Not getting gas in carb

[MayheM]

The spark plugs are AcDelco R45TS (should i change them to something else? These are just what was in it when I got it a few weeks ago).

R45TS is a popular plug that works well for most stock configurations.  If the engine has any tendency to ping once it's back together, try using the R43CTS.

The truck has headers on it currently, so I can just unbolt them and put new gaskets on when I reinstall correct?

Correct - and you won't need to worry about manifold distortion, so you can forgo the four spreaders.

I neglected to mention, pick up a roll of 80-grit paper and mill a 1.5" square block of oak about 6" long to make a hard, flat sanding block to surface the engine block and intake manifold sealing surfaces prior to reassembly.  This will remove minor surface imperfections and provide a truly clean, flat sealing surface with some bite for the gaskets.  Wet the paper with solvent or kerosene while 'sanding.'  Retain the paper with a sheet metal screw in one end.

I'll borrow some 80 grit from work. Why oak? Out of curiosity, would plastic or aluminum work? We have plenty of scrap at the shop of those 2 already the right size.

Also 2 more questions.  When I do get the heads off, how should I protect the engine? I have no garage, the truck sits outside. Lastly, if the lifters and cam are worn to the point of needing replacement,  should I consider a full rebuild?

[bd]

How do you borrow emery cloth?

Any hard block matching the width of the paper will do.

To protect the engine from dust and "drop ins," lay a clean painters tarp or other makeshift cover over the engine when you're not working on it.  Assuming the hood is still mounted, it will keep the rain off.

You can evaluate the condition of the cylinder walls before deciding on whether to tear down further. 

[MayheM]

How do you borrow emery cloth?

Any hard block matching the width of the paper will do.

To protect the engine from dust and "drop ins," lay a clean painters tarp or other makeshift cover over the engine when you're not working on it.  Assuming the hood is still mounted, it will keep the rain off.

You can evaluate the condition of the cylinder walls before deciding on whether to tear down further.

Borrow was just a nicer way of saying I would take it from work haha. We keep rolls of 80 - 400 and my boss doesn't mind and has let me use small amounts of it before for person things, and let's me use our small sandblasted for personal things if I want.

Okay I'll make sure I cover it nicely and yeah the hood is still on.

[bd]

I posted 80 grit.  That's too coarse.  Use 100 or 120.  The idea is to thoroughly clean and prepare the sealing surfaces and gently dress off localized high spots, not remove a lot of metal.

[LeftysRodandCustom]

BD is spot on here, right down to the head bolts, the lube and keeping everything in order. Not enough can be said for those things. And where I work we dont call it borrow or take, we call it goverment work! If a full rebuild is in the budget then now is really the time to do it, as you'll be buying the gaskets once instead of doing it again later if you decide to. In that case the whole thing can be bought in a kit with all the gaskets, seals, rings, bearings, and in some cases even the cam a lifters. Again its all about your budget but if you go that route you will know exactly what you have and it should have some serious longevity.

[rich weyand]

Oh, man.  That's a lot of tear down and rebuild and parts.  At what point do you decide to start over with a new crate engine?  I guess the question I would ask is how many miles does it have on it?  You won't get the equal of a new engine without tearing it all the way down and hot tanking the block.  My original 350 had 140,000 miles on it when it started blowing antifreeze.  Cylinders 2, 5, and 6 were wet.  I decided to go with a new crate engine, and I'm happy about it.

I'm less happy about the 350/290hp engine I selected.  I paid $500 more for the mis-matched camshaft that comes in that engine, and ultimately had the engine re-cammed in the vehicle, which was a pricey job.  I could have ordered the 350/260hp engine and re-cammed it day one for almost nothing.  Granted, the 350/290hp engine was fun once you got it wound up -- the truck was a two-lane terror with that engine; the 50-90 times were insane -- but it took a while to get moving off the post.

As you are tearing into this engine, I would add up all the parts and machining costs you are looking at, so you don't shoot past the price point for a new crate engine with a nice torquey camshaft.  You can get the base level 350/260hp engine (#10067353) from Summit right now for $1,509.97 with free shipping.  Put the Comp Cams 12-235-2 cam in it before you even put it in the truck.  Sure, it voids the warranty, but those things are about as reliable as you can get.  The cam is another $119.97, and when replacing the cam you don't even need to replace the lifters or springs on a brand-new, never-been-run engine.

So for $1629.94, you can have a brand new engine.  You can get 290hp at 4000 and 415lbft at 2500 if you put a dual-plane manifold (Edelbrock 2101: $155.97) and headers (Hooker 2453: $190.95 at JEGS) on it, and still come in under $2000, or a bit more once you figure in some gaskets and getting flanges brazed onto the exhaust.  Even without those extras, you'll get about 220hp at 4000 and 325lbft at 3000, which is a nice little step up from the stock engine.  And it's a brand new engine with tight bores and new oil pump and no gunk in the passages and no worn journals and, and, and.

So, how many miles does that engine have on it?

[MayheM]

Oh, man.  That's a lot of tear down and rebuild and parts.  At what point do you decide to start over with a new crate engine?  I guess the question I would ask is how many miles does it have on it?  You won't get the equal of a new engine without tearing it all the way down and hot tanking the block.  My original 350 had 140,000 miles on it when it started blowing antifreeze.  Cylinders 2, 5, and 6 were wet.  I decided to go with a new crate engine, and I'm happy about it.

I'm less happy about the 350/290hp engine I selected.  I paid $500 more for the mis-matched camshaft that comes in that engine, and ultimately had the engine re-cammed in the vehicle, which was a pricey job.  I could have ordered the 350/260hp engine and re-cammed it day one for almost nothing.  Granted, the 350/290hp engine was fun once you got it wound up -- the truck was a two-lane terror with that engine; the 50-90 times were insane -- but it took a while to get moving off the post.

As you are tearing into this engine, I would add up all the parts and machining costs you are looking at, so you don't shoot past the price point for a new crate engine with a nice torquey camshaft.  You can get the base level 350/260hp engine (#10067353) from Summit right now for $1,509.97 with free shipping.  Put the Comp Cams 12-235-2 cam in it before you even put it in the truck.  Sure, it voids the warranty, but those things are about as reliable as you can get.  The cam is another $119.97, and when replacing the cam you don't even need to replace the lifters or springs on a brand-new, never-been-run engine.

So for $1629.94, you can have a brand new engine.  You can get 290hp at 4000 and 415lbft at 2500 if you put a dual-plane manifold (Edelbrock 2101: $155.97) and headers (Hooker 2453: $190.95 at JEGS) on it, and still come in under $2000, or a bit more once you figure in some gaskets and getting flanges brazed onto the exhaust.  Even without those extras, you'll get about 220hp at 4000 and 325lbft at 3000, which is a nice little step up from the stock engine.  And it's a brand new engine with tight bores and new oil pump and no gunk in the passages and no worn journals and, and, and.

So, how many miles does that engine have on it?

I can't honestly tell you how many miles are on the engine. I doubt the odometer works, and this isn't the original engine that came from the factory. Were you suggesting looking into starting over w/ a crate engine if I end up needing to change in this one plus send the heads to a machine shop? or just if I needed to do a complete rebuild?

I kind of want to rebuild an engine for it just to do it. I'd like to build my own and learn how it all works inside, but as you've pointed out.. I'd be better off price wise just going w/ a crate engine and i would honestly probably be happy with it. I do want to build an engine that is more fun than my 2010 ram w/ the 5.7l hemi(ported tb, headers, hemifever tuned).. But I doubt I'd be able to afford to do that very soon.

BD is spot on here, right down to the head bolts, the lube and keeping everything in order. Not enough can be said for those things. And where I work we dont call it borrow or take, we call it goverment work! If a full rebuild is in the budget then now is really the time to do it, as you'll be buying the gaskets once instead of doing it again later if you decide to. In that case the whole thing can be bought in a kit with all the gaskets, seals, rings, bearings, and in some cases even the cam a lifters. Again its all about your budget but if you go that route you will know exactly what you have and it should have some serious longevity.

A full rebuild isn't particularly in the budget, but neither is it not.. I don't really have a budget, I'm just spending money on the truck as I can. If a full rebuild or new motor is in order then I'll have to save up for a few months at least. This truck is just my project though so I can learn to do mechanical work, I don't need it as a driver so it can sit around while I save some cash for it.

Also for everyone to see.. here is a video of me starting it about 30 minutes ago, it sat since about saturday afternoon before this.
Sorry about it being sideways, I forgot to turn my phone around!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDzysgDAu7M

[rich weyand]

Usually, "up" on a video will be whichever direction was up on the phone when you pushed the record button.

You would still get some mechanical knowledge if you bought a new crate engine and swapped out the cam.  You have to pull the valve covers and loosen the rockers and pop the pushrods out and pull the lifters and pull the timing cover and swap the cam and time it properly and then put it all back together and set the valve lash and put the intake on it and the carb and and and.  So you would get some wrench time and see how all the top-end wobbly parts work.  The bottom end is pretty boring, really.

And you will really, really like 415lbft of torque if you go that route.

[MayheM]

Usually, "up" on a video will be whichever direction was up on the phone when you pushed the record button.

You would still get some mechanical knowledge if you bought a new crate engine and swapped out the cam.  You have to pull the valve covers and loosen the rockers and pop the pushrods out and pull the lifters and pull the timing cover and swap the cam and time it properly and then put it all back together and set the valve lash and put the intake on it and the carb and and and.  So you would get some wrench time and see how all the top-end wobbly parts work.  The bottom end is pretty boring, really.

And you will really, really like 415lbft of torque if you go that route.

True. I hadn't really considered all of that. This seems like a pretty good option, however I'm still going to pull my heads and evaluate things seeing as I can't afford a new motor right now anyway. I'll try to do as thorough of an evaluation as I can and then weigh up the costs and pros/cons of the options.

[Dan75k20]

Looks like a bad head gasket or bad rings I had a,4.3 that literally blew oil out of the tail pipe good luck crate with a 12-235-2  would be nice that's the cam I run in a 355 with 882 heads flat tops edelbrock 1405 and performer intake headers and runs great id see about changing your head gaskets and,getting the heads re done and see how,it runs

[rich weyand]

One note to my engine rant above.  Hooker 2453 headers fit the 4WD K trucks.  If it's a 2WD C truck, Summit says to use the Hooker 2452 headers.

[LeftysRodandCustom]

The crate option is definitely a good one depending on what you find. If you're even considering it then i would say tear that thing on down and teach yourself all that you want to because its destined for the parts bin or scrap heap at that point. Rebuild kits are relatively cheap. Summit sells a kit with all the gaskets, bearings, frost plugs, new oil pump, pistons, and rings for $237. Just missing a cam and lifters at that point. But the thing to remember when going that route is all the machine work. Hot tanking the block, all the head work, boring the block if need be,  it all adds up really quickly. The list can get longer with every part you pull out. Tear the heads off and see what you've got and then make a plan from there.

[rich weyand]

Here's another option from another thread.  Build up the following:

Base level 350/260hp engine (GM #10067353)
Dart 127322 cylinder heads
Comp Cams 12-238-2 cam
dual-plane manifold (Edelbrock 2101)
headers (Hooker 2453 for K trucks, 2452 for C trucks)

For $3200, you can have 425 lbft at 2500 and 360 hp at 5000 rpm.  That's smokin' performance for $3200!

[roundhouse]

I'd imagine swapping the cam would void the warranty on a new crate engine

Cheapest route is to buy a good running used engine from a wrecked truck
Should be able to get one for less than $400

Make sure to hear it run and do a compression check before you buy it

[MayheM]

Thanks for all of the replies!  It's really awesome to have so much help. I haven't got anything done because of weather(no garage and lots of rain) and being a bit sick lately. Also I've just been trying to save up a bit of money to split between the truck and my other interests. I'm going to try to get the heads off during the next week or two and see what it all looks like and weigh up my options. I'll definitely be back with results and pics whenever it happens!