350 refresh

[exilous]

ok so my donor truck is a 1978 c30 with as far as i kno an original 350  to the truck. i havent looked for any numbers cause its just so thick with dirt and oil. ill wait until it comes out and after i clean it and ill post up numbers. i did  compression check awhile back and if i recall correctly i was well within %5 on all 8 cylinders. The module int eh distributor is bad so when it stays running for long it shuts off and wont start again. and it makes great deal of valve noise mainly on the passenger side. I took a video of it at an idle and you can clearly hear the clacking and clattering if you know what to listen for that is. other than that the carb will need a rebuild. I'm definetly not looking to break the bank here. My dad being  a mechanic just told me to do a couple gaskets maybe a camshaft timing chain and rebuild the carb then put it in my truck. With my luck I will put it in the truck and throw a rod then i'll be pissed. my folks are away on vacation right now so i have the whole shop to myself i can get everything done so pretty much I'm on my own and ive never done this before but i've watched my dad a lot I should be able to handle this stuff. what would you fellas suggest me do and or look at while im in there. I'm going to be putting the engine on the stand hopfully tomorrow mornin first thing.

My orginal plan was to do a complete teardown of this 350 and rebuild it with a little more low end torque and stuff but I also dove way too far into the whole C30 project then I anticipated. I didn't want to half-ass the project I want somethign that will last so its costing me more than I would like.

[Russ130]

new crank seals and oil pump along with valve seals I would consider manditory.

[VileZambonie]

If you're pulling the engine I would at the least do a cheap rebuild on it. Summit sells a complete engine kit for the 350 for $200 bucks.

[exilous]

Ok I got some numbers off the block and the heads...and when i decided to move the engine on the stand i grabbed the crank and pushed and the crank moved...it moves in and out about 1/8 of an inch...its not supposed to do that is it? I will continue tearing the engine down either tonight or tomorrow...
NUmbers are B on the top then WER 21014. same number on both heads.



GM 3970010

[Russ130]

Yeah an 1/8" of end play on a crank is not good. Plan on doing a crank kit. At that point you really would be foolish to not just rebuild it and do it right. Send it out to get cleaned and magnafluxed, if it passes the magnaflux check then find out if it needs to go .030" over or more. Order the kit from Summit, Jegs or Northern Auto Parts. Northern's kit is around $180 and includes pistons, cam, lifters, rings, oil pump, gaskets, freeze plugs, timing chain, valve seals, main rod and cam bearings.

[exilous]

Ya I kinda assumed that...I know by the pic you couldnt tell the 1/8th of an inch cause of the camera angle and stuff but just by look and feel it wasnt good... that makes me very unhappy. the thing ran good too. now i'm very disappointed.

[eventhorizon66]

If you end up replacing the crank, you'd be crazy not to make it a 383.

[exilous]

383 wouldnt be a bad idea BUT i have now undergone picking a fixed budget due to no one is buying parts off my parts vehicles and ive also dove much deeper into this project than i really wanted to. Fixing one thing leads to fixing another then before you know it the cab is off and your doing the frame stuff too. I really wasnt expecting this. But then again it happens. And the 350 that is currently in my dump truck has a decent crank I'm pretty sure. so i can take that one if im in desperate need. dang now you have me thinking...how much more would it actually cost? I would be leaving the the cast heads and cast intake on it. My dad has a valve machine so we can do the valve job here so factor that out. How much would it cost to turn my 350 into a 383 just a rough estimate if anyone has some sort of number for me.

[Russ130]

It depends on the amount of and cost of the machine work. You can get a kit from northern auto parts with crank for around $700.

[exilous]

Ehh im still thinking it over what I really want to do. in the meantime I had 3 people call me for parts so I'm not only dismantling the 78 C30 but I need to drop the engine trans and a few fenders off some of my blazers. Gotta have the order filled by saturday mornin...gonna be tough then once i get some cash in ill see how the funds look and go from there. Cause parts arent selling so when i get a call i hop up on it...ill keep you guys posted on what i do i may go for a 383, but i came across a k5 blazer with a 6.2 diesel in it for $400 guy says it runs and has a plow but the body is completely rotted...i may go that route not sure yet...so many ideas...

[Just-speed]

Bro with so much going on and the fact that your not looking to run a 15 in the Quarter why not just buy a short block ready to go.  With what it will cost to re-work your current block you will have spent more than the cost of a Short block.  I will send you a set of heads if it came down to that and all you would have to do is pay to ship them.  Go the easy route bro. New engine no worries.  Alot of guys are gonna say dont do that. I build my own and have bought many short blocks for people and installed for them. Never any issues.   Weigh all options.

[exilous]

ya I have a lot to figure out this will be my first engine build.before i got deep into the cab and stuff of the project which i hadnt planned on doing i wanted to build a nice little performance engine nothing ridiculous.mostly just the upper part of the engine. I picked up this whole project to learn and figure stuff out so i made just rebuild the engine as a learning experience.i will definetly put some thought into a short block though.

[VileZambonie]

If you want help with the engine let me know. I'm not too far from you.

[exilous]

Uhm well i cleaned the engine up a bit today and i rolled it over and popped off the oil pan. The good news, i was blessed with a 4 bolt main. The bad news, well where to start i drained the oil it had metal in it i popped the pan and first thing i noticed was the crank has been slammin around for some time now and wore into the main caps and into the crank counter weights whatever they are called. I popped the main cap and the bearing in the cap is completely copper colored with very heavy grooves in it and it made big grooves in the crank. And there was metal on the walls and gunk and build up and dirt and it was nasty in there. I will get some pics shortly i literally just finished out there and came in to get my camera ill get some pics up in a few hours I'm going to tear a few more things off before i come back in...wish me luck.

[Just-speed]

Bro..... You can stop what your doing.    two choices. Junk it or prepare to spend some cash.   

Go with a new short block and use this as a core.