Hot Rods Small Block Chevy Mystery Motor

He had expressed interest a few weeks ago after seeing pics of it on the Corvette forum. I wanted to disassemble it to confirm internals before agreeing on a price.

 

This was fun...

 

Yep, the thrill of [perceived] victory, followed by the agony of defeat!

Seriously, it was fun. Disassembling any old engine that's said to have some performance bits is always an adventure.

 

It had a little spice in it. .030 over, GK cam, Edelbrock intake. I mean it ain't no 7500 RPM firebreather but enough zoot for a light car. Tuned right they'll have reliable fun for a while.

 

Yep, also has flat-tops -- I'm guessing around 9:1 or so -- and a decent pair of heads. Add a 600 Holley and some long-tube headers and it should make decent power.

 

yup. Only thing I would have done different would be to leave the pistons in it....you just made more work taking them out

 

Just pulled one. Maybe 5 minutes to reinstall?

 

I wouldn't use that same ring pack....

 

Well now (@squirrel) you are seriously mistaken. it also has an Edelbrock intake.
The one that looks like a later model aluminum truck intake that I have cut to increase plenum size.

I have never ever in my life captured an SBC that was not rebuilt, overhauled, freshened, or remanufactured that was not "Hopped Up". Well except the 327 in my current project that was just simply rebuilt according to the previous owner. This one has had the decks squared up so it may have actually been "hopped up". LOL

I am following along just because tear down for inspection always floats my boat. Even if we find out that it is a mostly stock wheezer motor it is there is a thrill to be had.

 

Well I say you gave the kid a good deal. He can end up with a good little driver engine and some good experience gained in the process. Good to see young folks still interested in the car game.

 

The rods are stock chevy rods, not even polished. They have probably been sized (or hopefully sized) and had now bolts installed. Nothing wrong with stock rods they hold the pistons fine and if you don't throw too much meat at them (think nitro methane here) they usually hold up just fine.

 

Yes, I know it's a hole, but it gives almost no sealing surface on the pan with a hole like that.

 

It's a bit of a treasure hunt, isn't it? I've found some very...ummm...interesting modifications, repairs, etc., when tearing down vintage engines.

 

That was my intent - tear down to verify internals and then sell him a known quantity for a good price.

Thanks

 

For this engine, they'll be mighty fine.

 

It also had Manley head bolts. Not sure why they used aftermarket head bolts on a plain Jane engine.

 

Probably did not trust the originals (stretched is common) and figured that after market bolts were better. Sometimes a rebuilder will use what is there if the machinist does performance builds he was likely to have Manley bolts on the shelf.

I lean toward ARP but Manley makes a good product. I would not exchange them unless I was doing a total new build.

 

That makes sense.

 

It's gone! Threw in an HEI dizzy, alternator, and a few starters.

 

Also, looks like from one pic that the big end of the cap was ground for balancing. The factory rods I’ve seen look like a flat machined surface.

 

I like the factory "X" rods that came on the 1970 Chevy and GMC 350 truck engines.. Those are beefier than the regular car engine connecting rods.... Next would be the pink rods but those are expensive..

 

4 bolt 350 with the heads and pan off so you can inspect it. Well worth 250 in todays market. You get to see what you are getting rather than guess.

 

400 chevy crank flange

 

The kid must have been stoked!

 

He was stoked, but he's not taking the path of least resistance -- he wants to swap the cam and go to forged pistons. If it was me, I'd change rings and bearings, dingle ball hone, new gaskets, add a $50 swap meet Holley and rebuild it and let 'er rip!

Having said that, I can identify with how he's thinking -- when I was his age, in high school in southeast Louisiana in the mid 1980's, I couldn't be bothered with a small block - only big blocks for me! Any not any oval port headed 396, either! Had to be a 427 or 454 with rectangle port heads, blueprinted and balanced! Ended up sourcing a legit 454 LS7 that had been running 10's in a Chevy II. And then I ran out of $. And time. And started college 2 hours away and didn't have a car to drive. So I sold it all and bought a CJ7 to drive back and forth to college. Got back into hot rodding several years later.

 

Looked like whoever rebuilt it didn't keep rods and rod caps together. I noticed mismatched numbers of rods and caps.

 

Here's one I ended up with that thru me. 350 stroke, 307 flange. Seems to be '67 only. 2690 forging. Gene.

 

I ended up shooting a video of the teardown if anyone is interested. Several minutes into the video, I give credit to the folks here for helping me figure things out.