ok, ive been looking around and im having little luck finding what i want. im looking for a 350 4 bolt main, bored .030" over. just a bare block, preferably new but a good reconditioned one would be good too. i cant seem to find one at a good price (this will be my first DIY build). even if i can find one thats not bored, i need it to be inexpensive because i will have to have it bored at a machine shop which will also cost me. any suggestions? thanks!

 

They are EVERYWHERE. They are the single most common motor there is.

Easiest ones to find nowadays, are the roller blocks that don't have the roller stuff in them. They came in 87-95 Chevy trucks. They usually have 4-bolt main caps installed on them, for what little practical difference that makes. There's probably AT LEAST 5 million of those trucks in existence.

I'd suggest several things:

- Visit, IN PERSON, junkyards that specialize in trucks. DO NOT call. tell them you are looking for a motor out of a 87-95 Chevy truck, and don't care what condition it's in because you're going to rebuild it anyway, all you care is that it's a good core (not cracked, good rods,good crank). Pretend (or maybe you don't have to? it's cool either way) that you're somebody that makes their living with this truck, like a roofer or plumber or cable installer or something; and you need to replace the tired, wore-out one you've got. DO NOT pretend that you're a hot-rodder (because they'll then apply the automatic hot-rod kid cover charge), DO NOT pretend that you know what you're doing, DO NOT say the word "Vortec" (again for fear of invoking the cover charge), DO NOT talk about casting numbers; best way to handle it is to walk around the yard, look at stuff, and say, "that one there".

- DO NOT say "4-bolt main" when you talk to a junkyard. Saying that automatically flags you as 2 things you don't want to be. Number 1, a hot-rodder; and number 2, a novice that doesn't know what they're doing. In either case, they will either jack the price to the stratosphere because they think they can get away with it and that you won't know that the block ACTUALLY isn't worth a dime extra because of those caps, or they'll simply decline to deal with you because you're too much trouble, likely to be too picky.

- Forget about the whole "find one bored .030 over" business. Buy a block, take it to a machine shop you trust, say "bore this". It'll come out what it comes out. Alternatively, machine shops often keep just such blocks in stock; a prepped, ready for a slap-together rebuild truck block, should be no more than about $450. Which is about what you'd have in one if you bought a block for $50 and had it machined up to that usual standard (cleaned, bored, honed, cam bearings installed, plugs installed).

-"4-bolt main" is not of any value to you. The factory's system for that is designed to deal with the type of stresses that TRUCKS put on engines, which is, low-RPM, high-torque, continuous-duty work, like trailer towing. It is utterly worthless as any kind of improvement for a hot-rod type motor. If I was looking at 2 blocks in equal condition and that would build up into otherwise identical motors, and one was a 2-bolt and one was a 4-bolt but cost a dollar more, I would go with the 2-bolt because the factory 4-bolt isn't even a dollar's worth of improvement.

You should be able to get a CORE (NOT guaranteed to run, make sure you tell them that's what you want, otherwise they'll pull out ones that they can guarantee to run and will charge accordingly) for well under $150. Probably still have those crappy garbage worthless (to people like us) heads on it. You can probably turn those in as cores, because they're desirable to non-hot-rodders, who are working on their trucks and need heads with center bolt valve covers.

 

wow! lotta info there. well thanks man! ill check that out.

 

www.car-part.com cant beat it.