Thread: 350 Rebuild Question

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How much more would it cost to rebuild just a 350 bare block instead of a long block?

Originally Posted by Corvette85

How much more would it cost to rebuild just a 350 bare block instead of a long block?

Not sure I understand your question..Or are you sure about your question. A long block is a complete engine. A bare block is just that a chunk of iron with 8 + holes in it. If you use the parts from the long block to rebuild it I GUESS that would be cheaper. If you use a bare block and buy everything that is missing it would depend on what you buy.
Heres a question for you.. Do you have any idea what it takes to rebuild a SBC or any other engine????

I'm going to learn to rebuild an engine. How much extra would it cost in parts and everything if it was just a block than a long block? Or would you replace everything anyway?

Man at your age I do not want to discurage you in your indevor. What you should do is price long blocks, junk yards, news paper adds, trading times, what ever. Then do the same with short blocks. When you buy a long block to rebuild you never know what if anything you'll be able to reuse. Most of the time it depends on what you intend to use the engine for. That said maybe you'd be better off buying a new short block and build from there. There are to many posibilities here for a yes no answer.I think you could buy a long block and take it apart and see what makes it tick. Most of all decide what your building it for. Pulling stumps or driving down the highway with good gas milage.

My uncle was telling me I should look for a late 60's to early 80's long block. So even if I buy a longblock, I'll still have to replace pretty much everything? Do you suggest just going with a block and build it from there?

It's gonna depend on what heads are on the long block. If they're crap heads, you've just spent money on junk that you won't use. Pencil out a plan of what exactly you want the motor to do. If it's just a go to the grocery kind of motor, then ANY heads will work. If it's a good running street motor, then only a few heads will work. Spend some time going through these 108 dyno-proven builds and pick out what works best for you, then the members on this forum will help you fine-tune your selections and guide you. For a street motor, concentrate on the highest torque figures at the lowest rpm....
http://www.ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos1.html
As far as money required, you can rebuild a long block for around $1,000 to $1,200 if you go with a budget rebuild kit and don't get foolish. $2,500 will build a nice running street motor with Vortec heads. $3,500 will add a roller cam and some goodies. Don't hold me to these exact figures, I'm just trying to ballpark it for you so you know what you're gettin' into.

thanks. that really helps me. im thinking the best thing for me would be to build from the block up. I want to give it alot of power.

how much is a lot of power to you? and what trans, rearend, tire size are you looking at matching it up to? every kid says they want a lot of power.... hell i did too....realize number 1... that even 300 HP can feel like riding a missle if built right..... and number 2... if you really seriously want to built 400;500;600 HP motors, you're going to pay for what you get.... seeing that you're building your first motor, i really wouldn't reccomend starting off with big HP, i'd start off, doing a good solid build.... the more powerful you build the motor, the more likely there is for something to screw up.... lower HP motors tend to be more forgiving

I built a motor from scratch, I reused only the crank, head bolts, oil pan, oil pump (it was almost new), and accessories like the carb and distributor. I came out at about $2500 including a $300 block (good 350 blocks are getting rare in California). This price included all parts and machine work. The engine in current trim makes probably makes 300 hp at the crank. For the same price but with a different cam and intake, the motor could probably make close to 400 hp.

since when are good 350 blocks getting rare in cali.... they aren't here in san diego at least..... they're alllllll over the place...... if you look on craigslist you can buy not just good 350 blocks but good 350 motors for a few hundred bucks, and theres at least one a day

well i'm not looking to put it into anything. my car already has a 350 in it, and it runs good. i was thinking 350-400 HP, but i'm not sure. I put an ad on craigslist to find a 350. I've had several responses. So are yall saying to get a block by itself, or go for a longblock? I've had people respond with both. One guy has just a block for $75, but I don't know if that's what I should do, or go for something more.

I was looking for a virgin 4-bolt block, those are hard to find.

Corvette, what do you want to do? How involved do you want to get? I wanted to build a 9.5:1 compression motor that ran on 87 octane and made close to 300 hp. I couldn't find any shortblocks that would do that so I built my own. If you want to make 350-400 hp, the ZZ4 crate motor is hard to beat. If you have most of hte parts and want to save some money, GM makes a ZZ4 short block (roller cam ready).

if i remember right you are from around san antonio texas if i remember that right, if so do not pay to have a used block shipped to you. about 3-400 bucks for shipping alone. there are probably 1000 350 blocks laying in garages and junk yards in your area. i would go for a bare 4 bolt main block and build it from there. a used long block to redo the heads, is almost the same cost to buy a set of new aluminum heads. have the block cleaned and tested for cracks and machined with new bores, then start buying parts from there after you know the block is in fact a good block.

Originally Posted by mooneye777

if i remember right you are from around san antonio texas if i remember that right, if so do not pay to have a used block shipped to you. about 3-400 bucks for shipping alone. there are probably 1000 350 blocks laying in garages and junk yards in your area. i would go for a bare 4 bolt main block and build it from there. a used long block to redo the heads, is almost the same cost to buy a set of new aluminum heads. have the block cleaned and tested for cracks and machined with new bores, then start buying parts from there after you know the block is in fact a good block.

This is good advice. Start with a standard bore block so you will at least have a chance to clean it up at 0.020"-over. The more cylinder wall you can keep, the better off you'll be.

from there go with all forged parts as well, dont settle for cast..... find lightweight heavy duty rods, such as some manley H beams..... steel crank, forged pistons..... go with some AFR aluminum heads if you can..... from there its just a choice on what combo you want to go with.....


my i ask what you plan to do with the engine if you're going to build it and then not put it in anything? that seems to be a lot of money for a 16 year old to be spending on something they aren't even going to use