Engine Over hall.

[1981scottsdale]

Soooo, here i am again, taking up threads like its going out of style.

Anywho, im doing an engine over haul, not right away but fairly soon, and a carb just went on sale so what do you guys think about the Edelbrock Performer Carburetors 1405?? for 360$ all said and done seems like a really good price to me, and i get a free Air cleaner!

And i was also thinking about buying a rebuild kit;http://www.northernautoparts.com/ProductModelDetail.cfm?ProductModelId=380 this one to be exact, would that be enough for me to do it or is there other stuff i need to do first?

then im probably going to get an alt, new cables, new starter, new distrib. but havent decided yet. depends on how much itll all run me.
Is there anything else im missing that you guys could suggest as an overall upgrade?

And does anyone know off the top of there head if its easy to rebuild trannys?

Cheers

 

[Jake292]

That kit looks complete for the bottem end but still missing stuff to rebuild the heads and some of the small stuff like assembly lube and silicone. you could probably do it your self minus the machine work. I would let the machine shop rebuild the heads with their parts, its easer that way.

Trannys aren't extreamly difficult and there are plenty of resouses here that can help you along the way.

 

[bigcountryguy19]

If you wanna make it perform a little better, grab you a edelbrock performer cam for it, has smooth idle and makes great power, I put it in a 350 I built and it was great. I also used a lot of summit brand parts, like rocker arms and push rods, they are fairly inexpensive and worked and lasted well. I have never tried to rebuild an automatic tranny though, seems so complicated lol

 

[87sierra]

the kit looks good the tranny depends on what it is
is it a th350 th400 700r4 or manual trans
th350 and th400 are easier then thr 700r4 from my experience

 

[Swims350]

that kit should have valve seals for the heads, but a good upgrade is to upgrade the springs to match a new cam. summit sells decent chap kits to do just that. It's easy.

you need some valve lapping or valve grind compound to make sure they seat properly, or have a valve job done.

You MUST have the crank mic'd to see what size bearings you need,

you need a hone, or have the block honed or even bored, then rings and pistons to match the bore size, or go with stock size if it's not already bored and you do not bore it.

you need a ring compressor to install them into the block as well.

get some freeze plugs if they do not come in the kit and change them, they are easy.

carefully inspect the cam bearings or have them changed to be sure.

you definately need assembly lube, northern has some, northern has alot of the stuff you need cheap probably even the head rebuild kits with springs and such. I've personally bought a cam kit from them and a gasket kit, good place to deal with and good prices for sure.

you also have to run the block casting and suffix numbers to be sure what year the engine is and if it's for sure a 350, notice the kit is for 80 and under yours is 81, might run into issues due to slight variations like dipstick location and such on the gaskets for the block being 81 and not 80 or older.

on the other hand it could be an 80 block, we had an 86 that had an 85 block so who knows lol.

 

[1981scottsdale]

that kit should have valve seals for the heads, but a good upgrade is to upgrade the springs to match a new cam. summit sells decent chap kits to do just that. It's easy.

you need some valve lapping or valve grind compound to make sure they seat properly, or have a valve job done.

You MUST have the crank mic'd to see what size bearings you need,

you need a hone, or have the block honed or even bored, then rings and pistons to match the bore size, or go with stock size if it's not already bored and you do not bore it.

you need a ring compressor to install them into the block as well.

get some freeze plugs if they do not come in the kit and change them, they are easy.

carefully inspect the cam bearings or have them changed to be sure.

you definately need assembly lube, northern has some, northern has alot of the stuff you need cheap probably even the head rebuild kits with springs and such. I've personally bought a cam kit from them and a gasket kit, good place to deal with and good prices for sure.

you also have to run the block casting and suffix numbers to be sure what year the engine is and if it's for sure a 350, notice the kit is for 80 and under yours is 81, might run into issues due to slight variations like dipstick location and such on the gaskets for the block being 81 and not 80 or older.

on the other hand it could be an 80 block, we had an 86 that had an 85 block so who knows lol.

Thanks so much for all the info guys, For you guys it might be cheap for summit, but i get raped in shipping up in canada, but ill keep my eyes open, honestly, i jsut want the engine to run like new again. not really going for anything preformance or anything like that. if anything itd be mileage im going for, but MPG and Carb rarely go in the same sentence.

And northern is alot cheaper on shipping than summit is. 200$ kit with 35$ shipping verus the 400$ kit with 150$ shipping

i believe my tranny is a th350, but again not 100% sure.

 

[Swims350]

just look at the pan shape that will telll you what the trans is.

summit should have cheaper kits then $400 but shipping is too high at that price.

Like I said I used northerns cam kit in my truck, very happy.

 

[Driver4r]

If anything itd be mileage im going for, but MPG and Carb rarely go in the same sentence.

The BEST gas milage carb is a Qjet.

 

[1981scottsdale]

The BEST gas milage carb is a Qjet.

Can you recommend one.

 

[woodsrider250]

http://www.cliffshighperformance.com/

 

[Driver4r]

Can you recommend one.

I stand behind Qjets and Holleys. A qjet is for economy, while holley is for performance. I think edie carbs are PEICES OF ****. And the best qjet is a non electronic metering rod OEM qjet.

 

[woodsrider250]

You can get one of these too http://www.summitracing.com/search?keyword=quadrajet&dds=1

but, a modded qjet will run/outrun any holly, and retain the MPG it's inherently good at. It's like the 1911 of 4BBLs.

 

[1981scottsdale]

You can get one of these too http://www.summitracing.com/search?keyword=quadrajet&dds=1

but, a modded qjet will run/outrun any holly, and retain the MPG it's inherently good at. It's like the 1911 of 4BBLs.

Thank you guys for thwe suggestions, Do you have one you would pick over ther other? the engine overhall wont happen for a bit so i still have time to change my mind, but i like all the suggestions i can get.

 

[Swims350]

I had nothing but good luck with edelbrocks, love them, don't want anything else.

 

[Driver4r]

I had nothing but good luck with edelbrocks, love them, don't want anything else.

Gtfo.