i was wonder how the older 350 sbc are and how well do they take to mods? i am talking about the 350 ones that have the small dip stick on the driver side and is way down there by the headers. and is there a way to tell if the heads have been changed or not by appearance? or is there a code on them i have to look for??

 

they're uhh... exactly like all the other 2 piece rear main 350 blocks...... except the hole for the dipstick to slide into is on the other side. and because of that, the oil pan is diffrent.

other then that, they're like every other SBC.

 

except for a few minor differances all SBCs are the same and respond to mods in a similar fashion

 

Usually they have not been touched except for minor repairs timing chain, gaskets stuff like that. No way of knowing what could have been done except to start tearing everything apart. Just remember if you do use one of these DSL dip stick tubes headders are a must unless you like to modify dipstick tubes or can find one of those elcamino oil pans.

 

the tube isnt a big deal.. you can bend it out of the way by hand (carefully)


biggest prob is the oil pan.


i remember tossing a motor together to put into my camaro and here i was under the gun, HAD to get it done and in the car... and bamn, i realize, the dipstick is on the other side!

so then i had to go find a oilpan to fit it, before i could stick it in the car.

 

Well depeding upon what vehicle it came out of it probably has alow compression ratio and crappy heads resulting in like 180 hp. But its still a 350 throw some good heads and a cam in it and it will put out a good amount of power.

 

I put a 74 350 short block that came out of a police car into my camaro. The engine was rebuilt to 300 hp by a reputable engine builder. I will start doing further mods to the engine in the next few months such as a torker intake, HEI dist and an edelbrock performer. I'll let you know how the engine takes to them. One thing about the engine is that the stock passneger side LG4 exhaust manifold does not bolt up. You need to use an adapter. The adapter works ok but there is a slight exhaust leak. I will be getting headers or older exhuast manifolds soon anyway, but the leak isnt that bad.

 

remove one of the valve covers and read the head casting number from between the valve springs.
Then go to www.mortec.com and find out what engine/year/horsepower they were used on.