Is this worth it?

I have a el camino with a 305 and im looking for a 350. I found a el camino with a 350 in it for sale. they want $595 for it. it runs but might not drive. Its got a turbo 350 in it which i already have but what ev. Its gonna take a lot of work to get it running good.

My plan is to swap the motors and sell the car for about what i paid for it. Then get an edlebrock performer package, change out the heads, cam, intake manifold with the package and use the carb i have on my 305. So is it worth $595? The goal being to only have about $2000 in the engine.

The package is gonna run about $1600-$1800 and should give it about 435 HP, I already checked the numbers so i know its a 350.

I have a el camino with a 305 and im looking for a 350. I found a el camino with a 350 in it for sale. they want $595 for it. it runs but might not drive. Its got a turbo 350 in it which i already have but what ev. Its gonna take a lot of work to get it running good.

My plan is to swap the motors and sell the car for about what i paid for it. Then get an edlebrock performer package, change out the heads, cam, intake manifold with the package and use the carb i have on my 305. So is it worth $595? The goal being to only have about $2000 in the engine.

The package is gonna run about $1600-$1800 and should give it about 435 HP, I already checked the numbers so i know its a 350.

That's not going to be 435 HP, despite what Edelbrock claims. It's going to be between 300 and 350.

What year is the Elky and how is the engine in it?

Mine is an 80 and the 305 runs perfect. The junker is an 81 and the engine has no air cleaner, no fan, no radiator hoses, but they say it runs...im going monday to hear it run.

What can i do to get more than 350 hp out of it?

would i just be better off buying a 375 hp 350 turn key off of ebay for $3500?

would i just be better off buying a 375 hp 350 turn key off of ebay for $3500?

You'll be better off, far better off, to research the car you have - the gearing, the tires, transmission shift characteristics, your driving habits, and where it's going to be most of the time (highway use, street use etc) and then research what you need to build your own engine to perform best in the conditions which exist in your car.

Horsepower isn't the end game, driveability is. A 375HP motor isn't going to do you good if your gears are tall and you drive around in rush hour traffic. You might be surprised to find out that you have a vehicle that's more fun to drive with a less powerful engine. Take the LT1 Caprice, for example. With a 260HP rating, these cars have been compared to big-block Impalas of years gone by, with less total power but with a broader torque curve and with gears to take advantage.

The engine in my car now bears this out. When I built it in 1993, I had built it for highway use in a car of about 3600 lbs with a gearing in the 3.08 range. Instead, it went into a car that weighed 4000 lbs and had a 2.58 axle ratio. It ran okay but never ran the way I wanted to, and 8 years into use in that car I had obtained a different camshaft to help it run better in that car. It was in that car for 11 years, then it was pulled out and installed into my Caprice, replacing a lethargic 305. Guess what? The Caprice is a 3600 lb car with 3.08 gears and that engine not only tears it up in that car, but gets better economy as well. Part of that is the 700R4, but in the Grand Am, the engine got 10 MPG in the city. In the Caprice, it gets ~16. 14 highway in the Grand Am compares to ~22 MPG on the highway.

Well the 305 doesent make it fun to drive. and the fact i get really bad MPG, makes me feel like i could have more fun with a 350 and not get any worse MPG.
Im not too concerned with MPG, I just want at least 10 miles to a gallon. I want something that can move. It just feels like its got nothing under the hood. I plan on changing out the tranny too. and i was going to investigate rear gears once i got the engine and tranny sorted out.

What do you think i should do? What kind of power should i look for.
basically im sick of Mama's boys screwing with me in their mustangs.

Well the 305 doesent make it fun to drive. and the fact i get really bad MPG, makes me feel like i could have more fun with a 350 and not get any worse MPG.
Im not too concerned with MPG, I just want at least 10 miles to a gallon. I want something that can move. It just feels like its got nothing under the hood. I plan on changing out the tranny too. and i was going to investigate rear gears once i got the engine and tranny sorted out.

What do you think i should do? What kind of power should i look for.
basically im sick of Mama's boys screwing with me in their mustangs.

Well, if you've got money to burn and can afford to throw economy out the window, then you might want to check into 4.11 gears and a 4L60E behind a good 300-350HP range 350 for scoring kills against Mama's boys driving rustangs with 5.slows or 4.sicks. Just keep it under the speed limit, drive defensively and with maturity, and don't get stupid with it.

what are 5.slow and 4.sicks. Also is the 4L60E a automatic tranny?

I can afford to throw economy out the window, but i have to keep to a budget, I do plan to do most of the work my self. I have a family member who restores cars who is more than willing to help.

what are 5.slow and 4.sicks. Also is the 4L60E a automatic tranny?

I can afford to throw economy out the window, but i have to keep to a budget, I do plan to do most of the work my self. I have a family member who restores cars who is more than willing to help.

5.slow or five-point-slow - 5.0
4.sick or four-point-sick - 4.6

I know what you want to do with it, we've all been there at one point or another. I remember scoring a kill against a turbocharged RX-7 while driving a 350 L65-powered 1972 Impala running on 7 cylinders. That was when I was 17 - now at over twice that age, my priorities have shifted a bit - the car I drive now won't score any kills against any V8 Mustang in a straight line, but it gets me where I want to go in style and it's fun to drive - and if I ever got into a slalom-race with a Mustang, I'd win.

Just remember that if you want to score kills against a Mustang or whatever else, say an amped-up, nitrous-fed ricer, do it at a race track and not on the street.

Yes, the 4L60E is automatic, with computer-controlled shifts. You can get a stand-alone computer to run the transmission if you don't want ECM/PCM control of your engine.

so just to get a 350 to work with is $595 worth it. i was gonna just swap the engines then sell the car for 595, thus reducing the cost of the block to $0. sound good?

so just to get a 350 to work with is $595 worth it. i was gonna just swap the engines then sell the car for 595, thus reducing the cost of the block to $0. sound good?

If the 350 is a good engine and requires no work, then yes - it is a good deal.

You never did answer my question - what year is this 350 donor elky? NEVER MIND - I must learn how to read. One thing though - a 1981 never came factory with a 350, so that engine is a transplant if indeed it is a 350 - find out what you can about it. You might be buying a paperweight.

Yes it is a transplant. Appears to have custom headers on it. Looked up the casting number and the engine suffix. All points to a 350. The lot says it runs. I am going monday to see how it sounds.

Since the 350 running condition is unknown, I would skip it and spring for a new GM crate engine. This way you get a guarantee of some sort and don't have the hassle of switching engines and finding out that the 350 will need more $$ thrown into it.

Bob

Ok but why spend $1725 and immediately put $1600 into it? thats what...$3325. Might as well buy an ebay turn key with more power and call it a day. If the engine turns out to not be good enough to build up at least i have a car to sell and maby not be out so much money.

I found a 383 without carb and distributor. they are asking $2895. Thats not too bad.

That is a good price.....

Is it? Its got aluminum heads, runs on pump gas. He says its dyno'd at 420 hp@5800 rpm.

I have put so much into building my 388 it makes me sick and if i could find one that cheap i would buy it up!

wheres this 383 at? most 383 shortblocks that are decently high quality are over 2500 bucks alone... i got a cheapo shortblock for 1695, but thats with a nodular iron crank and hypereutectic pistons, not the best combo for high torque and h.p. make sure that motor is not some crappy reconditioned parts motor, sometimes pepul are just out there to make a buck and dont give a... well you know what im gettin at lol.

its especially a good deal with aluminum heads. and if its with AFR heads, then its definaltely worth more than what they want for it. i saw a dyno test in the december or something like that issue of chevyhighperformance magazine and they had a 388, which is essentially a 383 that has a .030 larger bore. anyways, the point here lol, they put them new AFR eliminator series heads on there and ran a relatively mild cam (for a 383 anyways), the comp cams xtreme engergy 274 flat tappet hydraulic, and they made 490lb/ft of torque and 475 horsepower on premium (dont remember if it was 91 or 93 octane, all we have in nebraska is 87,89,and 91) lol theres like 1 station that sells 92 octane here and maybe a couple with 93. i think that the money they put into that motor is a lot more than a few grand you want to spend though.

if you end up going the 350 route, make sure how many miles are on that junkyard motor before getting the other elk, even if you make your money back, thats a big chunk of junk to have sitting in your garage for all of eternity lol... i saw that gm sells their mexican made 4bolt 350 for about 1600 bucks on various websites such as jegs.com. also, they sell just the shortblock of that motor for a nice and neat 1k bucks. this is all brand spanking new parts, including the block. i think that they are relatively high quality since i had one of em in my truck before i took it out to make room for resto and that 383 that im gonna build. it would rev up pretty damn high for a stock smallblock and i could hit 60 in first gear with that turbo400 tranny. sounded like a little ricer motor at them rpm's lmao!!!

Yeah, I decided to ditch the junkyard dog and wait til a 82-87 el camino, or malibu pops up. If its got a 350 and 4 speed auto, I'm in heaven. That would be everything that i want right there in one car. Keeping my eyes out. If anyone knows of one thats a reasonable price, I live in ohio, Let me know. The body doesent matter, the only part i want is that front end(grill and headlight assembly)

if you really dont want to spent alot of money just go to youre local machine shop and ask them if they got a rebuilt 350 here in Los Angeles they go for
$475 plus tax. I built a 350 at a local machine shop i took them a cam double roller timing chain lifters and valve springs they put them on at no extra charge. I paid about 1000 for the engine in cluding the everthing mention above and some flowtec headers. that engine was puting out about 260 to 280 HP that engine was put on a 1978 chevy short bed truck about 4500 pounds I put on a 700r4 it had a twelve bolt rear end not posi with 3.08 gear ratio. Man that truck was fast I was smoking dose 5.slows on second gear and i could burn alot of rubber. I took that engine off now i'm going with a 454 bbc. But I have this 1994 9c1 (police car ) with the lt1 265 HP posi 8.5 3.08 gears and that thing is a beast that is the fast car. You dont need alot of power 300 is perfect .

A machine-shop rebuilt 350 for under five centuries is probably not going to be worth the money that you'd get at a metal recycler for it. Sorry, cold hard fact, any well-respecting machine shop worth its salt won't sell a 350 long block for less than $900 - you might be able to get an $800 one through Autozone, but remember you get what you pay for. How long do you want it to run?

When I built my 350 back in '93, I did a little homework on it beforehand, and dropped $2300 on it in parts and machining. I assembled the engine myself, on my front porch. 13 years and over a quarter million miles later (~264k), it's still running strong with compression on all 8 cylinders within ~2% of each other, oil consumption at about the rate of a quart per oil change (3,500 miles), with a bit of that seeping out the intake end seals, 16-22mpg, enough torque to snap a TH700R4 reaction sun shell, enough torque to catch a lot of ricers napping, and requiring spark plug replacement somewhere in the order of 20,000 miles. What I am getting at here is that a little more money spent up front and you're in business for a long time. I never would have gotten that kind of use out of my 350, in two cars, if I went the cheap route.

is it hard to build egines ? I want to build a 502 if I buy a strocker kit do I just drop it in. becaouse the a crate engine is about $ 7000 dollars but is new and not a rebuilt.