Well my little 305 has developed a oil problem it likes to spit oil out the exhaust pipes. I am trying to find a good cheap replacement engine. I know I shouldn’t have put good and cheap in the same sentence but my budget is really small! I was looking at the Goodwrench 350 crate motor the one Jeg’s offers for 1299.99. I was thinking about picking up a XE268H cam to boost the power a little. Will the stock heads, springs, and rods accept this cam? Or should I buy the K-kit the one that comes with lifters, springs, timing chain, retainers, locks, and so on. Later on I planed on putting good heads on you think this motor could be capable of say 400hp with the right parts?

 

yeah, a nice cam, good heads, 10 to 1 compression, 750 cfm carb, and maybe ull hit 400, if not, soem juice should do it

 

This engine you're looking at is probably not the best choice for a perf buildup IMO.
I'm pretty sure it comes with the factory dished pistons and the heads leave a lot to be desired too.
It isn't that it won't work, there are just much better choices. That's pretty much what performance building is about... choosing the best parts.
If you can find one with flattop pistons, you'd be better off. Even if you found a different block that comes with the same heads that are offered on that Goodwrench engine, it would be something that would work better after you upgrade to some better heads.
And there shouldn't be much cost difference.

 

that one is the 1986-earlier motor right, ive got the 1994 LO5 that SDPC2000.com sells.. i got it for 1500 from them, plus shipping and its great. i dont see why you cant get 400 hp with a good cam, some alum vette or vortec heads and some upgraded pistons. if you had to choose a buildup engine, it probably wouldnt be that one or the one i got, but what you can afford is what you can afford...

 

It seems in my opinion, that if you are going to have to change your pistons, heads, and cam, you might as well go and buy all the parts and assemble it yourself, after all, you are going to anyway. If you are gonna do a complete teardown and rebuild, you may as well do it once and put flat toppers in the motor in the first place. IMO, i would find a decent block, order an internals kit, find a decent set of heads, do a little portwork, and install whatever cam you want. You'll spend less in the long run, and only have to build the engine once instead of twice or three times.

 

Or find a shortblock that has the features you're looking for including the cam. Then rework your heads to fit that.

 

I personally agree with ljnowell. If you can do it yourself then I would do that. If not any competent machine shop can assemble parts for you for a decent price. I think the local shops around here charge like $250.

You could also find a used 350 for cheap, and use that as a starting place. Re-use the crank, rods and get the block machined w/ new bearings etc... get a set of pistons, rings etc... Then a set of decent head and a cam and you are looking at 400 crank hp...

 

Yeah, the shortblock is your foundation, do that part right regardless of everything else. After that all other parts are bolt ons.