Which 350 do I want?

I currently have an oldsmobile with a 307 that can't even beat my girlfriend's 140hp sunfire. The gas mileage isn't great either. So I want a 350. The problem is that I am relatively uneducated about the subject and don't know any of the tradeoffs.

What I am looking at:

GM part #10067353
249hp for about $1400, which seems like a great deal.

Then I see more power and get greedy; GM has a 330hp/350 HO for around $3500, so i looked around online to see what the options were above 300hp.
and I found a 385hp engine for $2500 at http://www.blueprintengines.com/popu...specs&pc_id=23
which is a nice medium as far as price goes and a great upgade in power.

What are the advantages and/ or disadvantages among the choices, such as how much worse will gas mileage be for something like the 385hp engine as opposed to the 249hp engine, etc. What do i need to look for in buying a 350?

Which would you go for. I don't race at the track, if that helps, although I think that may have been fairly obvious.

Having lived on this planet for 64 years, I'll give you my take on it. I wouldn't be too swayed by big horsepower claims from small private builders. They can say the motor will produce anything they want to say to make it more attractive to you. Then there is the question of warranty. If you buy a crate from a small builder, will he be there tomorrow to honor your warranty claim?

I'm absolutely certain that there are honest builders out there, but it's tough to try to segregate them from the bad guys.

If I were going to purchase a crate, I'd buy from someone like Scoggin-Dickey or another nationally recognized Chevrolet dealer or outlet. That way, if something did go wrong, I'd be certain they would make it good. Their power claims aren't from some fairy tale either.

The other thing I will caution you about....you get what you pay for. If it seems like a deal that is too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. I've read lots of horror stories lately about some low-priced roller rockers that will disintegrate. Quite a lot of this junk is made offshore, China mainly. Spend your money only with long-term reputable manufacturers and you'll be o.k.
www.sdpc2000.com

I agree with Tech 100%.

My paper is showing the GM crate 350 for 87-up for $1159.00. I don't think you can go wrong. It's got warranty to boot. The good thing about the engine is it's 1-piece seal and is universal. Universal means it has the lifter bosses for the hydraulic roller settup with the spider. If ever you wanted more performance, you could cheaply add vortec heads, hit the boneyard for hydraulic roller setup and add a nice hydraulic roller cam pretty cheap. Especially considering the cost of retro lifters. The best thing is you know what you have when it's all said and done.

One of my pet peeves for the month is the term "crate engine". GM, Ford and Chrysler sell new engines in the crate...."crate engines" To fool the public, the rebuilders started calling their product a "crate engine." Duh, it's a rebuilt engine with perhaps some performance parts.....it's not new.

GM sells two groups of new "crate engines": replacement engines and GM Performance Parts engines. The replacement engines include the $1200 (or so) 350 stocker, truck 454 engines, etc. They are probably made in Mexico and are a very good value for the buck....heck, a rebuilt special is about the same price. We have bought a couple of the el cheapo 350s from Chevy and have never had a problem.

For the higher horsepower group, Tech is right...go to Scoggin-Dickey or Sallee or one of the other GMPP dealers. There's a lot of combinations available and the warranty is valid at a few more places than is the one from Pepito Boyz. AND, you'll get a real crate engine.

Local rebuilder offers a High Output 355 with a 24 month/24,000 warranty for about $1800.00 as a long block with new tin...... Seems like a decent price. He doesn't make any bogus hp claims, or misrepresent it as a crate engine. Realistically it's probably about 300 horse and solid all the way through, no junk parts, good balancing and careful assembly, the things that are the most important on any engine......

If you do go with a GMPP crate check with your local chevy dealer, you can save a bunch on markups and shipping. I could have saved 5 or 6 hundred on the 290HP/350 I got not too long ago if I would have checked with a buddy of mine in the parts business.