Well my original L98 has come to a violent end... spun three main bearings and basically ruined my crank and scored my block, how deep I am not sure yet.

So out it has to come...

Now on to what I have waiting in the wings to go back in..

I called up a local machine shop to originally find out about line boring my block and the guy I spoke with who is the owner (I know him through the drag racing community) said he had the following block that he would sell me if I wanted to go this route...

This is what the casting number translates to...pretty sure it's the same block I have now (although mine has 2 bolt mains)

14093638...350...87-95...2 or 4 bolt mains ..Roller or flat tappet cam, one-piece rear seal.

Details on the block are..

- No crank (no big deal, I have another spare crank that is identical to the one I ruined and its in near perfect condition)

- no cam or lifters... again no big deal, my roller cam and roller lifers should just drop right in

- no heads....again no big deal... my "083" stock heads which I have completely ported out should bolt right on..

- bored 0.030 over which I believe makes it a 355 cid?

- this block has 4 bolt mains

- new cam bearings and frost plugs installed.

- hot tanked...ready to paint

- no pistons/rings or rods... I would need to get a set of new pistons to go in and have them pressed onto my stock rods... I got 16 rods to chose from since I have a working set in my toasted block and a spare set.

- I would need a new set of mains and rod bearings. But either way I need those.

I think I could get the block for $600 Cdn

So my questions are...

1. Should I go with this 355 block? If I do my current 350 will go on a stand and be line bored at some time in the future to become a core for maybe a far in the future 383 project.

2. Should I go with getting my 350 block line bored and rebuilt?

3. I roughly calculated that if I go with the 355 and get flat topped 4 valve relief pistons I would get a compression ratio of 9.7:1 ..would that be to high?

This is why I need some direction here...any guidance would be appreciated.

 

I'd probably build the 355 in the new block, but $600 CDN for a bare block sounds pretty steep.

 

$600 is a little steep.You can get a new zz4 block for around $670 I think.While your at it stroke it.The more cubes the better

 

Yeah I thought it was steep as well... but that was $600 without my 350 core... not sure what the core charge would be....

I have to try and talk to the guy tomorrow to get more details on the block... least I know he got the right block which will work with my roller stuff....

I don't really care about the 355 bit... 5 more cubes doesn't mean that much difference... as long as it doesn't bump my compression ratio to something nuts where I need to run jet fuel to keep idling

New ZZ4 block for $670! Is that a bare block, is it US or CDN, where would I get this block? And would all my roller stuff work?

 

Yep.New bare block un-board.There is nothing really special about a zz4 block.The good thing is it is a 4 bolt main and 1 piece seal and you can run a hyd.roller cam!!!You can buy it at any place that sells gm high performance parts like sallee chevy or pace parts.Its a good block but I bet you can find a 350 4 bolt for less than $500.

 

I spoke the machine shop again this morning... he clarified that the block will cost me $520.00 CDN without a core, forgot to ask him what a core charge was but I'm thinking maybe $100 or so... I'm keeping my 350 block I have now to save for a far off future 383 project I have in my head so I will eat the core charge.

So this 1 piece rear main seal , 4 bolt main block is really in the approx. $400 CDN range.

This is not going to cheap either way however....but at least I will have a rebuilt engine which will see proper maintenance going forward (unlike the **** poor engine maintenance the previous owers did with the original L98 )

Here is a list of things I think I need, chime in if I am missing something.

- set of over sized pistons/rings to go with the .030 over bored cylinders.
- set of mains and rod bearings
- new oil pump
- get my pistons pressed onto my rods
- all the seals/gaskets needed to do the job
- some new oil and filter

I want to bump my compression ratio up from the stock 9.35:1 but not too much, I think I can get away with something in the 9.6 - 9.7 range. What type of flat top pistons should I go with. My heads are 64 cc's..

I was told that the 1990-1992 Camaro/Firebird 350 engines got flat top pistons (with 4 valve reliefs) and thus bumping the compression ratio up to 9.7 ... maybe I could go with a set of these pistons (or something similar)

 

Help us all to understand why you would buy a whole other block for this temporary motor, and save your trashed-out block for your "dream" motor. That's nonsense.

Either your current block is repairable, or it's not. If it is, repair it. If it's not, throw it away and buy another. One or the other but not both.

Explain how the cost out of your pocket got LOWER, from $520 CDN to $400 CDN, when you "eat the core charge". Core charges usually aren't negative.

$400 CDN is not a deal. I'd either keep looking, or get your current block repaired. You don't need 4-bolt mains, and they don't really add anything to a performance buildup. The factory's 4-bolt system is ineffective as an upgrade for racing purposes. Works fine for what it's meant for, which is, a truck lugging heavy loads around all day (think, a pickup pulling a trailer with a backhoe on it, around a construction site); but doesn basically nothing for what most of us here are using our motors for. Don't pay a dime extra for it, because you won't get even a dime of added value out of it.

Flat-top pistons with 4 valve reliefs, plus zero-decking the block to them, and using a .039" head gasket (1010), and your existing L98 heads (083 casting I hope), will give you about 10.4:1 CR. "Reverse dome" pistons with a total vloume of 12cc, also zero-decked, will give you 9.64:1. That's the combo I'd suggest. Note that this requires zero-decking the block. Yes, it's really worth it.

Your list is reasonably complete, for a short block; except for one thing: it would be extremely wise to upgrade the rod bolts to ARP or similar. Rods don't fail too much; but rod bolts, VERY OFTEN do. For reliability's sake, it's money well spent.

See CamarosRUs 's thread asking about block prep, for what you should do to get rid of metal shavings in your block's internal oil passages. Again, money and effort well spent, if you want it to live.

 

ohio crankshaft has some entry level rods, for $159 US I think. They come with ARP bolts in it. I ended up paying $230 CDN for them on my doorstop.
I would have paid $120 for my local shop to resize my rods for ARP bolts, plus $90 for the bolts. Throw in tax, and i'm within $10 of having brand new rods. Hard to justify using my old stuff. I'd recommend this course of action.
Also, summit has the bearings and oil pump and whatnot, most likely cheaper than you can get locally in NF. If you want to know the "true" cost of buying summit parts, use my cheesy excel spreadsheet. You can punch in the #'s of what summit charges, add shipping, exchange rate, duty fee, etc, then it'll divide it back to give you the "true" cost of a part. So a $14 set of summit bearings ends up being ~$25 CDN, which is still better than $50 locally. Cool eh?

link

Yea, a $400 roller block is about the expected price i'd think.

Unless you're in a big hurry, the little extra to make it a 383 now is probably worthwhile. Turning your crank, or buying a new one would run you $200-$300 either way, getting that crank with a 3.75" stroke, and 350 main bearing size would be a negligeable difference in price now. (usually $0-$20). Make the pistons 383 pistons and you're basically done.

 

Cool link and good suggestions... thanks!

 

$520Cdn for a tanked, machined, cleaned, cam bearing'd and freeze plugged 350 block doesn't sound that far off to me. Prices I've been quoted recently (US$) are in the range of $75 for tanking and bearing install, $35/hole boring. $30 for the bearings & freeze plugs, that's $405 (US). At today's exchange rate, that's less than $60Cdn or about $50 US for the bare unmachined block.

You can probably find a rebuildable 350 shortblock for $50 on a good day, but most people have to spend more than that, especially for a one-piece RMS block. Buying this one would reduce the time to get it back together - how much that is worth is up to the individual.

 

Well I have decided tonight after looking at all the angles that I am going to go with this 355 cid roller block, it has been magnafluxed as well to ensure it's solid....I am also going to get the machine shop to install my pistons, crank, bearings etc etc.... I can do it myself but the shop owner told me that if I got them to do it he would give me a 6 month guarentee on all of the parts and labor... he knows I will be drag racing this car occassionally ( I have actually lined up against him at the tree on one occasion) so the way I figure it, why not.. by the time I add up all of the parts, block, gaskets, oil pump, pistons, rings, bearings, etc etc etc... I am looking at over $1100.00 (without taxes)....don't know about anyone else but when I drop a cool 1G on anything I like to get a warrenty... he said the cost to put it all together for me would be $250.00... that would include polishing and cleaning up my donor crank, pressing my pistons on my rods, and assembling/checking everything, I think he will balance the bottom end as well.

All I will be doing is installing my cam and heads (no big deal) since it will be on an engine stand. I would love to put in a new bigger/better cam right now but the bank is busted,

So my original L98 will sit on a stand, maybe it's salvageable and I can re-do it cheap and sell it.. maybe it will turn into a 383, who knows... all I know is that I should be back on the road in about a week!!

Thanks for all of the input guys

 

that's a hell of deal IMHO. I paid $1800 for my stuff, and no warantee, balancing or assembly

hmm, that's too bad about the cam, that's probably your biggest HP improver at where you stand now. If there's anyway to get the coin to do it now, (one kidney is all you really need) you'll save yourself about $60 in re-doing gaskets later
either way, i'd consider a 2 piece timing cover, to make it simplier to do the cam later...