Hey there is a 1969 sbc 350 for sale just down the road from me. I'm wondering if the 1969 sbc 350 was good, or if it has any major flaws. The motor was just rebuilt at an engine shop and hasnt been fired yet.

He is asking 1800

Is this a good deal and is the 69' a good year?

 

It depends on a whole boatload of factors. What you need to look at are things like head casting numbers, block casting numbers, and get a list of all the parts used (receipts are good so you can be more certain they're not lying about it.)

As it stands, the only thing we can say for certain is that it's a 4 inch bore block from 1969 which tells us almost nothing about whether it's any good.

 

$1800 is too steep for ANY 350 motor - especially a stocker from 1969. I paid $600 for mine - it's a 1969 350 and it was carb to pan build for $600 - so $1800 is 3 times too much! 350's are a dime a dozen.

Heads will need swapped out, as they won't have any accessory bolt holes for your alternator, etc brackets. It could also be a 302, 327, or 350 - need casting numbers from block and crank to know for sure. For $1800, it should come with a GM car attached!

 

I apologize for asking a question on the wrong topic, but..................... InfernalVortex- What brand is your cowl hood and where did you get it? Fiberglass or steel? About 3"? Thanks!

 

I agree. When I bought my rebuilt 350 it came attached to a half ton truck for $200. Then I sold the truck for scrap and made $230. I ended up getting paid $30 for swapping to a 350.

 

Aha thats an awesome deal.. I could get a 350 from an old truck.. What would be the disadvantages of that?

 

The same disadvantages of the motor you're probably buying.

Just because it's a 350 doesnt mean it makes any kind of power. There were millions of different 350s with different fueling systems, different cylinder heads, differerent camshafts, etc. If it's from an old truck it will probably make 150 hp to the wheels. But most of the common 350s made before 1985 will make about 150 hp to the wheels. It really wasnt until the L98's that they started getting a little of their bite back since the late 60's heyday. Those motors arent even as powerful as they're touted to be due to the way they rated horsepower in those days. Not to mention they run at compression levels that they just cant handle on modern gas.

The only difference is maybe a truck motor will have 4-bolt mains. But for the power levels of these stock motors you're looking at, that just wont matter.

 

So, how would you know if there are the higher performance stock parts are in an engine.

and regardless of what the internals are in an engine, if it's a 350 block couldn't you just put a better part than stock to make more horsepower?

so say you bought a old truck motor and put the same internals as a better 350. Would both engines have the same horsepower?

 

If all you do is install tougher components, but the cam, head flow, intake flow and compression ratio stay the same, you'll make the same power. Also, InternalVortex is right, your bargain basement stock 70's-80's 350 will make MAYBE 150 to the wheels. I doubt even that much, they were stock rated to about 170 at the flywheel. So yeah, buy a good block for a couple hundred, then throw your speed parts on it.

 

Im not sure I really understand what you're asking.

If you want, yes, you can buy an old truck motor, and replace the worn parts in the rotating assembly with fresh, new, stronger parts. But that's not where power is made. Heads, cam, intake, exhaust and fueling dictate power output. To make more power you have to flow more air. The more air you pump into and out of those chambers the more power you make.

Those old 350's have terrible heads and tiny camshafts and the intakes are okay I guess, but they'd choke any real performance motor even though they're more than enough for the stock components on those.

So what yuou'd end up doing is buying an old truck motor, and replacing the camshaft, heads, intake, and carb (probably) and bolting it back together. But then you have a brand new top end making decent power on an old, worn out bottom end from 1975. Do you really think that's a great idea?

This is what high performance rebuilding is all about. You learn what makes power, what doesn't, and how to make a combination that works for what you want to do with your car. By the time you replace all those parts that make it slow (And trust me, every single one of those top end parts are going to need to be replaced, any one of them will be a bottleneck on a serious motor) it just doesnt cost that much more money to have the peace of mind knowing you have a rebuilt bottom end. At that point you'll just need to replace the bearings ($20), rings ($30), and get the block bored and honed ($150? I cant remember) and get new pistons ($100) and new rods with new bolts ($200) and it's pretty much a brand new motor that's completely rebuilt.

Or you can just buy a medium-mileage L98 and drop it in.

Those things Im telling you that you'd need to replace... those are the things you need to check out on that "1969 350". He may have already done all that. Or he may have a bunch of junk bolted on top of it. You just dont know. Go find out.

 

Thanks you for that great advice. I think I want to try and build my own motor up from the block. That will give me tons of knowledge about engines and the satisfaction of being done by myself.

So I just have to make sure that its a good block then. So what block (it's numbers) is the best base to start with?

 

Go for an LS1. If you build a decent 350 or 383 (if you build it, a 383 is an option...) I dont think you really save that much money. It begins to add up, especially if you have to do a retrofit roller cam and nice aftermarket aluminum heads.

A stock LS1 isn't THAT expensive, and makes these cars insanely fast. It's a whole lot of work to convert everything over, though.

If I had to do it over again, that's what I'd do.

 

If i bought an ls1 what would have to change from stock. I have a 2.8 on there right now

 

Everything that bolts to the engine or the engine bolts too. Take a look over at the engine swap forum its been covered to death. It really doesnt matter what year the engine is, once its been rebuilt its not going to have the stock cam, etc. More than likely you are looking at a lower HP engine. For that kind of money you can get a lot better starting point. If it were me and I were starting from scratch I wouldnt even consider an engine that wasnt a 1 pc RMS and a roller cam. When starting from scratch anyway it will be more than worth it.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...third-gen.html

Good luck figuring out what you want to do. If I were you I'd just enjoy hte 2.8 for a while until you have some serious moeny and time to throw into not only doing a swap, but doing the research to know what you want to do instead of what some guys on the internet told you to do.

 

Which sounds like a better plan.

I think i'm going to go with the ls1 engine. Because of its power potential and it still gets decent gas mileage. Am I correct?

So which sounds better? buy pieces of the engine as I get the money and build it up till completion or save enough money and do it all in one shot?

 

I did mine in pieces for thel earning experience, but I certainly didnt save any moeny that way. I just look at it as I bought the motor on an installment plan. LOL.

Do it all in one shot if you can. Just do it in big chunks otherwise. Get the LS1 and trans, then get all the swap parts, then make it happen.

It is a LOT of work though and you'll be rewiring and rebuilding everything. New fuel pumps, new engine mounts, new crossmembers, new exhaust, new ecm's, new everything almost. It costs money. but you'll have a modern engine, and since 3rd gens tend to be lighter than fourth gens, it will usually be a little faster than a 4th gen with the same motor. It makes for an interesting sleeper.

Im not sure there are any aftermarket plug and play exhaust systems, though. So you'll have to get a custom fabbed exhaust probably. You'll ahve to decide whether to go with stock LS manifolds (which aren't that bad, especially compared with the crap our cars came with stock) or whether to buy the $750 stainless steel long tubes, or the $500 really small crappy headers. Mayb e there's more available now than there was when I looked into it. But you will ahve to pay some serious money and do a lot of work to play the LS game.

If you decide to build a serious 350 on a budget like I did, you're still going to end up spending around $3-$5k probably. From there, an LS isnt such a big jump in terms of cost, but it is in terms of work.

 

alright im going to try and do it in one big purchase. I'm going to keep a lookout for a ls1 camaro donor car.. That seems like the cheapest and easiest route