I got some questions.

A quick history of where i am today;
I bought an 89 camaro to help out a friend and paid too much to help him out of a situation.
It has a 383 (1974 350 block/late 1960's heads) mounted to a 5 speed manual trans.
Yes, I can hear the time bomb ticking on the trans.
Anyway I bought the car in February and finally received the title last month.
Unknown to me the passenger side spark plugs were not installed since i guess - february. The engine has other issues as well. Exhaust and fuel delivery are a slight headache. The wiring is the nightmare!

So now that you are caught up, I have some options:
1. try to unlock the engine and hope nothing else goes wrong.
2. I have a stock 350 long block that I could install
3. I have a 350 roller one piece main seal short block that I could bolt the "202" heads on
4. find the previous owner and ensure he does not reproduce, stupid only breeds stupid!

If I use the roller engine, will the flywheel for the cluch bolt up?
Will the pushrods from the roller lifters work with the late 1960's heads?
Is the starter going to work? staggered bolt pattern or straight?

I do not drive thinkin that it is 1/4 mile at a time. Speed/performance is in the top 5, but not the top 3. A 350 will give me enough to be content, the car came with a 383. It would be nice to have, but I am NOT spending a lot of $$ on this issue.

Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated, thanks

 

1. Late 60's "202" heads?... Probably camel-humps. Every ignorant backwoods fool's version of iron gold but they were surpassed in the 1980s as far as performance by other factory heads. They're desirable but not very good - sell them if possible. Everyone wants those stupid, useless "camelhumps", but you can do WAY better. You can flip those, buy better heads, and maybe even make a net profit.

2. This 1970's block... it may be decent. I would disassemble and check the condition. Replace the bearings and if the bores look okay (crosshatching in the cylinders) I would leave it as is as after replacing the bearings and lubricating important things. It's a 383 - that's a good base. As long as you dont have rods hanging out the oil pan or the side of the block the rotating assembly is probably plenty useful for a rebuild. The condition of the bores and the bearings will dictate how far you need to go, but if you recondition the rods and install some decent ARP rod bolts, turn the crank, and replace the rings/pistons and overbore the block (if it has capacity to do so) you will still end up with a decent baseline. If things look good, you may not have to do any of that.

3. If your new block is a roller block - roller blocks are awesome. Unfortunately your pistonsa nd crank in the old block likely wont transfer over. Your call as to whether or not you want to move parts over. Roller cams will give you a lot more power and reliability than a flat tappet cam.

If it were me, I'd sell the 383 shortblock to someone as a rebuildable core, and sell the camel humps separate. Then I'd take that money and build the roller 350. If you can afford to make a 383 out of it - do it. If not, some Vortec heads machined for high lift and an LT4 hotcam 350 will make for a very quick medium cost build.

Note that if your 202 heads are 60's camelhumps they're worth maybe $150-$250 or so. If they're just some 70s garbage heads like most other "202" heads, then tehy're worth less than the gas it takes to haul them to a river to dump them in. Generally "202" heads are garbage useless heads that they remove the 1.76/1.84/1.95 inch intake valves, and install 2.02 inch valve, and then they're worthless heads with a seventy five bucks' worth of machine shop labor are suddenly sold for $400 to unsuspecting buyers who dont know better. The implication being that a larger intake valve miraculously and dramatically improves performance, but the size of the intake valve is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things regarding cylinder head performance. Larger valves are sometimes less desirable. Disregard anyone who ever says "202" heads.