friend ran his new 350 knowing he had a big f-ing hole in his radiator and siezed the motor. He bought a new crate motor from GM and they will give him $100 core for his old motor. He'll sell it to me for that much if I want it. What are the possible scenario's that I can be faced with as far as the work needed to fix this motor? It is supposedly a roller motor with less than 10k miles on it since a rebuild. Thanks

 

I'd rather avoid that.

 

If it's a 350 roller block, I would say it's worth the $100 bucks. I was looking for just a block a while ago and coudln't find a used one under $400. By the time you get it machined, you'll have a brand new block basically (which you would have to do with an otherwise used one anyhow). If the heads and all come with it too, I say go for it. You can send them to the shop and have them checked out too. Most likely what happened is the rings and pistons pretty much melted together, and fused to the side of the piston wall. I would think that they could be removed and the bores could be bored out.

 

that last sentence killed the idea.

its been rebuilt already.... and you probly will have to machine it again...

tell your friend to give GM that crap motor, and find yourself a non-rebuilt 350 roller core to go off of.

 

I def. see tokens side of this. but I also have hope that it only needs to be bored and get new slugs. Do you think the bottom end should still be ok to use? The cheapest route would be to just get it bored but I don't know the likelyhood of there being cracks, and I also don't know how to remove a stuck piston.

 

Ya, I didnt catch that 'rebuilt' part! You said 'new 350' and I assumed 'NEW new'. Like MrDude said, if it's been rebuilt once, you dont want to have it machined again if it already has. When you do that, such as having the crank turned, your taking metal out every time you do it, and having to put in thicker bearings, increasing chances for somethign to go wrong. After a couple times doing that your getting risky. If the cylinders needed bored (again), they are probably getting thin or maybe not even capable of being bored again. Dont take the chance.

 

well, the person who sold it to him says he's a performance engine builder and built this engine for his work truck and took it out after less than 10k miles
But, he also said this thing has 400hp, which it does not, and it also has a wimpy cam and the stock oil shelds on the spring retainers. And it also has the typical "100k chevy puff" of smoke at startup. I think the guy was full of crap from the beginning and the history of the motor is very questionable. I hate to belittle my friends but I think he saw him coming a mile away.

 

but as far as damage, am I just looking at the cylinders needing to be bored or do the crank and rods need to come out? (not a race motor, my plans for this would be to use it as-is for a daily driver). I understand they may already be bored to the service limit but for arguments sake lets just assume they're not.

 

i never like going more then .30 over.


lets be honest here.


you arnt getting a deal on the price. you have doubts about the history of the motor, it was SIEZED from someone overheating it......


DONT GET IT.

tell your "friend" to get his $100 core from GM and tell him not to tell them what hes done.... or he might not even get his core charge... heh.



you should be able to find a nice worn but rebuildable never sized shortblock for around the same price if you look around... first place i always tell people to call is their local machine shop... if they dont have one, they probly can tell you who will.

 

yup, I think thats what I'm gonna do. I don't think it would be worth my time to try to sell the heads off it either.
the thing you said about asking a machine shop for a beat engine- wouldn't I be in the same situation, since it would need to be bored?
Since I'm not in desperate need of a project motor right now I'm just going to pass. Thanks for the help

 

yes... you would have to rebuild it..


but you can get one that isnt bored over already.... and take it to the next overbore.


the one your friend has has already been overbored.... and we know it warped enough to sieze. it will have to be bored out again, and you may not be able to overbore it more...

i never liked to ever go over 30 over..... and alot of people just jump to that as the first overbore...

getting a untouched block will let you take it out where ever you want it.... plus theres a MUCH better chance that its not junk.

 

Why can't you just pull a head off and measure the bore. Will answer your questions and if you don't want it just slap the head and intake back on it for the core. Not exactly rocket science.

 

Pulling a head and checking the bores may seem like a good idea but, I think I would want the block magna fluxed for cracks. This engine had to get really hot to seizeup. I'd pass on it 350 in NJ should be easy to find. Right Randy