Sled

[jhwkns]

My truck's a sled. Last week I was tooling along up the freeway. It was a normal afternoon in the Mojave desert, 110 in the shade, and considerably hotter on the pavement. My temperature gauge made a quick move to the right so I took the next exit. There weren't any fluids leaking. I cooled things down, and headed towards home. By the time I made it home it'd gotten pretty warm again. It was then that I removed the oil cap to reveal what appeared to be a milkshake under my valve cover. I was quite certain that nobody was dumping frostys in my engine so it only left one other possibility. My cooling system was having a block party with my oiling system. This is never a good thing. I let things cool down a little, and pulled the heads. It wasn't hard to spot the crack in the #8 cyl. Doh!

I originally built the engine about 12 years ago for a camaro I had. It's was a wicked 350 ( 6" rods, lightweight crank, forged pistons, big cam, iron eagle heads) It lived in the camaro for a couple years, then my boat, and then my stockcar. I put it in the truck six years ago with fresh rings, and bearings. Two years later I added the dart heads. That block had been through hell before it broke. There I sat in dire need of an engine.

My good friend, and racing buddie offered up a 305 that he had. It came from a '93 camaro that he'd installed it in for a customer who wrecked the car a couple months later. Its a bone stock 5.0 from a local re-builder. This thing is gutless. It doesn't have half the power it did before. The thrill is gone. My trucks a sled.

[Sinister]

That sucks, but 12 years is a long time for a motor, good luck with it...

[stllookn]

I hate those engine milk shakes! Those Dart head should still be good...sounds like the start of a new project!

[mnunn454]

Saw an ad that you might be interested in.

CHP's Oct issue Page 61 shows assembled 4-bolt Forged 383 short blocks for $1500. Or you can assemble it yourself and save $300. Since you already have the other parts, this seems like a deal to me, plus you get to add 30 cubes in the process.

Also, I believe it's Sept 07 Chevy High Perf Mag that features an article on building a SBC. They purchased a 4-bolt 383 shortblock for what I thought was a steal (can't find the mag right now, or I'd quote you their price.) Maybe they cite it on their website.

Am sure there are lots of other vendors and options out there but these two just seemed to come to mind as a relatively inexpensive way to get your "performance itch" scratched w/o spending huge bucks to do so.

Good luck.

[jhwkns]

There are plenty of good parts left from the old engine. They're just a little worn out. I'll get it back together someday. In the meantime I'm rather enjoying some better fuel economy. I'm getting about 14 mpg on regular unleaded. My friend said I could also have the five speed that was in the car. I'll put it in after the racing season ends in a few weeks when I have some spare time. It'll be nice having a highway gear, even if I am a slow poke.