Ok guys, thanks for all your help so far. Just a little more.

I am picking up a semi used motor, less then 10k miles on it tomorrow. It’s a 350. Performance rebuilt. There’s a story behind it but that’s for later.

I've seen it and was going to buy it until a worse tragedy hit.

When I last saw it the motor turns freely, except in one spot, at almost
TDC on #1 even with both heads off. This was easy to tell that it was due to the water inside of the cylinder, it had a bit of buildup on the wall, no corrosion, just a bit of buildup. It would hit that is counter clockwise rotation, and clockwise rotation and stop in just that spot. The guy that owns the motor told me we could push it past that spot but it wouldn't do the motor any good. He refused to torque the balancer bolt more then I think 30lbs because he’s stripped them before and learned his lesson.


My questions, besides honing which would require me to remove a piston from a bore, which I can do, but at the current time and situation am strapped for time. I need a new motor in and a motor in quick.

Would I be able to just clean the mess off, it came off pretty easily with tranny fluid on a tooth brush. After that the motor would spin easily. My question is can I clean out the bores, and pressure wash the oil galley, and then check all torque specs and prelube the motor and be on.

Or is it absolutely necessary to do a full tear down on this barely used motor?

I've read a lot on these threads and understand most of you here are for do it right the first time or go home, well, this needs to be ok, maybe get 50k from it, and by that time I’ll have already replaced this motor with a better one. I just need transportation to and from work.




MTH

 

Sounds like you've fixed that "weak spot" with the trans fluid and toothbrush?

I dont see the problem then?

You could try just taking the piston out, finding one that is identical in every aspect, except 30 over, have that single cylinder bored out, and run it.

This wouldnt be ideal, but you dont want something that will last you for a decade, just to get you going reliably until you can have your other motor built.


Talk to your machinist about choosing the right piston. He would probably have a good idea on which one. He could probably do the bore/new piston/new rings/new bearigns/re-assembly for less than 250.

 

yeah, that "weak spot" wasn't too much cause for concern.

but the fact its been sittign for so long makes it weird for me. I was hoping to really just pull the cam out, lube it up with cam lube, oil um the mains by hand, and the rods as well. and gonna let her go.

the motor seemed to be just fine back them. The guy is a good friend of a very good friend, and i dont think he'd pull one over on me. He constantly told me, i could just clean it up, and install it and be on my way. I wish i could do just that but....


only thing now is that i dont want one of those 2 piece rear main seals, dont they leak a little more often, or should i say common then 1 piece?


I'm hoping this whole experience should be over and done with this time next week.



MTH

 

shouldnt be a problem with the cam. I wouldnt even bother with pulling it.

Just pull a couple mains and bearings and make sure that there's no rust starting there. If not, just put oil in it and run it.

You dont need assembly lube in this case. The motor's already been broken in.

I just put a motor w/ 80k on it that had been sitting around for about 9 months in my motor. I drained the old oil, put new ones in, put my intake on it, and turned it on. It got oil pressure to everything in about 6 seconds or so.

A car will drip all of the oil back to the bottom of the oil pan, leaving none of the parts lubricated after a full day of sitting. So whether it's been sitting for one day, or 2 years it'll be the same upon startup. I wouldnt worry about it too much.

 

ok, so when I pick the block up later today, once he is done getting his car detailed for G9, I just pull the oil pan, clean it out, check one or two of the main caps, see if there is corrosion (which he told me the bearings were corrosion resistant bearings and I shouldn't have to worry, told me they were Clevite 77 Race Bearings(correct me if I’m wrong, might of forgotten exact model)


The rebuild was 2 years old, so even though I’ve heard clevite has had quality control issues, this would have made it through before that, correct?

The crank was reground.

And the crosshatches on all bored are still very visible.

New Edelbrock performer cam, that he said had so much overlap, made his thing idle like crazy, but once you got on it, you never wanted anything else. But I’ll swap the cam and lifters out pretty soon anyhow, for a FI camshaft, and then properly tune it all.

Tomorrow I’ll try to go rent a cherry picker(engine hoist) and I’ll be on my way, got started a little late but as long as I get the job done, and done correctly, I’m ok.




Thanks,

MTH

 

Also, i just aquired an extra $100, for the project in the budget.

If you were in my shoes, what would you do with the extra $100 for the engine, it can be a power mod or a reliability mod. What would you get?

 

Save it, you'll end up spending that much on gaskets and fluids and nuts and bolts that you didnt realize you'll need