What to Do??
 

Have a 72 Jimmy w/original drive train. Don't plan on selling anytime soon, but.... Question is should I rebuild the original 350 or drop the $$ on a ramjet 350? or....Can spend about 6k total. What do you guys think?

Re: What to Do??
 

Keep the original for the value later on and drop in that Ram Jet now!!!

Re: What to Do??
 

If you're going to restore the rig to original, rebuild the engine. If you want an updated or modified, nice driver, go with the ramjet.

Re: What to Do??
 

:agree:

Just go ahead and spring for the new engine to get things up and going, but NEVER get rid of that original sbc! Rebuild it later when the time is right.

Re: What to Do??
 

Good advice...I pulled my original motor out a while back and threw EVERYTHING away and now i'm buying it all back one piece at a time.:whine: The ramjet is about 4900 when I looked at it so that leaves 1100 for a nice brand new serpentine belt drive on the front (549 w/o air, 749 with air). Just add headers and you should be good to go. It's tough though because if you went to a reputable machine shop and got a good rebuild with some aftermarket heads, cam, intake, etc, etc, you get make a lot stouter motor in my opinion; even a nice 383 for the same if not less money but you'd have to stay carbureted. Personally i'd go with the rebuild and hop it up a little. If you didn't go crazy on the rebuild you could drop the Edelbrock EFE kit and stay within your budget and make more power too. The ramjet sure is convenient though.

Re: What to Do??
 

:agree:

Re: What to Do??
 

Depends on what you want to accomplish. For cheap power, have the original rebuilt but use newer vortec heads, efi, HEi~~~and off you go. If normal driving, spring for a new crate mtr. You will probably enjoy a different transmission even more then the motor!! Overdrive make old trucks a lot more useable and enjoyable. IF offroad, go for broke as it will make you broke.

Re: What to Do??
 

Drop in a 454 and have FUN :metal:

Re: What to Do??
 

It also depends on if there are any other goodies that you may want to buy for it(the Jimmy).

Re: What to Do??
 

ramjet would let you enjoy it more less screwin' around with the carb ..

Re: What to Do??
 

I'm with Huck. Why not find a low mileage take-out 5.7 with 4L60E? For about $2500 you can have a late model motor, FI, overdrive, AND the serpentine drive setup.

Just depends on down time I guess. You really need a second vehicle to pull the swap off realistically IMO. But that should leave you $3500...