Your engine story, whats under the hood

[dragracer98]

What's your engine story? What's under your hood? Every engine whether installed or sitting in the corner of the garage waiting installation has a story. My 64 C10 came to me with a 327 and Turbo 400. Ever hear the story, the engine came out of a wrecked Corvette? I would love to have a nickel for every time I have heard that over the years.

The previous owner got the engine with that story and just took the guys word who sold it to him that was the truth. I researched and put on my Sherlock Holmes hat to investigate what I actually had. I was betting it was a 283. Turns out my engine story is quite different but does have a slight Corvette reference. The engine is actually a Warranty Replacement Engine for a 62-67 Impala, and is a 327 250 HP. The heads were also the same heads that were avail on the 1962 Corvette 327 250 HP engine, so a slight Corvette connection, very slight I might add. So that is my engine story.
Tell us yours.
Installed, corner of the garage, crate engine or something you are looking to buy, what's going to be under the hood, now or in the future.

[SidsChopShop]

I wanted to open the hood and see a truck version of the L79, In my mind this is what the factory would have offered. The motor itself is a ‘72 4-bolt main mild 355 that I assembled with some tricks to make it look period correct. So far it has 40k daily driven miles, 2 power tours and has driven all over the southeastern US.

[raggedjim]

Not quite under the hood yet, but it's a '73 350 2-bolt with smogger heads wearing his granddaddy's clothes.

[Keith Seymore]

Not a Corvette reference, but may I tell about my Chevelle engine?

It's a big (big) block.

572 cubic inches based off a GM Pro Stock Bow Tie CNC block. Callies crank and pistons, RHS heads and Dart intake. 1150 Dominator worked by Patrick James.

It's about 1000 hp naturally aspirated at the flywheel and has propelled my 3750 lbs car to a 9.56 @ 139 mph best.

It's been around a couple years so it is presently out of the car for a refresh.

K

[SkinnyG]

Two "enabler" friends sent me a marketplace link to some guy selling an LQ4/4L80E, with wiring and ECU for $1000CDN (about $700US). Excitingly, my morning was full and could only go out to see it after my youngest's birthday. Dude wouldn't take a deposit to hold it since he'd already had two do that and bail. I asked if he could hold it 'till 11am after the birthday.

Frantic rush there. Dude runs a towing company and may or may not be legitimately parting out a vehicle. $1000 cash and it was all in the back of my squarebody and coming home.



I took the LQ4 apart, and it was mint inside. I mean -perfect-. I did all new rings and bearings, gapped the rings to 0.026/0.028, added ARP head studs and LS9 head gaskets. Polished the piston tops and combustion chambers all the way up to Rouge. Ported the oil pump. Super light porting of the heads. Machined my own aluminum dumbell for the oiling. Also shortened the oil pan 2" for ground clearance, and lengthened the sump for volume.



I took the 4L80E apart and it, too, was mint. It was also a "Factory Remanufactured" transmission. I added another friction and steel in direct and dual-fed it, and fully rollerized the rear, the center support, reaction carrier, and forward hub. Added most of a TransGo shift kit, plus a Sonnax over-run clutch kit, and some other upgraded Sonnax valves.



And then I added a VS Racing "Denmah Billet 7875" turbo kit. Engine cover is made out of a 55-gallon drum.

[cwcarpenter98]

Here's the 5 different engines I've messed with extensively:

1960 283 SBC: Purchased as a running engine removed for a 350 swap for $400. Swapped into Frankentruck back in 2018. Has been a great purchase and kept the truck going for way less than rebuilding the 283 that was in the truck, but is starting to get a little tired. The engine on the short stand in picture 1 and 5, and in the truck in picture 2.

1964-65 283 SBC: Engine that was in Frankentruck when purchased. Drove it for over a year while having to add a quart of oil every 40 to 50 miles. Check the gas, fill the oil. Stashed away to be rebuilt and returned to Frankentruck. The engine on the tall stand in picture 1.

1981 305 SBC: Original, numbers matching engine to Penny. Several lobes wiped off the camshaft, not in great shape, stashed away in case I want to return to the original engine. Picture 3 and engine on furniture dolly in picture 4.

Late 90s crate 350 SBC: replacement engine for Penny. Cheaper to get good running engine than to have 305 rebuilt. Hasn't made it into the truck yet. Engine on tall stand in picture 4.

1995 Dodge 3.9L v6: Original engine to my Dakota that my grandpa purchased new in 95. I ran it out of coolant back in 2016 and locked it up. First engine I pulled from a vehicle, sent it off to get rebuilt, and then put it back in. Have put over 30k miles on it since the rebuild. Engine on tall stand in picture 5

[sirJim]

My little 283 .60 over 12.5 TRW pistons 882 heads with roller rockers.
Had 186 heads on when I got it but have plans for them on the 327 .30 over we are building for the next change. With the transmission change from the old "Granny low" SM420 to a T5 with .62 OD I need more torque down around 2000. The little 283 is'ent even starting before 3000.

[Clyde65]

My truck( Clyde) came with a 230….it had oil in the water and water in the oil….so I sourced another block, rebuilt the head and drove it for 5+ years. Then came a 350/350 and it sucked….still drove it but ewwwww!
2009 I blew head gaskets on both sides….pulled motor and put in a 4.8/4l60e with 27k miles….

[AcampoDave]

My 283 was built at a local machine/engine shop....but not for me... for somebody else....The deal went south somehow. The shop owner and I are well acquainted and he simply wanted to recoup his cost on it. He offered it to me for a rock bottom price and I bought it. Getting such a good deal inspired me to pay him a bit more to port and polish the heads and add an RV cam too.

[rbruno68]

When I was 14 or 15, my uncle gave my dad his tuck he used for his masonry business. It was a 71 3/4 ton Chevy with a 350. when I turned 16, I bought a 71 half ton short bed with a pretty worn out 350. I pulled the 350 from my uncle's truck, had it punched out .030, 11:1, mild cam, but didn't have the right heads. Being 16 and not knowing what I was doing, bought two mismatched double hump heads. When I took the entire package to the machine shop, they told me that was not going to work. The owner, who later became my boss as I worked my way through college, traded me a matching set of double hump heads and did the machine work. That motor went in my 71. At 18, I bought a 68 Camaro, pulled the motor from the truck, and put it in the Camaro. A year later I was working at the machine shop, and I did countless motor pulls and machining work as the guys at the shop would help me. Bigger valves, harden seats, new guides, pattern hone and new rings, etc. I would beat the hell out of that motor for many years. Fast forward many years and one more fresh up, new cam, 10:1, 040 over and it is ready for my 63 C10 project 40 some years later. Interesting enough, when I went back to the same shop to do some of the work, my old boss still had the books that he recorded all motors and heads that would come in the shop. The stamping of blocks and heads was one of my many "gofer" jobs I did in the shop. He found the book with my original stamps/numbers and my receipt of work done and gave it me all those years later.

[theastronaut]

My '66 has a stock 250/3 speed that was rebuilt 13,000 miles before I got it, but it had been parked for 10+ years. Someone had apparently left the air cleaner off, and the hood was way out of alignment when I bought it so I'm guessing it got water in the carb because the ports look like something off the titanic, which I didn't find out until well after I got it running. The cylinders look great though, and it uses zero oil.

I've put 20k on it since getting it back on the road, and it runs perfectly but is a bit underpowered for the amount of towing I do with it. I added HEI and an electric fan/shroud from a HHR to free up a little power. I have a mild cam to swap into it, I have a spare head to rebuild/add lump ports too, and I'm looking into two barrel options to give it a bit more pep. I also have a NP440 to swap in.

If the upgrades to the 250 don't spice it up enough, I'm leaning towards building a roller cam 327 with quad two barrel Weber carbs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Or9LmYDVY

[1restorick]

Well, when I bought my 63 truck at Carlisle (many years ago) I was told that the engine was freshly rebuilt. It was a 1969 350 small block out of an Impala. It actually ran strong and had a Weiand high rise intake with a Ford Holley carb on it. I drove it for a few years and decided that I wanted more power. When I disassembled the engine, I discovered that the "rebuild" was a backyard job with ridges on the cylinders, nicks in the crank from the rod bolts and cylinder heads that had loose guides, worn valves and seats and weak springs. At this point I had to make some decisions. Since I was getting married soon and had to take on many new expenses I thought that I would just buy the best parts that I could find at the time and the best machinist as well. Basically, this expense was small compared to the wedding expenses.

So, I purchased the following major parts:

* A complete rotating assembly from Racing Heads Services in Tennessee.

* Air Flow Reseach Cylinder Heads

* Crane Bracket Racer Cam

* Rhoads Valve Lifters

*Moroso Oiling system (Pan, Pump and pickup)

* MSD ignition

* Holley 650 spread bore carb and Performer intake

* Hedman Headers

I had a friend who had a brother that built engines for Watkins Glen racers and he bored the cylinders 30 over and did many other machining tasks.

I assembled the engine after deburring the block and coating the internal surfaces with Red Glyptal. This was in 1994. I drove the truck in my wedding and it ran fantastic!!

Basically, I have just changed the oil every year and this engine still runs extremely well. I tell people that years ago you could just buy good brand parts and have no worries. This is my example. Here is a few photos as well.

[shp4man]

It's about a '69 or '70 250 by the casting numbers. Runs good, all stock, points ignition. Very dependable.

[62bagger]

I bought a C4 corvette for the motor. I thought the tuned port injection would look good under the hood.

[bigmoe]

I'd done a few builds in the past swapping to v8's but had been seeing a lot of LS swaps that looked interesting and decided I should give it a try. I lucked out and bought a 5.3 from an 08 Tahoe that was an insurance write off. It only had 69,000km (43,000 miles) on it. It came complete and with everything like ECM, wiring harness and pedal assembly.