Worth the risk?

[jdokie79]

Found an engine I may be interested in, and trying to decide if its worth the risk. Supposedly a 355 with Edelbrock heads with only 4000 miles since rebuild. The heads are for sure aluminum, but can't see any identifiers in the pics. Also oil filter looks fairly dirty on the outside to be a fresh rebuild in a vette. Story is the guy took it on trade as part of an LS swap. The guy is asking $1200. Thoughts?

 

[nvrenuf]

Can you hear it run?
No markings on the heads could mean eBay chinese aluminum heads, they might be ok or they might be pure chinese (if you know what I mean).

If it runs, doesn't overheat and has good oil pressure I guess the price isn't bad for an aluminum head motor but if you can't verify any of the vital signs you have to assume it's just as bad as it could be good and coincidentally has aluminum heads. For anything more than $500 or so I think I'd want to see it run.

 

[Grit dog]

Tough call unless you can at least see it fire up on a stand.
Even if it was a fresh rebuild with sufficient evidence and receipts to back it up.
In your case there’s an equal chance of the 4k mile thing being the truth or total bull sh…. “Part of a trade for a LS swap” tells me the guy knows nothing about the engine, actually.
I’d be skeptical.

 

[Vbb199]

It's not me being negative when I say this, but I don't, never have, and never will buy "running" or "built" engines from other individuals unless it's in the frame rails of an original truck that's titled, insured, and being driven.

The only motors I accept is "inoperable" or "needs rebuilt"

Some people's ideas of built could be anything from excessive ring gap, "ready for nitrous"

To some questionable motor that's listed as a 350, but it's actually a 305 with roller tip rockers and Shiney valve covers.

Or the ol aerosol overhaul.

It's a personal preference unless it's from a friend I know well, a competent machine shop (and being a machinist myself, theres a small margin that I call competent), or like... direct from GM

And even still, I look at the valve train, check compression, and wanna hear it run or see a recent video of it running before I give some money over.

There's nothing more I dislike than getting someone else's problem and then fixing it myself.

I say 1200 is a bit steep. He/she/they/it need to produce some documentation and matching numbers for 1200$

 

[Vbb199]

Not to mention, lol, the obvious. It might really be 4k miles old, but the owner has abused TF out of it and it's got slop in it like a 150k mile motor because they didn't break it in correctly.

Nothing like chasing a vacuum leak/misfire that's actually just a flattened cam

 

[jdokie79]

You are all confirming my thoughts. Since I can't hear it run, I am pretty leary. I think I may try to gamble and get it for about 4-500. Then if there are issues at least there will be enough decent parts to feel OK about it.

 

[shiftpro]

Ask to pull the valve covers. If the seller says 'no' you have your answer. Once the covers are off you will see if the heads are in fact legit but mostly to turn the engine over and see if all the valves are opening and closing. Has all the oil been drained out of it? If so, perfect... pull the drain plug and tip the engine to get some oi out... inspect the oil in preferable good light. You're looking for silver/metallic/grey tell tale signs of abuse or broken parts.

get a cheap inspection gooseneck light/viewer. The China ones are super cheap.. for looking inside walls and such. Put the 'looky' end right into the spark plug hole and you can see the tops of the pistons and to a certain extent even the cylinder walls.

Pull the oil pan for further investigations.