How can I tell if the 350 in my car is a pre 87 or newer? Also how can i tell if it has a roller cam or not without taking it apart? If i can provide numbers can someone decode it for me? Thanks

 

Casting #s will tell you about the block.

MorTec, Inc. Chevy Smallblock V-8 Casting Numbers List

No way to know if it's roller-equipped or not, without taking SOMETHING apart. Probably the easiest way woudl be to pull a push rod. If it's 7.8" more or less, it's flat-tappet; if it's 7.3", it's roller.

 

Ok, well I replaced my valve cover gaskets and found that the heads that are on there are the crappy 333882 so that would be a pre 87 block correct? I cannot see back behind the passenger side head to the block numbers. Any suggestions on how to get back there to see it?

 

Well it was on the drivers side and a bit easier to see... The number was 14010207 so that is 350, 80-85, and has 2 or 4 bolt main... not that helpful.

 

It tells you it is pre-'87, and therefore wil not have a (factory) roller cam.

What else do you need to know?

 

Well nothing that the number can help me with, what type of pistons are in there? 2 or 4 bolt? 1 peice main or 2? I found out that I have 2 different casting heads and I was planning on getting new ones but now this shuts the book, i need new ones. And I would like to pick out a nice mild cam.
Question though, what is the correct way to set valve lash with a solid lifter cam?

 

Allow me to put this in perspective:

You have a motor that whoever built it, put 2 different casting heads on it; and you expect us to be able to tell what pistons they put in it by the casting # on the block?? For all we can tell right now, they might have put 8 different ones in it!!!!

Same for the 2-bolt/4-bolt thing. Not that it makes a hill of beans' worth of difference for a street motor anyway; but the way that works is, the factory casts blocks, and then machines the caps onto them later. Since the time they started using 4-bolt caps, almost any casting could have had either caps installed onto it. They were mostly used on trucks (that kind of stress being about all they're any good for). Although, in the years in question, there weren't may 350s put in cars at all; so the odds that it's a truck motor, and therefore a likely 4-bolt cap candidate, are relatively high. If the stamping on teh deck just in front of the pass side head is intact, and the motor ID # starts with T, then it's even more likely to have 4-bolt caps on it. But the ONLY way you'll know for sure, is to pull the pan and look.

For a solid lifter cam, the correct method of setting valve lash is to set each cam lobe on the base circle, one lobe at a time; and adjust that rocker's clearance with a feeler gauge betwen the rocker tip and the valve.

 

lol i was sort of expecting to hear that but that is why i said nothing that the numbers can help me with. Ill get around to doing the heads this summer and then do everything the right way.