Thread: 350 crate engine

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My cousin is giving me an 85 Monte Carlo SS that a previous owner dropped a 350 Crate motor into. Other than knowing it's a 350 crate motor we don't know a lot about it. I've never yet seen the car. He has it in storage in KY where his last job was. We plan on hauling it back next month and then we'll get started figuring out a plan to get the new motor in shape. Not knowing which exact motor is in the car has me wondering how to approach adding power to the motor. I'm sure the crate motor is nothing fancy but since it's brand new I'm thinking that it will make a good starting point to build a nice street/strip application.

My goal is to transform the motor into the most powerful motor I'm able to while still utilizing the complete stock bottom end of the motor. I'm not sure which heads are on it either but I want to utilize them as well. Basically looking to get the heads ported and completely redone and putting a cam into the motor, add a stahl, longtube headers, intake, and carb.

Any good resources out there that will help me be able to identify the crate motor via identifying numbers? Any good resources available that will help me be able to identify the cars tranny and rear gears that are currently on the car? If the car has the stock tranny that it came with it should be similar to the tranny that came in the Grand National though not as meaty. The rear end may or may not have a posi unit in it is what I've read. I'm looking for a good resouce that will help me begin to determine what all the car has on board based on identifying markings on the various parts of the car. I know the message boards are a good resource but I'm looking for a book or catalog that I can keep on a shelf. I'm not always able to be in front of a computer.

Any ideas for building the motor to a mean ass street/strip engine while keeping good street manners and maintaining most of the current hardware?

I want to keep the entire bottom end as is. I'll know more about the details once we transport the car but I'm guessing it's going to be something that is pretty standard. I'm wanting to get all my added power by means of tricking out the heads via sending them out to get them ported and going with a different set of cams, springs, valves, etc. Looking for lots of power and LOTS of torque. Though I may eventually have the stock tranny GrandNationalized I won't be swapping out the stock tranny for anything other than what it comes stock with.


I'd love to hear some advice and suggestions from some of you guys as to what your approach would be.


Roach

There are crate motors and then there are crate motors. The term is being thrown around a lot as of late and can mean anything from a base Goodwrench replacement engine to one that is either new or remanufactured to pump out hp. Everybody has a "crate engine" in their cars these days.

If you look on the back of the block on top of the bellhousing you will find numbers. I would have referred you to Mortec.com to find out what you have, but their website seems to be gone for now. But this one should give you the same info:

http://www.nastyz28.com/sbcmenu.php

I understand your enthusiasm in wanting to build the very baddest engine you can, but you have to remember that "speed costs money.........how fast do YOU want to run?" Also, the more hp you build into a motor the faster weak links start showing up. You need to not only pump up the engine but the entire rest of the car to handle that hp.

Good luck,

Don