Hey guys,

I'm starting to being the planning stage of my project car, its a 1983 Z28. Car is in great condition at the moment but it needs paint and I want more HP.

I plan on looking for a scrap 350 motor that I can rebuild over next winter. I've never bought an engine from a scrap yard. Any tips on what I should be looking for on the engine to make sure I'm not buying a garbage block.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

 

Bring one of those jump pack things fully charged and some gas and see if any potential candidate will actually run . If it's already missing too many parts to run , doing a compression check will at least let you see if all the cylinders are in the ballpark as per all being within 10 or 15% of each other . Since the most accurate readings come from a warmed up engine if you can't run it you won't get super accurate results but you will be able to see if they are all close enough to rule out any weak cylinders .

And of course peeking in the oil fill with a bright flashlight looking to see if it's all sludged up in there is a good thing to do too .

 

If you're buying it to simply drop in and hope it runs, you're going to want some sort of guarantee that it has some sort of worth while life left in it.

If you're going to buy it to rebuild, it doesn't really matter if it runs or not since you're going to strip it down and make it new again.

Self help yard may limit what kind of stuff you can bring into the yard. Our local PNP doesn't allow you to bring in gas plus all the fluids are drained from the vehicles including them punching a hole in the oil pan to drain the engine. They also remove all the batteries.

As nice as it sounds to say you want to get a junkyard engine and rebuild it, there's a lot more to it than it sounds. A slapped together engine probably won't last more than a few years if you're lucky. You're much better off and it will be cheaper in the long run to just buy a new replacement engine. Depending on how much of a rebuild you were planning to do, you can buy a long or short block and sometimes even with bottom end parts you may want.

If you're going to buy a junkyard engine then change the heads, pistons, rods, maybe crankshaft to something better, buy a new block and just start from scratch. You will however have a lot of machine shop expenses to get it built properly as a new bare block is not a finished block. A block shouldn't be bored until pistons are supplied for fitment.

If you're dead set on getting a junkyard engine, the best vehicles to pull one from are vehicles that have been in an accident. You know the engine should have been running fine up to that point. Pulling an engine from a tired and worn out vehicle probably has a tired and worn out engine in it.

 

Yup ^^^


Pull the motor from a wrecked car, preferably T-boned or rear ended.


I used to run a stripyard for Uncle Sam here in Germany and we never checked an engine beyond running and doesn't overheat at idle. Most recycling yards in the states that are trying to maximize profits are going to pull good motors themselves and document compression and mileage. Whatever is left in the yard is anybody's guess...

 

AlkyIROC is right. Depending on what kind of motor you want to build, it might be cheaper to buy a crate engine. Summit and Jegs have 350 engines for around $2k. If your junkyard engine needs machine work you'll definitely be over that amount.

 

If you know anyone who's an "old timer" then usually it's not hard to network a bit and find a good quality running 350. A hundred bucks or so in gaskets and a good cam and you're good to go

 

Good tips here

A good wrench 350 is dirt cheap through Jegs or Summit
Not a powerhouse but new, warranty etc cheaper than rebuilding

if you just wanta good block most rebuilders or machine shops got plenty laying around that have been cleaned magnafluxed and deemed good

Bought 2 junkyard motors both were (big surprise) JUNK.
One smoked so bad I pulled it back out after 3 miles and tossed it.
Dont listen to those "guarantees"
Might get luck on cl beware many "rebuilts" are old junk with new spray paint that place is bottom of the barrel.

 

If you're looking to get one that you can more or less drop in and run: find a preemo-looking 96-2000 grandpa truck that's wrecked. Pay what it takes to get that motor.

If you're looking for one to rebuild: find the same kind of truck, beat to hell, looking like a plow truck or something; either wrecked or so rusted out that you can see through the body or that sort of thing. If the exhaust pipe looks dry and not too black, pay "core" price for it; NOT, running, guaranteed, etc. Just "core" value. Should be less than $300.

DO NOT buy a 95-back motor, not even if it's free. DO NOT tell them you're going to drop this in a hot-rod. DO NOT even mention casting numbers, the "V" word, or any of that. DO NOT drop the slightest hint that this is for your toy. Pretend you're somebody that has a 97 or 98 work truck like a plumber or a carpenter or something like that (or maybe you don't have to pretend? even better) and the motor has gone bad and you need a new one. Don't accept any motor other than a 96-2000 one. Don't say the "V" word, if they show you something else, just tell em that doesn't look the same as yours and you just want one as close as possible to what you've got now, don't want to have to swap or adapt or otherwise jack with anything.

On the other hand, you'll get AHELLUVALOT more bang for the buck if you just pick up a 5.3/4L60E pullout, and abandon the legacy SBC idea altogether. After all it's 2017 now. You're going to have to deal with exhaust, tuning, cooling system, etc. etc. etc. no matter what; given the amount you'll be spending, might as well step into at least the latter half of the 20th century. Cost won't be that much different anyway, drive-in to drive-out.

 

I agree.

 

What "V" word?

 

vortec-some may know what he wants
some think they are gold plated because of the V
Just like the LSx Cant believe what jokers want for a worn out one on cl out here. nationwide they are 3-500 for a running one out here they still want 1-2k for something thats beat to chit and probably hot
Vortec...probably not much different.

 

Think Sofa is referring to "Vette". Could be wrong, but I've read a ton of his posts and I've heard him mention it more than once. The word "Vette" immediately drives up the price.

 

Right: the "V" word in this case, is Vortec. 96-2000 truck.

In MANY other cases it's "Vette". Both of you guys made good guesses.

My main point is, DON'T come across to the junkyard guys as some overeager buzzword-spouting n00b. Be a down-to-earth kind of guy (or girl, if that's the case) just trying to get along in life, rather than displaying some kind of superiority complex over your toyz.

 

VOOOrtec !

 

If this car is going to be a toy/cruise/weekender special this is the best route to go. You should be able to find a complete 5.3 engine without much trouble. There are obstacles that come with swapping the LS family in but they are no longer big, expensive, thought provoking obstacles. A stock LS family member with decent stock heads and one of the better stock intakes will make the same power as a mild sbc. I hate the fact the my 11:1, AFR headed, single plane efi 383 engine makes the same power as a mild LS build

 

In no means is a 5.3 with a big cam that it would take to make the power your 383 likely makes going to run as well!!!

My buddy has a 1997 ECSB C1500 with a LQ4 with a TBSS intake and stock manifolds (ran out of money and was going to twin turbo anyway) and a moderate thumpy turbo cam in it. He puts down 308 RWHP and 300 RWTQ. My old Express van has the 5.7 with a pair of slightly worked 906 Vortecs and a Lunati Hotcam it put down 290 RWHP and 330 RWTQ on the same dyno, same day, minutes apart. He has electric fans and a lighter duty 8.5" 10-bolt. Mine has a duramax mechanical fan and 10.5" 14-bolt. We both have 4L80Es (Mine is actually an 85E). His 6.0L does not start making more power until 5,000+ RPM than my old 5.7. It is drastic enough that my Express with 4.56 gears outlaunches and outruns his 3.90 geared truck despite being nearly 1,000 lbs heavier. I do have a gearing advantage but I also have alot more weight and much worse aerodynamics to overcome. He does not start to pull ahead until about 80 mph. We have the same torque converter and the old 350 brake stalls it 2-300 rpm higher. Even with headers, marine intake, headwork, the cam and coil per cylinder ignition swap I am less $$$ into mine than he is in his engine swap. My intake manifold is actually the bottleneck in my setup currently. Plan to swap it out for a Proflow someday soon with an Etec 170 aluminum head 6" rod 406 under it.

Just saying this as a reminder to what more modern cars are capable of. Prior to running the Express van, it was funnier when he called me out to race him in my boat of an Infiniti M56S. He actually thought I had a V6 and had convinced himself he could take my big 4 door sedan. He did not realize it had a 5.6 V8 and ran into the 12.70s stock. 382 hp/390 tq at the tires stock. When I shifted into neutral, dumped the cutouts open and gave it a good rev when we were lining up you should have seen the look on his face. Bone stock cars are pretty darn quick today.

 

I'm not sure which point of view you are arguing here and I wasn't trying to turn this junkyard tip thread into a LS vs sbc debate.