this is the story of my car: last year I put a new engine in my car from NECO engines in woburn,MA. at the time I only had $2000,it was real cold outside and I needed to get to VA in 1 1/2 weeks......with my car! so,I did the wrong thing and replaced the longblock as it was before,305 HO (L69 engine) no upgrade to 350. I spent some $$ and didn't get exactly what I wanted,but it sure did run nice and had a 5 year/75k mile warranty...pretty good for an emergency repair! so,this is what happened to it....last july,two days before my birthday,the car gets stolen. thanfully it was recovered,but when I picked it up at the impound,the coolant overflow cap was sitting next to the fill hole on the overflow resevior with not a drop of coolant in the entire engine!!! so,..we all know how that happened,because a small cap won't stay in place during a tow.

here's my question: I have the heads removed,and the crosshash is still visible in all cylinders (11k on engine) there is some evidence of coolant leakage into the cylinders (indicated by carbon build up on the pistons) . my friends father recomended to clean the piston tops and reuse the shortblock because they are usually stronger than the heads in an overheat situation. it seems like a lot of work for me to take chances with,but if it did work I could get my car rolling by spring time. however I'd have no problem with just ditching the 305 and dropping in a new 350 with all the "fixins"...which could happen during the summer if everything goes right. the 700r4 still works so,I'll add a cooler and change the filter. the whole car is torn apart now and I really don't want to put it back together until it's put back together right. you all should try completly dismantling a thirdgen sometime,it's fun!!

 

It all depends on how much power you want/need. Myself... I would NOT be happy with the power that a 305 would make. Which is why I'm ditching my 350 for a mean 406. Yeah i'm spending a small fortune (for me) for it, but it's all worth it for me. If you have the funds to support building a 350... do it! Sell the shortblock to someone that wants to build a 305. Or.. if it came with a warranty, try to get the company to warranty it and you can sell a brand new shortblock. Get the cheap edelbrock RPM package for the 350 (around $1400) and make 420 HP. Enought to get you in the mid 12s.

 

maybe I am wrong, but I remeber I had an overheating problem with my talon when the head gasket failed, but most people said that the biggest problem to the bottom end was that when you build up that much heat, the pistons expand so much that they crush the rings and then when they contract again you end up with leaking rings and burning oil. just what I remember hearing, maybe I am wrong.

 

The pistons that were seeing coolant will be clean on top, I just blew a head gasket. And the cylinder that was filled with coolant was spotless on top.

Nick

 

I think I'm going to toss the sortblock,I have no idea what it's been through. I would like to use my warranty and get it fixed but I have already voided the warranty by dismantling the internal engine itself and it was obvious that the car was stolen,so I probably couldn't take advantage of my warranty........or could I?.........hmmmm. I think it's time to save some serious $$$ and put in an engine that belongs in there!! 350,no smog stuff,no experiments...just spark & fuel.

 

It doesn't seem very ethical to try and get the engine rebuilder to fix the engine if the car was stolen... the punks who grabbed it could have done any number of things to it.

Why isn't the insurance paying for it? I thought a person had the right to refuse a stolen car that is returned to them? Just as the insurance company has the right to refuse you insurance if the car was stolen or written off under a previous owner.

There's really no way to know how severe the overheating was so I'd recommend a whole new one. Otherwise you should definitely have the block and heads hot-tanked and then magnafluxed to check for cracks.