I'm planning on buying a 383 from a friend that had this motor in his truck for no more than 1000 miles. Reason for this is that he went through 3 transmissions and gave up and pulled the motor.
Now the motors been sitting in a NON-heated or cooled garage for the past 10 years.

My question is can I do some simple cleaning on this motor or should I have a professional shop tear it down and clean parts and put it back together? I have some engine building experience and have friends that have worked on 350s before.

Heres what he remembers putting in:
Edelbrock Performer RPM intake,
balanced 400 crank and connecting rods(might need a flex plate)
270 lift cam
flat top pistons
he thinks he put in roller lifters
valves were triple ground
Needs a carb.

He wants $1000

I'll be dropping the oil pan Wed. eve. to take a look at it

 

Dropping the oil pan is a good start. I would also do a compression test on the motor and maybe pull the intake and valve covers for better inspection. If everything looks alright, put it all back together, change the oil filter and oil, plugs and you will definitely need to have the carb rebuilt if it has the same carb.

 

It needs a carb. He left it on the truck when it headed for the scrap yard

I was thinking of getting a holley 650, any suggestions on a better 1 for this motor?

Ya I'll probably pull the covers off too.
What if theres rust?

 

Rust on the inside means tear down time

If the carb hole was not sealed in some manner I would suggest an overhaul as well since small particles can fall down into the chambers and do bad things when you're first firing it

 

thanks!!