Sorry, long post without pics. Bought an 84 stepside 2WD a few years ago. Had a very rough running 250 with a 700r4 trans. The body is pretty straight and clean for Ohio anyway. Trailered it home (actually to my dad's - more room to work) where it sat while I began accumulating parts for a sbc swap.
Found an 84 Chevy longbed that was advertised as a 305 with a blown head gasket. Truck would run but had a lot of steam in the exhaust. Bought the longbed for a parts truck, pulled the engine and discovered it was a .060 over 350 w/4 bolt mains. Internals looked good but I was a little concerned about just throwing it together without a rebuild so I sold the engine but kept all the brackets so my engine swap would look factory.
Lucked into a 74 350 with standard bore and forged crank. Planned on doing a mild 355. Meanwhile I re-aquired a low mileage 305 I had given my dad. I pulled this with 72k miles from a 79 Impala and replaced it with a 350 crate engine. Dad ran the 305 in his 72 Chevy 1/2 ton for a couple of years and replaced it with a 355. So I decided to drop the 305 in my 84 just to get it running.
Here's where the fun begins. I knew the 305 needed valve seals so I started to disassemble the heads and in the process the threads on five of the rocker studs stripped. The heads were off the engine so it wasn't due to spring compression. Took the heads to a shop and got threaded studs and a valve job for $300.00. Dad had already put a small cam in the 305 so I replaced the lifters just to be safe, cleaned and painted the engine.
Installed engine and transmission last weekend and it fired right up. Decided to keep the six cylinder wiring harness because it was in better shape. Kept the manifolds and y pipe from the parts truck and was actually able to connect it to the remaining exhaust with a small piece of flex pipe. Dual exhaust will be installed in the future. I want to keep the manifolds but the dipstick hole is blocked on the driver side. I've got some older style manifolds that run beneath the spark plugs but I'm pretty confident they will not align with the y pipe. Any suggestions other than headers?
I also adjusted the TV cable but have late hard shifts. I only drove it about 2 miles to my house but worried I may have burned up the trans. I have zero experience with 700r4 but I know they can be ruined quickly. I did keep the 700r4 from the parts truck so I may have a working spare. Unfortunately both are 27 spline.
Good news is it is running and all the factory gauges appear to be working correctly. Thanks and sorry about the long post.
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