Chuck’s engine build thread!

[idahovette]

^^^^^^^EXACTLY^^^^^^^^you can use the short ones, too

 

[ChuckN]

^^^^^^^EXACTLY^^^^^^^^you can use the short ones, too

Thanks bud!

 

[DoubleDingo]

Man, I was gonna ask about that.

Just use the old head bolts to full engagement? And how many would you use per side? Just two total and put them diagonally? Thread them through the chain and use washers?

I’m gonna have to do this in some fashion to get the bare block in and out of the vehicle anyway.

They don't have to be bottomed out or thread down tight, just have them diagonally opposed so the engine balances. Stabbing it back in, then you can use the other stuff. Save some work, yank it out as a short block

 

[hoagster]

Spent time with the machine shop, and all systems are go. One of the guys there is familiar with performance builds, so he’s the one that will be doing the block work. I told them what I wanted, and they’re all in.

After that, I caught the guy at the hot rod shop with the LS motor. We had a great conversation, I wanted to follow through and make sure that he couldn’t talk me into it. And he couldn’t. We shook hands, they’re great people and we talked about Family. I bought them a box of donuts and we hung out afterwards.

The machine shop wants the block completely disassembled, except for the main bearings, and the crank so he can check everything out. After that, the work will be done, and we will save money for the bottom end. Probably will kick me into high gear to sell off my 20 inch wheels so I can fund the project.

I posted in the "what have you done thread" offering you and cheap spare 350 that you could do what you wanted with before I saw this thread. I wanted to tell you that I went the 5.3 LM7 route because the engine was not a numbers matching engine and I was looking for more power and better gas mileage. The cost of my engine and all the added extra items do added up. I got my engine from here https://bdturnkeyengines.com/ I'm and happy with my choice and I know you will be grinning from ear to ear when first start your new motor.

 

[ChuckN]

The baby is ready to be birthed. Spent the afternoon removing the other head, and disconnecting everything else. If the guy shows up tomorrow with the stand and hoist, and I can talk him into helping me remove the hood, I should have it on the stand tomorrow to start the teardown this week. Just have a couple bellhousing bolts and motor mounts holding it in.

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[ChuckN]

Just spent some time with Eagle on the phone.

Apparently, and I didn’t know this, you can get into trouble with camshaft lobe to crankshaft clearance with stroker kits. The Eagle assembly uses their SIR rods, and cap screws and are good for camshafts up to .540 lift. I’m nowhere near that, but I’ll still check.

So for those guys and gals with big cams, there’s small base circle cams. The things you learn as you go.

 

[ChuckN]

Engine is out. Have adulting to do for the rest of the day, but I’m very thankful for a fellow human being that stopped over to help. Much easier to remove the hood and pull the engine having extra hands and eyes. Wednesday I’ll pull it apart and probably have the bare block to the shop on Thursday.

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[SS1019]

Well, I just saw this and am late to the party but here goes. I bought my 78 several years ago and it had the stock original born-with 350 in it that was very tired. I went looking for a machine shop that could do the machine work only in a reasonable time and gave up. In my neighborhood the wait time was 6-12 months, and that is just machine work, no assembly. I went looking at options and quickly gave up on the LS as I think they are an ugly engine externally and frankly this is just a toy so new tech didn't really matter to me. I found that I could buy a brand new block, rotating assembly and aluminum heads for less than the machine work and same internal parts. I splurged on EFI ProFlow 4 and Edelbrock heads and SCAT 383 with cast crank and hyper pistons. All in $6K. Could've saved $3K if I'd forgone the EFI. That is all new parts and the OEM 350 is complete sitting on a stand in the back of the garage. The Dart block is a priority main oil feed with a one piece rear main. Roller rockers and Lunati camshaft and it runs great. It took about a year of budget and build but I'm extremely happy with the outcome. I'm building my Pontiac 455 right now and frankly the SBC parts are SO much cheaper and plentiful. Would do it again in a heartbeat and highly recomended.

 

[ChuckN]

Well, I just saw this and am late to the party but here goes. I bought my 78 several years ago and it had the stock original born-with 350 in it that was very tired. I went looking for a machine shop that could do the machine work only in a reasonable time and gave up. In my neighborhood the wait time was 6-12 months, and that is just machine work, no assembly. I went looking at options and quickly gave up on the LS as I think they are an ugly engine externally and frankly this is just a toy so new tech didn't really matter to me. I found that I could buy a brand new block, rotating assembly and aluminum heads for less than the machine work and same internal parts. I splurged on EFI ProFlow 4 and Edelbrock heads and SCAT 383 with cast crank and hyper pistons. All in $6K. Could've saved $3K if I'd forgone the EFI. That is all new parts and the OEM 350 is complete sitting on a stand in the back of the garage. The Dart block is a priority main oil feed with a one piece rear main. Roller rockers and Lunati camshaft and it runs great. It took about a year of budget and build but I'm extremely happy with the outcome. I'm building my Pontiac 455 right now and frankly the SBC parts are SO much cheaper and plentiful. Would do it again in a heartbeat and highly recomended.

Thanks for speaking up! The machine shop here is pretty quick, and any extra time they take will just give me more time to come up with funds. But time will tell, who knows, they could get the block there and find something wrong with it like a crack. If that happens, I will likely be buying an aftermarket block. And yes, it’s pretty impressive how cheap parts are these days. Even for a stroker kit.

 

[ChuckN]

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Engine is ready to load in the back of the family truckster (she’s a beaut Clark!) and completely torn down. Some of the bores look kind of weird (maybe I had a very small head gasket leak? Who knows), but I see no visible cracks, and nothing obviously nefarious at this point. There was a little scuffing on the main and rod bearings but nothing major at all. The cam is marked Z179, apparently an Elgin that is .466 lift. They had used nice lifters with the hardened foot (likely GM oem).

 

[Fat 454]

The machine shop wants the block completely disassembled, except for the main bearings, and the crank so he can check everything out. After that, the work will be done, and we will save money for the bottom end.

Interested what your guy says about the cam bearings.
We always look to get the block hot tanked when doing any machine work, and that requires removing and re-setting with new cam bearings. I have heard some say "never remove cam bearings" as they can result in mis- alignment, however not had any issues to date.

 

[legopnuematic]

Interested what your guy says about the cam bearings.
We always look to get the block hot tanked when doing any machine work, and that requires removing and re-setting with new cam bearings. I have heard some say "never remove cam bearings" as they can result in mis- alignment, however not had any issues to date.

My understanding is that’s an issue with the LS engines, as the cam bearings were installed, then line honed after install. Rather than the block being line bored first to deal with core shift.

I don’t believe that is an issue on Gen 1 small blocks though. A GM block should be line bored straight through and new bearings can be installed without issue.

 

[Ricko1966]

My understanding is that’s an issue with the LS engines, as the cam bearings were installed, then line honed after install. Rather than the block being line bored first to deal with core shift.

I don’t believe that is an issue on Gen 1 small blocks though. A GM block should be line bored straight through and new bearings can be installed without issue.

Even then a good machine shop would be able to make a reamer to cut the bearings after install. We ran into this with VW water cooled engines back in the 80s, and made a reamer to ream the bearings to size. They weren't cam bearings in the traditional sense,they used an intermediate shaft that was in blocknjust like a camshaft with no lobes that drove the distributor and oil pump. It wouldn't be practical for 1 and dones but if a shop were going to do several over time.

 

[ChuckN]

Interested what your guy says about the cam bearings.
We always look to get the block hot tanked when doing any machine work, and that requires removing and re-setting with new cam bearings. I have heard some say "never remove cam bearings" as they can result in mis- alignment, however not had any issues to date.

He asked me about cam bearings, and I said yes. He then told me that they usually do them. Save for some gunk on the outside from valve cover weep, the inside of the block is pristine, cleanliness-wise. I probably only had a couple thousand miles on it since “rebuilt “.

So that’s the reason for the quote I read somewhere “don’t ever look at the cam bearings “ with the LS. Hmm.

 

[Ricko1966]

He asked me about cam bearings, and I said yes. He then told me that they usually do them. Save for some gunk on the outside from valve cover weep, the inside of the block is pristine, cleanliness-wise. I probably only had a couple thousand miles on it since “rebuilt “.

So that’s the reason for the quote I read somewhere “don’t ever look at the cam bearings “ with the LS. Hmm.

Cam bearings turn at 1/2 crankspeed and don't see the abuse that rods and mains do. No pounding,just turning. At work we replaced them probably 90 percent of the time. At home I may do them 1/2 the time.