Not that HAMB-y, I know, but I want to take advantage of the newer tech with my parts-chaser, family hauler '70 K10 suburban. It gets used alot unlike our really old cars that are frequently inoperative. Been trying to research roller blocks on the internets for months, doesn't seem to be a lot of solid info out there. Here are the questions: Which ones have the mech. fuel pump boss that is also drilled for the pushrod? So far I got it either has it or not. Any guidelines, year ranges? Trying to keep the engine looking stock. How about the factory cams? I'm guessing GM made a real nice roller cam that would work fine with a basically stock old truck. Any idea on what they would be? Which ones to avoid? Which ones have a lobe for the fuel pump? What if I'm looking at a complete engine sitting on some guys garage floor thats allegedly a roller. Any way to tell externally if it is? Casting numbers or marks, tpi, tbi, whatever. So far I got I should look for one from a big chevy cars '87 or later, trucks sometime in the 90's. Anything you can offer would be appreciated.
With truck and engine being way O/T, you likely won't get a great deal of help. FWIW, can't you put a roller cam in any sbc block?
Surprizingly-There are some service blocks that made their way into production-That are drilled for a mechanical pump. I have a '96 L31 roller block that had the normal block off plate on it from the factory. I removed it to mount a pressure regulator to it and wha-la.. it is drilled clean through. Dont be afraid to remove the pump block off plate-you may get lucky.(if a mechanical fuel pump is what you want)
88 up L98 trans ams and Z28s have a roller block 350, but no provision for the mechanical fuel pump pushrod. The casting is there for the mounting plate and has a block off plate, but the hole inside is not opened up to the diameter of the pushrod. I have had a bunch of them over the years before switching to LT1/LS1 stuff.
If it dosen't have a mechanical pump, then I would doubt if it had the cam lobe to operate one, even if the plate covers the normal hole. You would probably need a cam other than what GM put in there.
Good point on the cam lobe-some of the aftermarket GM performance cams have the fuel pump lobe-but a stock L31 for example does not.
I've got a 14093638 block that is machined for a roller cam and has the provisions for a mechanical fuel pump. I bought a Ramjet cam for it that has a fuel pump eccentric on it. Larry T
350 RamJet Cam http://www.summitracing.com/parts/NAL-14097395 Wrong. The up to 86 blocks had a 2pc rear main seal, the 87-95 blocks could have the provisions for the Mech fuel pump, but the trucks and some cars did not have roller cams or provisions, and the 96-up blocks all had roller cams and no mech fuel pump at all... 87-95 (TBI or swirl port) heads are 6 bolt intake bolts per side 96-2001 ( Vortec) heads are 4 bolt vertically intake bolts per side
I am curious why some had the FP provisions and some didnt .... some of those with, could they have been crate motors??? I didnt have the provision on my 94 pickup or 89 IROC ..... I cant imagine the General being inconsistant for so many model years .... something just isnt right.
Sam123, your IROC should have had a block off plate that needed to be removed and a cam with a fuel pump lobe placed in the block.
The early TBI (1987-1992) trucks have the provisions for the fuel pump, most trucks had flat tappet cams but had the roller blocks, you have to drill and tap the bosses for the hold down spider, and get the retaining plate for the camshaft. The easiest way to tell the 87-92 motors apart in the bone yard is the throttle body has a single air cleaner stud. The early TPI cams had the fuel pump lobe and provide plenty of low end grunt or the readily available ht383 cam has the fuel pump lobe as well GM pn#14097395
I have a '95 Chev P-up engine ... non-roller but has all the bosses and machined surfaces and drilled and tapped holes to accept all of the factory roller cam stuff (spider, cam retention plate). I then removed all of the roller cam stuff from a 1992 Buick Roadmaster (wrecking yard) and installed them in my 95 block. Tossed the TBI and installed the factory intake from a 1987 Monte SS and quadrajet. Runs great (on my test stand at least). Be careful ... I read in a magazine that all engines from 87 and later that aren't roller from the factory (they came flat tappet) will accept the factory roller stuff ... I had a 1987 Monte SS engine on a stand, pulled the intake and sure enough, there were "stumps" or "bosses" that the magazine described to allow the mounting of the "spider". I then pulled the timing chain and sure enough, there was the machined area for the cam retention plate and the drilled holes to go with it just like the magazine said. Seems the magazine was correct after all ... NOT. Long story short ... all of the roller cam stuff DID fit on the engine BUT the lifter bores (for no apparent reason) were "stepped" (from the factory) and therefore exposed the oiling p***ages of the roller lifter. The stepped lifter bores worked fine with a flat tappet but did not work with the roller lifters (I found this out after ***embling the engine and running it on a run stand). If you want pictures and more explanation search "roller cam borntoloze" here on the hamb. The 92-93 350 Buick Roadmasters came with roller cams from the factory, the 94 and up Roadmaster came with the newer style Vette engine, very different from the normal SBC (google this to make sure though, I'm going by memory). One other thing, the newer engines (with serpentine belt drive) run a reverse rotation water pump so be sure to replace with a regular one if you are not running a serpentine belt.
Thanks guys. This strange inconsistency is what I've been running across. I thought it was just me. It kind of reminds me of what it was like when I was building a flathead (sorry flathead guys. I love them too.) And they put them in Buicks? I had no idea. A big part of the problem I'm having is that I quit paying attention to cars in about 1974. I'm glad some of you have kept up. Here are some notes I have written down, may be worthess but kind of jives with what one of you said: cast # 14093638-most likely drilled for FP, 10243880-could be either way, 14011148-probably not drilled. That's just internet ****, may be completely wrong. This is not the first I heard of this stepped lifter bore thing, and it kind of concerns me. I will look into it further. Thanks. Last summer I had to replace the original engine in this truck, but I had just spent $4k on various flathead things, enthusiasm was low to keep spending. So I slapped together a 350 from stuff I had laying around, but put in a cheapo Summit cam, managed to get a little more power and much worse mileage. This thing is almost a daily driver at times, and with $4 gas that matters. I figured I should go back and take advantage of some new tech to right this wrong. And I could keep the old school top end because I went to a great deal of trouble to make the engine stock appearing. I would think this approach could work with even an old-school sbc--strombergs and camelbacks, etc. I know you can put a roller cam in anything, but in theory the roller block saves you some coin. Again, in theory.
I put together a 91 roller block a few years ago.Looked around and saw what the guys above say,blocks were set up for a roller cam ,had fuel pump opening,but ran flat tappets in trucks. Rather than fool around with suspect parts I went to the local machine shop .They sold me a fully machined "inspected" thermo cleaned roller block ,crank ,rods,pistons,roller lifters for about 700 bucks.The shop threw in the roller lifter retainers , spider ,cam retainer and hardware for no cost.Add your heads and other stuff.Most aftermarket cams have a fuel pump lobe for factory roller blocks.
I got a motor out of a 89 Iroc,removed tuneport, bolted on a GMC 471 blower and put on a MECHANICAL fuel pump, it HAD the fuel pump lobe!!!
One thing to remember is that if you decide to use a RamJet cam is that it's ground to use 1.6 rocker arms, not 1.5s. Larry T
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