rebuild a 350 from scratch help opinions?

[k5krushert1]

well fianlly got a job and got off my lazy arse which means money for the k5.i know i know upgrade to 1 tons first but i seriously want some more power for the rig.even though i got a 10 bolt rear it has a detroit and new gears with hardly any miles .tires will probably come later or get some wide 35's for wheeling. its got a bone stock 350 with a q jet and its egr and cali equiped 74,000 miles and a 2 bolt main. ie... low compression model. i was thinking getting a 4 bolt main block and having it checked for cracks and all that.maybe 0.30 over and a rebuild kit. just not sure on a cam set up. i want it to be streetable at least so maybe something with a little more lope then a stocker cam. whatever advice i can get would be cool :beer:also planning on running it non egr if i can with a non egr q jet as well.

[k5krushert1]

excuse my spelling i wokred 10 hours :blink: tired uh anyways yeah and i also live 5 minutes from summit racing wherehouse for parts and it doest need to comply with california regulations i think nevada regs are more easy going.ive also heard its all about the heads you choose or modify to gain power :2thumbs:

[CaptainInsano]

Damn, you need to ditch that low compression model where you are livin for sure. You probably have about 50 hp up there with that motor.

Get the 4 bolt, performer package intake and matched cam, good rebuild on the heads, port match heads to the intake and torque step headers dual exhaut with Flowmaster40s. Will run good and strong and reliably. You could do performer rpm instead, not sure if the rpm range is suited for our rigs though, especially in the rocks with 10 bolts :D

[Tony Somethingoranother]

Dont let anyone convince you the the 4 bolt main gimmick is going to give you any more horespower. A 2 bolt main will do the same job just as good for what you need. Yes its cool to boast to people, yep its a 4 bolt main, but unless you are racing, it wont matter. (if you can get it for the same price as a 2 bolt, I guess it doesnt matter, just dont pay extra)

Recurving your distributor will also help. Right now its curved for a boat anchor. They sell springs and weights in kits with charts for advance curves. IIRC, in a light application, you want your advance to come up faster.

With your low mileage motor, I serioulsy would not consider rebuilding it, or throwing it away. I would change the cam, and put on some worked heads with smaller combustion chambers. and throw upgrades at it from there. A nice set of aftermarket heads can be purcased complete and ready to run for less than $800. That is cheaper than having a set of stock heads rebuilt and warmed up. Swirl polised SS valves, 3 angle vavle job, 10* valve locks, chromoly retianers, silicone bronze valve guides, teflon valve seals, pocket porting on the valve seats, and good springs compatible with your camshaft. All buzz words you need to know, and are good $$ spent.

IF you decide you must have a new engine, here is some things I have learned.

When you have your block machined, make shure you specify you want the cylinder walls to be TORQUE PLATE HONED. This is where they bolt a piece of metal to the head surface of the block and hone the cylinders. This simulates the head being bolted on, and distorts the block the same way it would be when you bolt your heads on. The bolts supposedly pull the cylinder walls in a minsicule amount when you bolt the heads on, and it causes more drag in those areas till they wear away. If you have it torque plate honed, that is not an issue.

Dont go with any crazy overbores. Go as small as you can. If you can get away with only going .010 then do it.

Have your rotating assembly balanced. You do not need to go crazy and have it race balanced that is overkill.

Rings. Cast iron seat the fastest, also wear out the fastest. Expect 100K+ from them. They "should" seat within 1000 miles if not sooner. Moly rings last longer, but also take longer to seat. Be shure to properly gap and install them to mfg specs.

When you have your engine machined, make shure you take a parts list of what you have to them. They will need to know your cam, pistons, and rings for shure. The piston will need a specific clearance, and the rings require a certain grit of stone to be used for break in purposes.

Champher the oil drain back holes in the lifter valley.

Epoxy metal screens over the holes over the same areas, and where you can see the cam from the lifter valley. (if you have valvetrain failure this will keep the large nasties from harming any more stuff.)

Have the machine shop check the cam and crank bores for being true.

Zero decking the block is nice, it helps bring up your compression ratio, and increases the "quench" *Note*, this also can cause problems with needing to have your intake manifold shaved to fit correctly if the block is shaved too much.

Use nice rod bolts, aka ARP wave locks. Good aftermarket stage I or II are nice. (hell, even the normal reconditioning, with shot peening, and grinding the casting ridge off is good enuff)

Oh yeah, if price isnt an issue, 383 stroker.

With some of this info, you can possibly convince your "reputable" engine rebuilder that you know what you are talking about, so dont try and pull a fast one on me crap. If you dont specify you want it done, they will more than likely not do it. It can be frustrating, and expensive if somebody screws up.

I say fix up your old motor, it will be cheaper and you dont have to worry about breaking it in.

[k5krushert1]

wow thanks good chit :beer: 50hp :blink: i dont think its that bad :crazy: but its not a screamer either thats for sure. it has enough power to spin the tires at least lol. yeah i think it would be better to hop up my existing motor i agree with you masterbeavis.less money would be better for me.i appreciate all the comments :beer:

[k5krushert1]

well im going to upgrade my existing motor when time and money premits which will be in about a month or so.i think im going to keep the thing egr equiped i heard a prperly working egr system wont affect power too much at all.well i heard timing chains are usually do at around 80,000 miles so thats on this list also with a new set of heads.i would like to boost the compression some.before i go all spend happy im gonna check the compression and all that.i also think my timing it set a little retarded and some stupid fawk took off my timing indicator plate or whatever its called so i couldnt time it :crazy: also probably put a new egr edelbrock manifold and rebuild the q jet.

[Tony Somethingoranother]

.i also think my timing it set a little retarded and some stupid fawk took off my timing indicator plate or whatever its called so i couldnt time it :crazy: also probably put a new egr edelbrock manifold and rebuild the q jet.

take out the #1 spark plug, rotate engine to TDC on that cylinder (make shure the compression is tring to blow your finger out, when the piston stops comin up, you are close to TDC give or take a few degrees. Then you can put in you kragen's special timing pointer and MR gasket balancer timing tape. :P mebbe mark #1 on the dizzy, pop cap and verify its where it should be??

Worst case, set the timing by ear. :D