Thread: Chevy 350, buy or build?

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Hi,
Hopefully this question hasn't been adressed yet! I have recently bought a Chevy LUV that I will be rebuilding in the future, and am just putting together some ideas for now. My question is this, would I be better off buying a 350 already built, say an Edlebroch crate motor from Jegs, or buying a used one and building it up myself? I just want to do a mild build on the motor, I still want this truck to be a driver when im done. So if anyone has any comments or suggestions, I would really appreciate it!

Thanks a lot,
Tyler

If you put a V8 in that truck, there's more work than installing an engine. You're looking at transmission and driveline as well as front and rear suspension beef-up.

Also, if you want a driver, you can get a pretty solid motor from GM (Summit, Sallee, Jegs, etc.) for a decent price, complete with carb, distributor, water pump. 330HP, GM PART #12496968 for $3,300 - $3,500. The Edelbrock 320 HP motor goes for almost $5,000.

Originally posted by Henry Rifle
If you put a V8 in that truck, there's more work than installing an engine. You're looking at transmission and driveline as well as front and rear suspension beef-up.

Also, if you want a driver, you can get a pretty solid motor from GM (Summit, Sallee, Jegs, etc.) for a decent price, complete with carb, distributor, water pump. 330HP, GM PART #12496968 for $3,300 - $3,500. The Edelbrock 320 HP motor goes for almost $5,000.

Your right there, Henry. You can harly build your own motor with much HP for what the crate motors cost and they are new not rebuilt.

Im not really concerned much about the value of the truck after,,,because not much of the truck is going to be kept stock, since I will be builing my own chassis, it will be on air bags, full custom interior, etc...
Yes it does have the torsion bars with the 2x3 chassis
Thanks a lot for the tips so far!

Tyler

They're damn fast with a 350, that's why you'd put one in. Depending on what you get, a crate motor can be cheaper. You get a warranty, too.

I dont know what kind of budget you are on, but if you are like me, champagne tastes on a beer budget, check the latest and greatest summit catalog. They have crate engines that offer mild to wild. The one that caught my eye was a GM crate sbc, 236hp, 3 yr. warranty for $1500.00. Know I know 236 hp doesnt sound like much but u have to think power to weight ratio. Also good luck on shoehorning that v8 in there.

BUY!!!!

my cousin had a luv with a 406 nitrous fed beast ran 9's but even low hp a smallblock is a small block you need to do firewall work and strip fenderwells out as far as motor crate motor is better cost wise you cant build 300hp as cheap as you can buy i worked for gm and they have extensive line of hi per. motors from about 1200 and up air cleaner to oil pan including plugs wires dist and all just another thought you may have more fun building I never try to discourage learning and when I was younger I loved to tinker with anything that consumed gas and money

Well I thought I could beat the price of a crate engine AND improve a stock engine, but I ended up spending about $1800 for a very mild 350, compared to a $1500 Goodwrench 350. The only benefit in doing it yourself is that you can peicemeal the costs rather than pay a crate price outright, but then you should be able to buy a crate motor on a credit card and pay it over time anyway. All I can say is that I could have bought a 383 for about $2100 but did not because I wanted to be able to burn 87 octane and so I chose a torque cam for low rpm in a 350 to go with a 700R4 OD transmission. In retrospect I can tell you that if I knew the essential prices I should have realized that you really can't beat the prices of the crate engines. Still for me I wanted to know what everything is in my engine, but I know from previous rebuilds there are always potential problems that you run into as a home builder that mfgrs. would avoid. So if you have at least $2500 get a crate engine, but if you are really trying to do it cheap you MIGHT have a good experience along with some risk of screwing something up. Actually I have rebuilt four engines previously, a VW flat four (twice), a Pinto 2000 and a MG Midget 1250 and although they ran I did not get as much mileage-longevity out of them as one would expect from a factory crate engine and now my first experiment with a SBC 350 is still untested, BUT knowing myself I would still prefer doing it myself just because I like to see engine innards! If we were practical we would proably all be driving Hondas anyway so I want to do it my way because I am not exactly a practical guy, and basically I got hooked long ago on my Dad's '69 Chevelle with a 350; an unforgettable experience!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

GM has a long block 350 with 8.5:1 compression that rates at only 205 hp with a 3 yr 36K mile warranty. Cuase you will be putting it ina vehicle that was not orig eqipped witha v8 warranty ithen only 12 mo/12K miles.

This motor is low on power cause the cam is so weak. I have seen these motor is GM performance parts dealers for as low as $899. plus tax. I would go with this, and change the cam for $120. with a decent cam you'l prob be at 260 ho and plenty of torque with a moderate 4 bbl carbs. that truck is so small with no weight in the rear end I cant see buying a 350 hp motor for 2,-3 K. My .02