RE Building my 355

[LTZ C20]

It's all good Rich. I called summit and explained everything that I have going on and my intents and asked a bunch of questions and I spoke with their technical support people's and this short block will fit the bill very nicely. Also, since I never did a build thread on the " old " engine, ie the 1 this thread is about, I'm going to be taking more pictures and doing a thread on this " new " engine. Thanks for popping in.

Also, please check out my other recent topic, titled Fuel line Relocations, I have some things I'm trying to get figured out with my fuel lines.

[Irish_Alley]

are you reusing your old heads/intake? whats your plans with the motor, how much power do you want? or you just looking to rebuild what you had going?

[LTZ C20]

The original plan was to just get the affected parts either fixed or replaced, make it as tho it just never happened. The plan now is basically the same except for instead of repairing, I'm replacing the entire bottom end with something that is a little better.

"Old" block:
-was a Mexico cast replacement crate 350, nothing special
-bored 30 over
-flat tappet engine
-rest was stock
-2 piece rear main

"New" block
-1996-2000 seasoned 350 block
-bored 40 over
- +6.9cc flat top pistons
-roller cam block
-1 piece rear main

Both are 4 bolt main blocks.

The rest of my top end parts will be swapped over and reused, (heads, intake, disti, timing set) with the exception of a new roller cam and lifters that was as  close to my old cam as I could get, respectively comparing apples to oranges.

Engine is going back into my 73 C20. Horsepower is not as important as torque. The old engine, tho never nit picky tuned and dyno'd was an estimated 360 horse in the 5200 rpm area and 425 ft lbs torque in the 2500 rpm area. Well enough to throw the truck thru an intersection if you leaned heavy on the pedal but also was well suited for those heavy loads.

As long as this "new" block does the minimum what the old 1 did and has about the same horse/torque numbers (tho with the upgraded pistons and bigger cam I'm estimating a tad more on each figure) then I'm happy with that.

The guy from summit tech was very helpful and understanding and said my to-be-reused parts and the few things I had to change just based on engine characteristics said that I should have my goal hit right on the head.

Hope that answers your questions Irish, either way, my cost comparison was about 100 dollars difference.

[Irish_Alley]

yeah sounds like a good plan.

[Stewart G Griffin]

i have little to no experience with building engines.  My only questions/comments would be:

What brand/model fuel pump pushrod was it?

Was the cam stock or aftermarket and which model #?

[LTZ C20]

i have little to no experience with building engines.  My only questions/comments would be:

What brand/model fuel pump pushrod was it?

Was the cam stock or aftermarket and which model #?

Push rod was a Comp Cams, don't remember what model, I think it was one of those with a different material type on one tip. Got it at the local auto parts store, at the time, I did not know that at the time and it was not supposed to be used with my cam. It still got ground down way past the "different material tip" and into the main rod material. Either way it was a very expensive mistake.

Cam was a Comp cams Xtreme Energy hydraulic flat tappet.

[LTZ C20]

Ordered that new ATK SP04 Short block mentioned above from summit this afternoon. Can't wait for it to get here, really miss driving my truck.

[LTZ C20]

Engine has arrived. Please see post "73 C20 Performance Engine Build" in the performance section for the build and install.