Im about to get an 85 camaro with a 350 in it. i wanna rebuild the engine and make it pretty quick and put a carbeurator but im just not sure what exactly to do seeing how this is gonna be my first engine rebuild. im just looking for some pointers and advice from people who have done this before. Any tips will be appreciated thanks

 

Hey man welcome to the community...I am in the process of rebuilding my stock 1974 350. At the start I figured I would just clean up the heads have them reworked, new cam, carb rebuild and hot tank the engine and slap some new paint on it.
Once you rip open the engine you don't know what you might find. I took my 882 heads to the shop they were junked for a $800 set of Dart heads. Comp cam kit included timing chain, cam, lifters and valve springs cost $400. Edelbrock rpm intake $140, Comp Roller Rockers $135, Cam rebuild by professional carb guy $125 Water pump $30, Oil pump $25, Distributor $70, msd plugs n wires $40. Then I decided to bore my engine .30 over because my cylinders needed to be cleaned up. I know a guy that runs a engine shop so he's doing it cheap with forged pistons n rings for $400. Then I got all new bearings for the crank and cam and a gasket kit. I believe I am getting close to 2500 bucks. Which I initially didn't want to spend over a grand haha. If I ever rebuild again I would either look at a nice rebuild kit or buy a crate engine. Jegs is offering free shipping on engines right now.
You wouldn't believe all the little things that you need that add up. In addition, to taking your block to the engine shop costs a pretty penny. What's your goal? do you want to learn about engine rebuilding? Or do you just want a high hp motor and money doesn't matter?

 

thank a lot man i really appreciate it. but yea i am gonna probably bore it .03 over once i send it to the machine shop. where would you get a head gasket for a 355 since the diameter of the cylinder is gonna be bigger? also what size cam did you get? i want to get an aggressive cam but im just not sure what size to get, i would get a kit too that way i get the heads, valve springs, rocker arms...etc

 

$hit i didn't even think of the head gasket size, I bought my gasket kit b4 i decided to bore it.. My engine is in the shop right now gettting bored .30 over. I went with a mild cam http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-K12-210-2/ theres the kit i bought.

 

You don't need a different HG for a 350 just because it's had some scheduled maintenance done to it. THINK.... boring it out .030" takes .015" of metal off of it; about the thickness of a business card. Totally insignificant. All this "355" crap you see around here constantly is just that, CRAP. It's a 350.

I disagree strongly with that cam advice. That's just not a good cam for almost ANY build in this day and time. Even though a motor with it might "run" "good", what you will NEVER EVER hear about is, how much BETTER it would have run, had a more appropriate one been used instead. Wait until you get farther along to buy one. It's THE LAST "hard" part you should buy, after you know FOR SURE what the compression ratio REALLY is (which you can be about 110% CERTAIN, will be MUCH lower than whatever the "catalog" says) and what the characteristics of the heads you will be using are. Most likely the engine will run FAR better and make FAR more power and get FAR better gas mileage, given modern expectations, fuel, and so on, with a cam with a bigger exh lobe than intake, such as Comp's XE or Lunati's Voodoo series.

The comment about budget is right on the money: WHATEVER you "plan" to spend, expect that from tear-down to drive-out, it will cost close to twice that much. Make sure your bank account and cash flow are not stretched to the limit by your "plan" before you even start, because if so, you will find yourself in a major bind with a non-working car, and have to compromise something, maybe ALOT of somethings. This is NOT the recipe for a happy outcome. Beware of ending up in a situation like this one http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=380965 which is UNPLEASANTLY COMMON.

Power comes from THE HEADS, and then a cam, valve train, intake, & exhaust to support them. It DOES NOT come from spending excessively on romantic race-car sounding bottom-end parts that will NEVER see any more stress than stock ones. Avoid the mental trap of thinking that high-$$$$ racing parts are some kind of "insurance" against failure: THEY'RE NOT, unless the rest of the motor puts lesser ones into a range of stress where they are LIKELY TO FAIL. A 350 at the 350 - 400 HP level with stock crank, stock rods, and lesser pistons, will make EXACTLY the same power as one with all forged racing stuff that costs 5 times as much, maybe even MORE power. Don't make the mistake of blowing wads of cash on that stuff and skimping on the heads, or you will find yourself getting humiliated by people with FAR LESS $$$$ tied up in their engine.

Also don't lose sight of, that ALOT of the things that make a CAR fast, aren't under the hood at all. Gears, torque converter, exhaust, tires, suspension work so that it hooks up and doesn't just spin the tires, and so on, are AT LEAST as important as "xxx" HP. Expect that the rest of the car will require at least half as much $$$$ as the engine does, in addition to the engine, and depending on what you're starting out with, maybe even MORE THAN the engine.

 

rain meet parade.........seriously, sofa offers sage advice. Do not kid yourself into believing the wonderful, problem free $1,000 engine swaps or getting big numbers for small dollars.

if the car is going to be your daily driver and also taken to the strip, unless you know with great certainty the disposition of the lower end then I would rebuild it and focus on the top end for performance unless you plan on using a lot of spray, you don't need to go forged but you do need to make sure the oil is flowing and there is no junk and gunk inside the block

 

I was just trying to get my engine rebuilt and cleaned up at first. I was not looking for some strip beast. I bought my cam kit b4 i thought I would need new heads and everything else to go with them. I didn't plan my build out very well beyond that it was my first build. Needless to say I have learned a lot. I will enjoy my car and that's all that matters if I want more hp after awhile. I will look to rebuild a pontiac 455 and put in 12 or 9 bolt and get a high performance trans.