Thread: New Shop Truck

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I ended up buying my own chip programmer last spring and really getting the van running great. This thing has ran great and been super reliable all year so what should I do? Tear it apart and make it better, of course!
I took a 98 350 Vortec and an extra fresh set of Summit Vortec heads on trade this summer so I'm going to freshen it up and drop it in over the winter. The motor came out of a Z71 truck and the guy said it ran great except for some lifter noise. I pulled it apart and I guess the guy didn't believe in oil changes. the amount of goo is unbelievable but the cylinders have almost no wear; you can still visibly see all the factory hone marks. Should be a nice upgrade from the 307.

Man, that will be nice! That sure is a nasty bugger!

Yeah, can't imagine why the lifters would have been noisy! Maybe cause they're buried in 2" of sludge.

You MUST be a hotrodder!

Good Job.. oh yes. I'll be watching!

If ya believe in quakerstate, ya best believe in oil changes!

I once tore down a Quaker state 302 which had the valve covers completely filled with gunk, except where the rocker arms made pockets. BUT, it was sure in good shape once I cleaned the gunk and replaced the timing chain.

I heard that before about Penzoil, that it was notorious for building sludge. I've always just used whatever was on sale and kept up on my oil changes. The few engines I've actually kept long enough to tear down twice always looked pretty clean inside.

This is going to be a bugger to get cleaned up; glad I've got new heads.

That's better; a couple of cans of engine cleaner and the power washer made a big difference. I'll probably still have it run through a hot tank to get all the goo out of the oil passages.

Originally Posted by falconvan

I'll probably still have it run through a hot tank to get all the goo out of the oil passages.

Good idea - pull all the galley plugs and have it hot tanked and then blow everything out with high pressure air (wear goggles - trust me here!!) and scrub the block with hot soapy water. I use a hose straight out of the water heater and I've found Dawn dish soap to be the best for really cutting the last vestiges of grease and such. I'm also a fan of Glyptol and paint the valley to make it really clean. I like new brass plugs for the oil galley but make sure to get Allen type that will fit flush - you can get them from Ace (or probably Home Depot) in 1/8", 1/4", and 3/8" - the 350 Chevy uses 1/4" NPT plugs. Be sure and run a chase tap down the holes so you have a good clean thread. There are three holes at the front (around the cam opening) that use a 1/2" expansion plug and you can tap and install 1/4" plugs in these three holes as well - but keep them short. And don't forget the one under the rear main seal - if your mechanic removes that one and it's not replaced, your oil will not be filtered.

Have fun!
Glenn

I probably wont get this engine together and put in until next summer as most of my resources are going into putting my 48 together. But when I do, I figured if the van was going to have more beans, it needs three pedals to go along with it. Picked up this 5 speed to put behind it.

Now that the 48 is wrapped up it's time for the shop truck to get some love. I actually put it out there for sale a few times thinking about going to a Suburban but all I got were some ridiculously lowball offers so it's staying put. I was going to build the Vortec motor for it but honestly the little 307 runs too darn good to ditch it yet. So I'm just going to drop on the new set of Vortec heads along with an aluminum intake and headers, put in the 5 speed, new shocks all the way around, and get the A/C working. I've got a few residential A/C replacements lined up to do in the next two weeks and then she's going in the garage. I think I'm taking this one on the Power Tour in June; I'm planning on doing the Saturday-Wednesday stretch from Kansas City to Gateway International Racetrack which will put me about 45 minutes from home.

I'll look for this van on the tour. I'm hoping to have the 40 on the first 3 days.

Cool! We'll have to hook up and grab some food together.

Sounds good to me! If you need a place to stay while you're in Newton, I have a camper I can park at my house and you can park, shower, stay, eat there. I'm only about 15 miles or so from the track they'll be using. If i had a spare room, I'd offer you that. The camper will be quieter I can promise you that.

Just may do that! We'll have to swap phone numbers before it comes around.

So a friend of mine says,"You're going to go through all the hassle of pulling the engine out of this thing to put on new heads, intake, headers, a manual trans swap and your going to put the 307 back in when you have a roller cam vortec 350 sitting there that just needs a few parts and will give you probably 100hp more?" Ok, guess that doesn't make much sense. So I ordered the engine rebuild kit and a GM Performance roller cam today and got the block cleaned up.