Tips/advise on resealing a 350 SBC?

[projo198]

Yesterday I picked up a motor that I am told was running before being pulled. It is covered in oil and grime, so I bought a seal kit for it including new valve seals.

After a year of restoring this truck I want to drive it! Therefore I do not want to rebuild the whole motor. I plan on rebuilding the blown motor I will be pulling out if it.

That being said any tips/warnings/advice on doing this new motor? I've worked on cars/trucks/bikes/tractors for years but to be honest I've never gone further into a motor than the intake manifold and valve train.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Edelbrock]

I would look at the spark plugs, and use jumper cables to check the compression before installing the motor. You would not want to install the motor and find out its got a bad head gasket.... I would also check the oil pressure. As for seals and gaskets, ya you might as well. I would pull and clean the oil pan / oil pump screen. I would also install a new water pump, since they are so cheap and easy to swap while the motor is out. Front and rear mains for sure.

 

[Ricko1966]

Check timing chain slack. Turn the engine clockwise to line up TDC on balancer turn only clockwise if you pass it go around again. Now with the TDC mark lined up and the distributor cap off put on finger on the distributor rotor,turn the engine counterclockwise until you feel the rotor just start to move. Look at the timing tab,if the engine was in the car and you had 8 degrees of slack ,I'd say r+r timing set. On the ground I'd say 6 degrees,so you aren't trying to do it in the car in a year. Also pull the rod caps look for copper. Rods usually are tge first to go,I'd hate for you to have a rod knock in the near future.

 

[projo198]

I would look at the spark plugs, and use jumper cables to check the compression before installing the motor. You would not want to install the motor and find out its got a bad head gasket.... I would also check the oil pressure. As for seals and gaskets, ya you might as well. I would pull and clean the oil pan / oil pump screen. I would also install a new water pump, since they are so cheap and easy to swap while the motor is out. Front and rear mains for sure.

Good advise, thanks. The blown motor has a brand-new water pump so I will swap that over. Also the head gaskets are included in the seal kit I bought.

 

[projo198]

Check timing chain slack. Turn the engine clockwise to line up TDC on balancer turn only clockwise if you pass it go around again. Now with the TDC mark lined up and the distributor cap off put on finger on the distributor rotor,turn the engine counterclockwise until you feel the rotor just start to move. Look at the timing tab,if the engine was in the car and you had 8 degrees of slack ,I'd say r+r timing set. On the ground I'd say 6 degrees,so you aren't trying to do it in the car in a year. Also pull the rod caps look for copper. Rods usually are tge first to go,I'd hate for you to have a rod knock in the near future.

Will do on all this, thanks!