building a 350 for my truck

I have a 1985 GMC sierra classic 1500 4x4 short bed with a 305 in it and a 700r4 transmission, and want to know what you think

I want to get a good used 350 motor that could use a rebuild, and could probably find one for around 100 bucks,

then i want to build it for good street performance, everyday driver, and enough power to make my 4600lb GMC to get-up-and-go, and then drop it in my truck, but i wouldent know whats good parts for these out there today, so any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated, im looking for a good winter project, and hopefully put it in in the spring

and what horsepower can i expect from this engine the way i want to build it, with good pistons, larger cam, edelbrock intake and carb, good headers and exaust and some other goodies, i know the possibilitys are almost endless for these engines, just need some pointers, thank you

get a 350 block, bore it out, throw a stroker kit in it to put it at a 383 and with a mild cam and a port and polish you should be around 400-450 hp.. edelbrock intakes are great but the carbs are junk.. unless you live in florida where the weather is decent all year around then you will hate the carb cause it has to be adusted for the weather.. go with a demon or another well know carb cause they are more reliable can be adusted alot easier..

i would honestly stick with crane, edelbrock, comp cams, or lunati for valvetrane parts.. summit makes their own brand of parts now, but i don't know anyone who's used a single 1 of them aside from rods and fuel filters

bottom end stuff, i would go with keith black for pistons.. eagle, scat or GM performance for a crank.. the summit stage 2 rods are decently priced but recommended to be used with a summit crank for 'best results'. numerous people have used the stage 2 summit rods with the eagle cranks with great results

if you're looking to replace heads and intake or whatever, talk to someone at a speed shop. they will tell you what heads and intake will work best with what other parts you plan on running

thanks for the info, i was hoping to use the original crank and heads too and build from that how much would all of this cost usually? boring it out and shaving the heads a little and other machine work

i don't know where you're from so i can't point you towards any machine shops.. but normal cost for boring is $30-40 per cylinder, which almost always includes honing. decking the heads will run you about $100 for the pair. if you find somewhere that does it cheaper, make sure they're actually decking them on a machine instead of dropping them on a big belt sander.. there's a machine shop around here that does it who're supposed to be a big time race motor guy and he's lost a lot of customers by doing it that way.

i would recommend at least having your crank milled or building a reman crank. you don't want to just throw new bearings in and call it done.. 99.9% of the time, your crank (even if still perfectly fine) will have small grooves in it from the bearings

i would recommend replacing the pistons, depending on the mileage on the motor.. if over 100,000.. i suggest replacing them, even if you replace them with OEM versions. even if you do use OEM replacements, i suggest using chrome moly rings.. they're a lot better than the regular rings and hold compression a lot longer

So much is available for the small block Chevy engine. Even if you kept stock crank and did a mild rebuild, it wouldn't be hard to build a 350 HP 350 that would be a TON stronger than the 305 you have now. www.Jegs.com and www.Summitracing.com are always running their small block packages on special. I'd check em out.

cool, thanks! now i just have to find a motor lol

You can get a crate motor from a ton of sites for a little over a grand to however much you want to spend. If you want to go cheap, hit your local junkyard. A running engine should cost you around $300.

robert's right, the usual going price for a motor in the junkyard is around 300.. if you're lucky enough to have a junkyard around you like i have, than you're only going to be shelling out 150

i think i can pick up a short block at my yard for 50 bucks.. i love it when they have the anything you can carry out for 10 bucks deals cause i have carried full motors out of there.. the way they have it set up you can get it to the office with a dolly, pick it up carry it throught both doors and its gone.. lol.. i carried a few 4banger motors with everything still attached..

sounds like harry's.. i've heard about those kinda deals but never once made it to 1.. it'd be nice if that place had a 44 for my noma.. i'd unbolt all the brackets and leave everything attached LOL

yeah good luck with that.. i could bearly manage to carry the rear for the blazer by myslef.. its just aqward but back on topic.. lol

doesn't say you can't use a strap to help carry things, does it? lol

you cant use anything to help you out..

can 2 people carry it?

Will a 350 block hold 450 hp without spliting it in half?

yeah, as long as you're not dumping a bunch of boost on a stock motor to make that 450 lol

yeah it will hold as long as its a 4bolt main... i have built them with 700+ hp and then put a shot of nitros on top.. lol

Very nice. I say build a 408 and haul butt.

LOL at first i thought you were talking about a ford 351W stroker motor hahah

Nah, they make those for SBC too.

nice.. never saw 1.. what the h-e-double hockey sticks would a 400 stroker come out to if maxed out i've never even seen a stroker kit for 1 lol

Possibly 427. That is if you use a 400 BB cause the SB is Siamese bored and has super thin cylinder walls. So a 427 BBC stroker it would be i think.

yeah but you could bore and sleeve a sb400 to thicken them a little

i want a 400 for my sonoma now LOL