Do I want the 1994 350 SBC that followed me home?

I just bought a car and part of the deal was a 1994 Chevy 350 V-8 that was pulled out of a running truck with a manual transmission. The distributor and all the fuel injection stuff is gone but it is otherwise complete.

I am not mechanic, but even I know the thing has Vortec heads on it. Is this also a roller cam motor?

I have a 1951 Chevy that I'm building that could use this motor. I have no interest in taking the time to rebuild this thing myself, so the way I see it I have three options:

1. Throw on a carb intake and 4-barrel, a distributor, throw it in the car, and hope it runs well.

2. Have the motor rebuilt, then engage in step 1

3. Sell it and buy myself a Goodwench 350.

What do you guys think? I got this from a drag-racing gearhead, and he said "it's a good one" because it's from a manual-transmission vehicle. It was running when they pulled it, with about 130,000 miles on the truck. I am leaning toward option #2.

If I keep this, what would I have to change to bolt it up to a turbo 350 transmission? I have never owned a V-8 newer than 1978 so it's all new to me.

 

Not to ruin your day but vortec heads came out in 1996. Probably is a roller cam, but truck engines were weird. As far as hooking it up to a turbo 350, you will need to replace the flywheel with a flexplate and torque converter

 

Blocks are all the same.It should be a one piece rear main. I'd throw an intake and carb on it and see if it will start and run without smoking.

 

I think I said the wrong year. Maybe 1998. I'll ask again when I pick it up.
(Maybe 2004? It has serpentine drive pulleys.)
This guy is a backyard race engine builder type, and he made it clear that he chose this motor because of the heads and the crank.

So all I need is a different flexplate and I could bolt this puppy up and see how it runs?

 

If it is a later motor it could have the hyd roller motor in it. It should have a metal plate in the lifter valley that has fingers on it. If so that is holding in your roller lifters.

Yes you need to change the flexplate.

 

if intake is still on it, you can tell. the 96 and later has plastic upper intake plenum, 95 and older is aluminum intake and throttle body. I think the roller cam motors cam in camaros. serpentine belt also came on them starting in 88. motors bolt right up.

 

What? Negatory rubber duckie.......

 

Pics of Vortec heads

 

Pics of 351W heads

 

You are correct, and I dont know what I was thinking about! I'll keep the mouth shut from now on. Too much in my head to say anything!

 

Tear it down to a short-block. Then check the bearings out,if they look good...toss a timing chain in it,and new gaskets.

 

If it were me, I'd ****** the intake off - since you'd have to do it anyway to change to a carb'd intake - and check the lifter valley. If it looks clean and neat, I'd go ahead and toss the intake on and run with it.

Or...

These motors are known for getting astronomical mileage before croaking. If you pull the intake, you are almost halfway there to ******ing the heads off to inspect the cylinders. Flip it over and check the bearings, but unless they look worn, I wouldn't replace them. Upgrade the oil pump while you're there. Pop the timing cover off and replace the timing chain setup with a double roller unit - they are cheap enough. Reason being is that GM used a single sprocket aluminum setup with nylon teeth on it for many years - they strip and the teeth go into the oil pan - may as well do it while you're there. If you don't find anything wrong, I'd then shave the heads just to true them up, and slap it all back together.

These engines are easy to mess with, and simple to work on. The above sounds like alot of work, but should take less than a day - unless shaving the heads can't be done immediately.

The only other suggestion I might have would be to replace the valve guide seals while you're in there. Just as a preventive measure.

All in all, you're only probably looking at a couple of hundred bucks to do everything I suggested in my second suggestion.

 

I'd put an intake on it and if it ran good i'd use it

 

96-2000 on the vortecs.i thought 99 was the last year until i worked on a HD van....as has been said, trucks are a different deal...
2000-up will be "different" vortecs...nothing interchanges with the older sbc's...

 

can I have it? I don't wanna get in the debate. I just want it.

 

Pre 1996 = TBI.

 

96+ used TBI also

 

88-95 TBI Newer 96 up port injected. The nice thing about unleaded fuel injected engines is if the oil has been maintained they wear very little!
Take it apart and inspect and maybe just replace gaskets! Well worth looking into. I just did an 89 TBI engine that looked almost new inside!

 

You will need a distributor with the correct gear (material) to run on a steel cam.

Vortec heads have vertical intake bolts. If you have Vortec heads you will need a Vortec intake available from Edelbrock.

 

If you change out the timing chain, use a double roller type. The stock type units can sometimes have the TDC dot 5 degrees RETARDED !! I ran across this degreeing a cam in with a NEW stock type (metal) chain /gear setup.

 

ok, i know about the intake bolts, if i use older heads then can i use a stock intake with carb? thanks bob

 

I'd use it. The heads are good as long as you dont mind the centerbolt valve covers. And you can get adapters if it really bothers you.

And they arent vortec heads, so you can use basically any carbureted sbc intake you'll run into.

If you wanna get rid of it, it should easily be worth a couple hundered bucks at a swapmeet as long as you dont let the rotating ***embly sit and get stuck.

 

These arent vortec so you dont have to worry about that.

 

Now that sounds like good advice. Thank you. I'll take suggestion #2.
If anyone cares I will post again once I get this thing home and figure out what it is. Should be next Tuesday.
If it's a vortec motor, it's going in my '51. If it isn't, it's going into my off-topic '85 pickup. Either way, I'm happy to get a good motor for cheap.
Thanks to all for the information.

 

I don't think you can elongate hole on a non-vortec intake, the intake ports are too tall on the heads and won't seal.

I think you've confused elongating the 4 bolts on older intake(pre'86 heads) to use with the centerbolt heads (non-votec) and vice-versa.

 

Also keep in mind, that if it is a vortec, the block won't be drilled for a mechanical fuel pump. If its a tbi motor, it will be drilled, but the cam might not have an eccentric to run the pump.

 

i have a 87 305 out of a camaro, non vortec head's and i have to elongate the center 2 bolts, i gotta tell you the motor is really gas efficiant, im running it wit a 600cfm carb

 

Yeah, but this is an easy enough fix. Just run electrical with a good, quality regulator.

 

94 not a vortec..but..i have a 94 pickup with a 350 tbi with almost 300grand on it...runs great..beleive me ive run the truck hard to..triple digits several times pulling a car trailor to out of state shows the only problem ive had with the truck is common water pump and now the transmission i have to add shudder fix has a bad shudder problem..but the trans has the same amount of miles as the motor...great motor and strong

 

Thanks for that info. I'll know more once I can get it home and tear into it, but it is sounding more and more like a keeper. 130,000 should be just nicely broken in!