Thread: Freebie four bolt

Tweet

Hello all, I have a 4 bolt 350 out of a boat that I would like to rebuild as an educational experience. I have never built an engine but feel I am capable, as I am mechanically inclined. Please help me in the right direction, I would like to rebuild the motor near stock for short money. Where should I start? Possibly a suggestion of a parts kit? I don't think the motor will need to be bored, but it is a reverse rotation motor I would like to return to standard rotation.
Thanks, and please help me through this learning experience!

Welcome to the club! What do you plan to do with the motor after your build is done? You'll need to find out if the crankshaft has the serrations at the rear seal. These are used to keep the oil in the crankcase. If you change the rotation back to standard and the serrations are there, it'll actually pull the oil past the seal.

Not a huge hurdle 'cause you can swap out the crank pretty easily. There are some great guys here who "speak Bow Tie" fluently! But I'm not one of them! LOL...

It's good to see you here and keep us updated as you go along!

lower end swap the pistons but your going new so you are ok there. there should be no hash marks on crank //////there the other way on REV and on the seal lip so use a STD rotation seal on rear main .block crank rods . about the same as chevy truck.marine rev cam will not work

Ok, thanks so far. But can we dumb it down a lil more. One of the problems I've found searching the forum is the tla's (three letter acronyms). I don't yet speak the language. So down to the basics, should I be looking at buying a kit with pistons and the whole deal? Where do I start?

Oh for what it is worth, the motor may go into my jeep when it's done. Honestly I just look forward to successfully building this engine in the hopes of learning something

Originally Posted by Willawolfe

Ok, thanks so far. But can we dumb it down a lil more. One of the problems I've found searching the forum is the tla's (three letter acronyms). I don't yet speak the language. So down to the basics, should I be looking at buying a kit with pistons and the whole deal? Where do I start?

take block to the machine shop there are things your can not do at home so they will help you with things you do not know . if they can not. then that is a good place not to go . you will just buy parts for size needed after machine work like a 030 over pistons or bearings . all parts you buy are going to be for a 350 chevy piston s are base off the CR your going to use and what grade of fuel your going to use. you do not buy any kit till the parts are at the machine shop so you know were parts would be for size

Welcome to the forum! Seems like there have been a bunch of replies to your question, asking for basic answers for a SBC build, but our search engine is not the best, IMHO. Looking back at Glenn Sexton's posts, here's one that links to a lot of good, basic info, and it has a reply from Richard/TechInspector1, both having an abundance of answers. You're going to find that there are a lot of good crate engines out there that are priced right, especially if you don't have all of the needed precision tools. Other than Pat's good suggestion that you carry it to a good machine shop, you might start here - 350 small block advice