350 4 bolt main engine.It has the one piece rear seal,40 over hyperutectic flat tops, and new GM roller lifters and the 906 vortec heads.Just add your intake and distributor and cam. JD
If it is a fresh build and you know who and how it is built, Without some knowledge of the build , I would not touch it.,,,,,,
I agree with Walrus. Last summer BOTH of my cars were off the road because I took the cheap road and bought "good" used engines, both of which didn't last 24 hours once installed. One motor had a bad cam, the other a streched timing chain and subsequently threw a rod. Unless you know the motor, and even then, I stay away from used engines. Lesson learned the hard way.
Yeah, I agree with those stated above. About 2 years ago I put a 'free' good used 350 in my '89 Chevy pickup with 251,000 on the clock. I got it all in and hooked up, and even though it didn't smoke noticably, it was going through a quart of oil every 250 miles. As it got worse, and more noticable, I wound up going through a CASE OF OIL to every tankful of gas! That winds up equating to around 40 miles to the quart! If possible, I'd try to pull the motor down before you buy it and check things out first. Clearances, tolerances, etc might be tattle-tales on whether it is worth it or not.
Free engine + $1500 master rebuild kit = good engine. If you're lucky. Most free things aren't good and most good things aren't really free.
Depends on how you're getting it, if it's some used thing it's iffy, if it's brand new and has some kind of guarantee, you probably couldn't duplicate it for that.
This guy rebuilt it fresh and has not started it yet. He does it for hobby. He says it is 40 over with GM roller lifters and he rebuilt the heads.
I'd be leary. Off the top of my head $800 sounds cheap to rebuild a SBC using new good stuff. So this guy, as a hobby, likes to rebuild engines and make no money on the proposition? Sounds fishy. But if you know the guy and he is cutting a deal... $800 for a fresh SBC is a steal.
its a toss up. I wouldnt buy it unless i know who did the Machine work to the block. if the block is done right then its worth the buy. You can still sell all the internals, heads, ect. and get your $800 or close to it back and pay virtually nothing for the block. But clearly the guy is selling it for a reason. like thirdyfive said, with buying new parts and paying machineing cost this person spent more than $800. makes you think maybe he just had this junk laying around his garage and unless you know him personally who know what the parts have been through or if they are even any good.
If it were me a crate motor is the way to go as it includes a warantee. Too many things can go wrong on an improper rebuild.
Cant cool a .040 over Chevy ????? Glad i dont run Chevy's ...... My .090 over Hemi cools just fine ! As for the question at hand, If the swap is an easy one & the guy will stand behind his work 100% ... sounds like a deal. Tell him you will buy the beer & BBQ if he comes over & helps ya put it in BEFORE you pay him. That will tell ya if he is comfortable with his own rebuild .
No shit...you can bore em .080" and more all day long. It's the 400 that will overheat at over .040" (most of the time)
What did he mess up on it? I've had a guy trying to swap me a tunnel ram rebuilt SBC he did in his garage for various cars off and on for a couple years and I won't touch it.
Thanks for the advice!! Much appreciated. I think I will let him keep it, as I do not know him personally. Its on craigslist in jax FL. Anyone know a good place to get a motor from other than Epay? Thanks again for everyones opinion. JD
The you-pull-it yards get like $150 for a motor here. You can't see it run, but it does have a 30-day warranty usually.
I paid 1200 or 1500 for my 302 long block from a place called promar on ebay, 3 year unlimited mileage warranty and believe free shipping, but need a core thats free pick up. Id would go there again when I build another car that I think I would think of keeping. And when I ever buy a used motor/trans I want to see it running, prefer in the car still and pull it my self or if your buying it from a friend or something
The guy at advanced auto parts said $1300 for 350 4 bolt main long block with 3yr and 150000 mile warranty and he would waive the core charge. JD
Seadevil, You seem to be looking in all the wrong places for an engine, I personally know two people who have purchased engines for the Mostly plastic chrome auto parts houses and got screwed both times, The engines are built in with by mostly inexperieced people on build as fast as you can schedule with mismatched internals , and I do mean mismatched rods , pistons etc. Would't touch one of thoes engines with a ten foot pole. You seem to be serious so why don't you get serious, There are plenty of reputable engine builders out there that stand behind their work , In addition , There is a lot to be sajd for a GM crate motor , 3 year and 36,000 mile warrenty from $1300 to whatever for an elephant motor. Look up Scoggins-Dickey Chevy in Lubbock , Tx and talk to them. You get what you pay for unless you get luckey and are real knowledgable. My two cents,,,
I agree. Unless you personally know someone that can rebuild a SBC for you on the cheap you really cant beat the crate engines.
Walrus is dead-on...Scoggins-Dickey, even Jeg's or Summit are great places to score a good crate motor. The 260 hp 350 ci SBC long block from GM performance is like $1300 from Jeg's. Which may sound like a lot, but... I just built a 355 SBC this month. My machine shop bill (.030 bore, hone, hot tank heads and block, install new cam bearings and freeze plugs, resize rods, install ARP bolts, hang new pistons, cut crank .020 under, polish) was $770, which was very reasonable. Then add the cost of the rebuild kit and all the necessary parts; pistons, cam and lifters, bearings, timing chain, oil pump, etc. Then add on the cost of tools and supplies if you don't have them readily available; piston ring compressor, engine assembly lube, engine brushes, etc....you see what I mean. You'll be almost $1300 deep and you haven't even started assembly yet. Compare that to a warranteed motor delivered to your door ready to run. You can't beat it. You always come out ahead money-wise when you do the job right the first time
i have bought a few used motors in my time, they all came from large scrap yards and had a 30 day warenty on them, if you looking for a 350 you could probly buy a used car with one in and get the trans and diff and everything else you might need and then sell the car for scrap, a car with 100,000 miles on it that was looked after could have an engine that would run you for years, and maybe cost you $800
Seadevil, If you need a good rebuilt SBC, PM me. I have a guy that builds engines localy and I have over 40,000 miles on the one he did for me with no problems. He gives a warranty as long as it is not too high perfomance.
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