“Charity” build...got some questions

[travis]

I got wrangled into a very low budget engine rebuild to help someone out. I’ll spare y’all the details...

350 goodwrench engine circa early ‘90’s, ran lean apparently for a LONG time, pistons are crispy, ring seal has been gone for a while, 1 cracked head, heavily sunken and crispy exhaust valves, etc. I’ve got enough leftover junk around here to make it work for a while...it needs to last 4-6 months.

I’ve got a set of cast 345np standard bore 1.54” compression height pistons still hung on stock rods that I am throwing in on this that are in ok shape, plus a freshly turned stock crank. It’s getting the basics...new rings, bearings, gaskets, oil pump, etc. My concern is getting any sort of ring seal, as it has a bit of a ridge (not horrible, but it needs bored...it’s just not in his budget). There are a few bad spots in every hole, appears to be from rust, but again not horrible. I carefully cut the ridges and made a few passes with a 3 stone glaze breaker home...there are definitely some low spots in each cylinder.

I’ve got a cheap set of standard bore rebuilder style moly rings (but can get some regular iron rings if that would be better). Would hitting it with a 240 grit dingle ball hone, followed by a few passes with a 400 grit dingle ball, be ok? I have a 240, 320, and 400.

Would WD-40 and a whetstone be acceptable to clean up the block and head surfaces? I’ve heard of people doing this but never tried it myself.

I’ve got a couple of useable sets of heads to use...a pair of 64cc chambered 434 castings with 1.72 valves off of a 70’s 305, and a set of low mile 1.94 882 castings that came off another engine many years ago because I never could get the intake gaskets to seal on them (turned out one was milled way down...1 is 71cc chambers and the other is 76cc, so the 76cc head needs milled to match).

I have several cams to choose from. A used Crane 266 energizer with matching lifters, a used 272 energizer with matching lifters, and a NIB -962/L-82 hydraulic which is all wrong for this thing. The stock cam is worn beyond reusing.

The engine is going in a mid ‘80’s Chevy 1/2 ton, with a 700r4 and 3.08 gears. It doesn’t need to be fast, just needs to hold together for 6 months, go faster than 62 mph, and get better than 6-8 mpg like it has been for the last several months.

His budget is only $300 or so, which is mostly being ate up with the crank machining, carb rebuild, fuel pump, water pump, etc

[JoePorting]

Might be better off with a junk yard motor.

[SupStk]

Used to work at a Chevy dealership. Done some minimal "rebuilds" on used car trade Ins. They would last for a few months or in some cases barely out the door, but the customer usually came back griping.
All I'm sayin' is a person isn't going to win doing work you aren't comfortable with. At the end the person you are trying to help will only remember that you worked on it.

[tresi]

If there are any question about the bore I would put plain rings in it. Do you have a real hone instead of a glaze breaker? Sounds like you're already at or over your $300 limit buy the time you buy a gasket set and consumables oil, antifreeze, sparkplugs, ect.

[Brian P]

Do you want your name associated with this? It will be.

I say no to the cheapskates.

[travis]

This is for one of my brothers, who at age 43 has figured out that all those stupid life choices he made in his early adult years will haunt him until the day he dies. He is trying (the ONLY reason I am helping him out), but he will probably never have any sort of decent employment.

After sleeping on this whole mess, and realizing I really didn’t want any part of this, I went out and pulled a good running 350 TBI motor out of a early 90’s Suburban this morning. It sounded healthy and had good oil pressure and only smoked a little at startup. I’ll probably never get that money back but my wife says it was the right thing to do

I’ve already got the engine set in my brothers truck, and should have it all buttoned up by tonight. I’ve got to figure out fuel delivery now, as this engine isn’t drilled for a fuel pump pushrod.

[FC-Pilot]

This is for one of my brothers, who at age 43 has figured out that all those stupid life choices he made in his early adult years will haunt him until the day he dies. He is trying (the ONLY reason I am helping him out), but he will probably never have any sort of decent employment.

After sleeping on this whole mess, and realizing I really didn’t want any part of this, I went out and pulled a good running 350 TBI motor out of a early 90’s Suburban this morning. It sounded healthy and had good oil pressure and only smoked a little at startup. I’ll probably never get that money back but my wife says it was the right thing to do

I’ve already got the engine set in my brothers truck, and should have it all buttoned up by tonight. I’ve got to figure out fuel delivery now, as this engine isn’t drilled for a fuel pump pushrod.

Sounds like a sister of mine. I have done "one time only" charity work for her and her husband about five times now. It is getting old, but the sad part is their kids have no idea their parents are "the problem with the system". They just know that their uncles and grandpa came over. Hopefully karma comes back your way quick. The right thing to do always seams to be the hardest on us. My hat is off to you for being the humble man and willing to give of yourself.

Paul

[Schurkey]

I went out and pulled a good running 350 TBI motor out of a early 90’s Suburban this morning. It sounded healthy and had good oil pressure and only smoked a little at startup. I’ll probably never get that money back but my wife says it was the right thing to do.

Kiss her. She likely saved you a LOT of aggravation.

[Circlotron]

After sleeping on this whole mess, and realizing I really didn’t want any part of this, I went out and pulled a good running 350 TBI motor out of a early 90’s Suburban this morning. It sounded healthy and had good oil pressure and only smoked a little at startup. I’ll probably never get that money back but my wife says it was the right thing to do

Ding! You chose wisely. If this motor does happen to quit then at least it won't be seen as your fault and you will still be on good terms with your brother.

[ProPower engines]

Not sure what you are doing for a carb but a basic carter electric fuel pump is all you will need. If it was an injected setup
you will need to remove the fuel pump from in the tank and replace it with a length of 3/8" steel tube to avoid sucking the guts out of the fuel pump. learned that the hard way helping a bro inlaw.
But as far as the engine choice you make the right one that way its a used engine from a wrecker and all it may need is some valve seals replaced to cure the start up smoke issue.


Good luck on helping the family charity case getting him on the road again

[travis]

The truck is still using the iron intake/q-jet from the original 305. Carb was rebuilt and and I used some slightly thinner metering rods on the primary side. Between that and fixing a bunch of vacuum leaks it hopefully shouldn’t be running super lean any more. With the tiny TBI cam it will idle down to 450 rpms! I also had to do a little grinding to get the center intake bolt holes to work. I had completely forgot about the different intake bolt angles.

I used a cheap Spectra in-line fuel pump...rated at 72gph and 5.75 psi. It seems to work fine.

Valve seals cured “most” of the startup smoke. Good enough.

Busting your knuckles when it’s 35*F outside hurts so much worse!

I ended up throwing one of my spare HEI’s on it, as his was worn out (oil migration up into the cap). Timing on this thing was a little different than what I expected. Any more than 8* initial (with 22* mechanical) would ping. I left it at 6* initial. With a 20* vac can that gives 48* total all in. Seemed odd, but it works.

I sent him on his way Sunday evening. He called me when got home, almost 5 hours away. He said he only used a 1/2 tank of gas getting home, where it took 1 1/2 tanks to get to my house He said it would easily maintain 70mph without downshifting out of OD constantly.

[Carnut1]

Swirl port heads like 28 -32 degrees advance. So be cautious with that.

[travis]

Swirl port heads like 28 -32 degrees advance. So be cautious with that.

I ended up with 28 (6 initial plus 22 mechanical), plus a 20 degree vac can, as that was all I had laying around

[pdq67]

Travis,

I, "Krylon/dingle-berry hone", overhauled the 260 V-8 in my '64 Ford Fairlane SW years ago.

The crank had grooves in it that I could feel with my fingernails. I put cheap stock sized rings and main and rod bearings in it. I had a valve job done and that was it.

Sure it knocked and hammered until it warmed up and burnt and leaked oil, BUT it ran and ran and ran!!

Anyway, I never beat on it at all and I drove it for years everywhere!

I think I had all of $150 in her back about '81 or so..

I still miss the old, "long roof", to this day!!

It's old beat-up body had zero rust on it because it leaked so much oil!!

pdq67