Ok I have been on here asking questions about a cam and heads for my 305, but:

My friends neighbor has a 350 block that he does not want. I was told it is in good condition, and first $100 takes it. IS this worth it?

Also, If I bought it, would I be in over my head? I have never built an engine before. I was thinking maybe have a professional do the crank, cam pistons and rods. Also, while down to the bare block, would it be worth it to have it bored and build a stroker?

I only ask because I have never built an engine, and I dont want to waste my money on something that I wont be able to do.
So what is your advice on this issue? Should I go for it, and buy the block, or pass it up. IF I due decide to purchase it, what are some tips for me to do?

thanks for your time and patience with me.
James

 

i say go for it. the 383 is a solid proven performer. If that is the route you decide to take, have a shop do the machine work. It would be most cost-efficient to buy a pre-assembled 383 kit, the good ones even come with the proper balancer and flexplate. If you do a search, you will find lots of good info on the proper block building techniques, as well as plenty of good info on the various routes that could be taken with a 350. Its a common platform, with many variations out there. Building an engine is a perfection process, things have to be done just right or premature wear and tear, or failure even, is possible. But in the end, there is no better feeling than victory with an engine you built yourself.

 

A 350 bare block for $100 is reasonable but not a particularly good deal.

However, you'll find that by the time you're done with this project, the couple of coins difference between "free" and "fair market value" will disappear below the noise floor.

Count on needing to bore the block. About 90% of the time, it's necessary, especially if you want a premium-quality finished product that you can be proud of and not some smoking, short-lived thing with blowby and compression problems.

One thing you might want to do, is to visit your machine shop, and find out what they'd charge to do your block work, and sell you a crank and pistons and rods, and assemble it; and what they'd charge if you handed them a kit such as from Northern or PAW or Summit or wherever. Alot of those kits can be a pretty good deal, since you can get new parts with quality hardware instead of having to replace and rework a bunch of questionable used stock stuff.

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy parts or machine work from the low bidder!!!! If you buy the cheapest thing you can get, you'll get ..... {drum roll please} the cheapest thing you can get. Not the best, or even very good. Again, the difference in cost for the total project is small compared to the improvement in the finished product. I always recommend having machine work done by the shop in your area, or one of them, that builds motors for the circle track racers that win. Not a production-line slap-together house, not yerbasic local parts store (unless they've got a machinist with the higher-level skills, which some do but it's hard to know that up front).

If you're in west TN, I'd suggest using Hyperformance in Atoka. He's a little bit of a drive, but worth every mile.

Don't spend all your money on the short block. Heads are critical. That's where your real money should go. A stroker with garbage heads will get beat by a stock-stroke motor with good heads, every time.

 

I wouldn't suggest a stroker for a 1st-timer, but a rebuilt 350 would work nicely in your car.

Heads will make a big difference, and you don't want to use just any old 350 heads. If this engine includes the heads, get the casting #'s from them (under the valve cover), and post here before spending any money on them. If no heads are included, you choices are: Used factory heads (again, watch for proper castings before spending any money); aftermarket new heads such as World S/R Torquers; using your current 305 heads. If you go with the latter, you should spend some money upgrading things like intake valves (larger 1.94"), valve springs, and screw-in rocker studs. Some basic porting work should also be considered. All that into stock 305 heads, you will be spending almost as much as new S/R Torquers. You also need to know what you'll be doing for heads before you have the block rebuilt, because 305 heads have smaller chambers than 350 heads, which will dictate what type of pistons to put in the rebuilt block (flat-top or dished).

Most everything else will swap over from your 305, but there are some things you don't want to re-use: Cam (get a nice aftermarket upgrade cam, relatively cheap); exhaust (every piece of the LG4 exhaust chokes a 305, so upgrade to headers and high-flow everything else while you're doing this); air cleaner (the single-snorkel LG4 piece chokes a 305, so get or fabricate a dual-snorkel air cleaner).

If you've never done any of this, a good repair manual will be helpful in the engine disassembly/reassembly. Always nice to have someone handy who has done this before as well, for instant help/advice.

 

well sometime in the next few days I am going to look at the block. I figure, gotta start somewhere you know?
My plan would be to have a machine shop do the machining and everything.
My dads friend owns a shop, and im sure he can hook me up with all kinds of people to get this thing done.

Thanks for the replies so far and I hope I get many more.

James