How should i build my engine, 1979 chevy k10

[Justin Willey]

So I want to build my engine from my grandfather's engine and heads. He was a racecar driver and it came out of his race car after he passed of cancer. While I don't have the money atm. I want to kinda plan it out just because i don't like to just leave projects. My dad and him both raced and built engines but my dad hasnt wanted to teach me how to build one so I come here to ask how to plan it and I'll slowly learn online how to build it

I have the block, heads, and intake that need to be washed and resurfaced. The intake is a dual plane intake.

The block is bored 30 or 60 over. 4bolt. Came out of a 55 truck. And I don't know if my grandpa used more modern internals like specific 383 or 388 crank or the old way of doing it with a 400 crank.

I have a Carter 650 cfm carb that needs to be rebuilt.

The heads are definitely bigger in and ex (three sets of springs to keep em up too, two normal ish ones with a big thick one between em)

Alot of these things are grime or have rust on them from sitting for a few years(I live in az so basically all flash rust)

I can add pictures of these things later but it's night time atm. Anything I should change, swap. Trash. Ect. Or do to make it even better. Than it is now

 

[vr1967]

Post up what you have first. And what are your goals for the truck? Rest of the drivetrain? Trans, gear ratio, tires, etc as it all needs to be a matched combination.

 

[Justin Willey]

Post up what you have first. And what are your goals for the truck? Rest of the drivetrain? Trans, gear ratio, tires, etc as it all needs to be a matched combination.

Well. I just want a Everyday with some offroading. Nothing too crazy. It's lifted on blocks all around(I'm gonna change that to new leaf lift)

I have the th350 that was in it originally. I have no idea what the gear ratios are in the diffs. I haven't opened them up to see if there's any change but as far as I can see they're stock half tons. It's on 35s atm probably keeping it there.

And the other list is everything I have for it engine wise. And you can see other pictures in previous posts

 

[Radiohead]

I would build with an eye to reliability. No fun breaking down where it is really hard to recover from.

 

[etc86]

That’s exactly why I bought mine. It’s got a bomb proof diesel engine that will out live me. I had zero desire to have to play mechanic before work or in the rain. Also, @Justin Willey I’d probably start with cleaning everything up just to see what you’ve actually got condition wise then start making your way down the list of most expensive to least as far as what works and doesn’t. Also mounts, wiring, chassis condition etc. If it were me I would take a piece of paper and a pen and walk out to the truck I wanted to engine swap and then start making notes of everything you’re going to have to pull out/replace then match that up to what you’ve got. Keen to see how you do and I absolutely love that you’re using your grandfather’s engine. If there’s a better tribute than using it as your trucks heartbeat, I don’t know about it.

 

[GTX63]

It sounds like your engine is a 350. You should probably check the numbers on the block to find the year and specifics. It would have originated in something from 1968 and later.
Also, if it has already been bored .30 or .60, you may need a machine shop to confirm the block is still usable. After that you will have an idea of a starting point. Congrats.

 

[Rusty Nail]

A 400 crank has bigger bearings.. it'll be either or, Not an option.

I vote for a 327 with 6 inch rods and a single pattern camshaft with medium lift. Think factory 350/350 = L79/L82

 

[Ricko1966]

Well sir you need to do a lot more research. I've got a block,heads, and intake. I don't know what the internals are. Honestly with that description I don't know if you have what you need to build anything. Get a block number,and head numbers,try to find out what manifold you actually have,and a crankshaft casting number. At the very least to get started your going to need a half way decent way of measuring things,and you definitely are going to end up needing some machine shop services. Without knowing what you really have it's hard to say what you should keep,change,or trash. Someone said it sounds like a 350 block,yea probably, but we don't know for sure that it's not a 400 4bolt. Is this thing assembled at all or just a bare block,crank,rods,heads etc.