is a 50$ 350 worth rebuilding?

I picked up a complete 350 from a friend of a friend for $50 bucks. Its been sitting on a pallet outside for years.he was planning on rebuilding the motor, but just got a crate motor instead.he had no idea what it came out of.it had a 2barrel on it so I figured it was out of a 70s truck

I ran the #s and it's a 71 350 that came out of an el camino.i got the motor on a stand and started to disassemble and inspect it.

Upon removing the valve covers I I noticed 1 push rod looked missing. Upon closer inspection I found its top half broken in some gunk in the head.the rest of the pushrod was in the lifter valley.I figured this was why the motor got scrapped.

Upon pulling the heads I found the cylinder walls have some rust from rain coming thru the open exhaust ports. Does not look like this block has any previous machine work and The parts that aren't rusty look smooth. No ridge at The top. The ports on the heads were all rusty

Upon removing the oil pan I found it had 2 bolt mains, and a broken bolt head in the bottom. The bolt head was from the one of the main caps. I have no idea how this could happen. Anyone deal with carnage like this in a 350?

This is my 1st 350 build. This motor will replace the 305 in my firebird. I want The most hp per dollar I can squeeze out of The 350. The plan was to rebuild this short block,with some cheap new pistons one ,and throw some cheap pro comp aluminum heads fairly agressive cam, Pro comp single pane intake and a holley 750 carb.I would assemble it myself. After finding this motor is a 2 bolt main and rusty with the broken main cap bolt I'm not so sure about it. I have some questions:

How much should a machine shop charge to to bore hone, deck etc the 350 block? Lets assume it needs everything. I'm gonna call around but I'd like your input on how much it should cost.

When it's all said and done Would it just be cheaper to buy a reman 350 block? And just use this as a core. Sorry for the super long post with no pics. Any advice would be apreciated.

Depending on the machine shop, figure $500-1000 to get the block ready.

Getting a reman engine is cheaper initially, but I've seen some really sketchy "remans". Finger quotes because they generally have poor oil pressure, have some light bottom end knock, burn a bunch of oil, and our experience with the warranty is that they will do everything they can to say "not our fault" and hope that you'll give up and eat the cost of the engine rather than pursue legally.

But I'm not bitter.

My suggestion is to pull the heads and see how badly the bores are rusted. If they don't clean up with penetrating oil and a wire brush, meaning deep pitting, you may not be able to get it cleaned up without a huge overbore. If that looks okay/acceptable/willing to chance it, pull the crank and inspect the main cap with the broken bolt to make sure it still sits flat on the block, fits snugly in the register (it should NOT walk around), and the mating surfaces should be smooth. Chevy's assembly-like machining isn't the best so they won't be supersmooth but you don't want it to be all fretted. If the cap isn't flat, is loose in the register, or is badly fretted, it can be fixed but it will be cheaper to get a different block.

This is where the top end of my machining costs comes in to play. Plus, if you have to heavily line hone or line bore the block, you need a special timing chain because now the crank sits higher up, and in extreme cases you may need offset dowels for the bellhousing. Saving a block simply doesn't pay unless you absolutely need THAT block.

If you need another block, your $50 hasn't gone to waste, because now you have all the tinwork and fasteners to put an engine together and you only need to look for a block, not necessarily a complete engine. It's amazing how much the cost of a build runs up if you don't have all the "little" bits like oil pan bolts or timing covers or the like.

Do what everybody else on here does. Go pick up a handful more 350s. Let them sit in your shed for several years and then try to give them away to anyone that will take them because you don't want to just scrap them. Seriously thou, look for another one and between the two you should have just about everything you need. I'd bet that if you have a talk with the local machinist you were planning on using, he'd have one laying in his shop done that he'd sell for about what the machine work would cost. You'd be surprised how many engines get dropped off and then never payed for or picked up. Last time I needed a Chevy small block rebuilt, my machinist had a 350 bored 40 over with new pistons. I got it for $800 and lunch for him and his partner. He told me to throw away the 305 I pulled out. I swung by there not long ago and he was trying to unload a complete LS build with a massive turbo that had just pulled 1200HP on his break in dyno.

I have one 70's vintage 350 that is .080 over. However, it was straight with no core shift. I wouldn't bother with a 2 bolt.

Co workers daughter paid 300 bucks for a running 350 4 bolt main engine. We put fresh gaskets and an oil pump in it, still daily driving it a year later. So unless your attatched too that block id just find another one.

Somehow I was expecting Nissan content...

Turn it into a coffee table or something.

Ran me $760 for boring 0.020" over, cleaning, line honing, new pistons, magnafluxing, and checking the rods on a 1996 two bolt short block, if that helps you out at all.

Engine builds are rarely cheap unless you're just doing bearings and rings or something. I think that's why there are so many half-done SBCs lying around. If your bores are pitted and the HG surfaces aren't great, just get a different engine. Since that one obviously had a serious failure of some sort, I'd be a little wary of the block.

noddaz wrote: Somehow I was expecting Nissan content...

Same here...

for the price of an already machined 87-95 roller cam block from summit racing, it's not worth sending a block out for machining anymore. pull the rods/crank out, if they are good send them off for cleaning, turn/polish on crank if needed, new rod bolts, hang some new pistons, and get a 1pc to 2pc rear main seal adapter with the newer block, get a nice cam and some takeout lifter retention bits and you have roller cammed 350. that's how i'd go. i've been building the roller cam 1pc main blocks forever now, and it got to the point where i don't bother keeping a core around because i can go buy one already machined for less than machine shop prices.

Thanks for all the input guys I appreciate it. I think I'm gonna try to save my pennies and get a gm goodwrench short block. I am recently single, so the cofee table idea might just happen. if so I'll post pics.

junkyard 5.3 and swap mounts. will make 40% more power then an old 350, and get twice the milage at less cost.

i have a perfectly good 89ish 350 out of a 3/4 ton 4X4 truck in the shed that i'd let go for $50.. it ran when pulled, but was lazy on a couple of cylinders... when i pulled i apart, the head bolts were loose because someone didn't know how to use a torque wrench when they put new head gaskets in it... it's got 4 bolt mains and has all the provisions for a factory roller cam setup. a Northern rering kit, the HOT cam kit from GM, and a set of used vortec heads will net you an easy 400 horsepowers and a little more torques for slightly more than what you are going to pay just for machine work on the one you have... if you (or anyone else that sees this) are anywhere in the area of central MN, come get it from me and forget about the one you have..

If you have never done an engine rebuild, there is a value proposition in going through the steps. Trust me, you will learn stuff and it will put you in a newer, smaller circle of "Car Guys", if that matters. You always pays for education, but its yours to keep an build on forever.

To really do a REALLY good job, you need to own some measurement tools that are going to cost as much as the rebuild because machine shops do not get it right all the time. When you reach that point, you are on the slippery slope into the rabbit hole.

You could get away with replacing just what was needed, and it'll run, probably run well forever.

I've done MUCH worse with little VW engines with terrific luck, but I've never tried it with a 350, and I usually lean towards a whole new meaning of stupid. A good friend and I (well mostly the good friend and a little bit of I) once replaced the rod bearings in a toasted van engine with the engine still in the car. The bearings and the crank were BAKED, but we went through them all and the engine ran OK afterwards, with noise for sure and the knocking persisted at a quieter level, but it ran and the owner continued using the van for a time. Seems like there's a ton of forgiveness in these things 'cause this engine was just junk and should have been pulled and scrapped.

Go ahead, just keep a lid on the budget and be SURE to give it a nice new coat of Chevy Orange when you're done. Sometimes it makes all the difference and the engine looks PISSA sitting up on the stand ! !

Dietcoke wrote: junkyard 5.3 and swap mounts. will make 40% more power then an old 350, and get twice the milage at less cost.

There is truth in this. Unless you are in it for an education or to be period correct, there is no reason to rebuild a SBC that I can come up with.... I learned this the expensive way when I finished up the Edelbrock multipoint SBC for my Willys wagon. $$ just didnt add up. LS swap would have been cheaper, better driveablity and made more power.

airwerks wrote:

Dietcoke wrote: junkyard 5.3 and swap mounts. will make 40% more power then an old 350, and get twice the milage at less cost.

There is truth in this. Unless you are in it for an education or to be period correct, there is no reason to rebuild a SBC that I can come up with.... I learned this the expensive way when I finished up the Edelbrock multipoint SBC for my Willys wagon. $$ just didnt add up. LS swap would have been cheaper, better driveablity and made more power.

when i was putting my Camaro together a few years ago for a road trip from MN to TX, i thought about getting a junkyard 5.3 and throwing it in there with a carb setup but decided that it would cost to much- about $1500 or so was the number i came up with... so i decided to do a cheap rebuild on the 305 that i had taken out of an 86 Caprice 6 years earlier because small blocks are cheap and simple... all told, i had about $1500 into getting that silly little 305 in the car and running- and that was without any machinine work done to it.. i just ran a hone thru the cylinders, cleaned everything up, and put new wear parts (rings, bearings, timing chain, oil pump, camshaft and lifters, gaskets) with used vortec heads and the matching Edelbrock intake and a set of Hedman long tube Hedders.. yeah, it was dead reliable and averaged 24mpg on the trip, but a 5.3 would have probably been just as reliable, got better mileage, and made more power..

Also consider that a cam and a tune can easily make 400hp in a regular old 5.3, and the stock short block is good for 700 or so reliably in real life. Not much reason to run a gen 1 engine anymore aside from rules, nostalgia, originality, accessory drive fab work, or already having one ready to go.