350 Stock Machine work

[rickpilgrim]

I have learned over the years that if you want to "blueprint" it then grind everything you want. However know this- decking the block and surfacing the heads? Why do this if you didn't have a blown gasket issue?
Resize the rods and bore the main bearing saddles? No spun bearing why bother and change the distance from the cam to the crank?
Bottom line- if your GM 350 gave you 100K or more miles in your truck why change EVERY dimension that GM engineers spent years perfecting to give you a good engine?
After 8 engines rebuilt the "machine everything" way and getting only 55-70K miles out of them in our yard care trucks and paying around $1800-2600 for sb chevy for each) we went the do whats needed (suggested by my current machinest who does EVERY engine for the Corvette Club of America) and am still spending $1400-1800 but 98 350 votec has 136K miles on crank kit, bore, hot tank, cam bearing, frost plug, oil pump, valve job and bronze guides with pc seals and pinned rocker studs. The 350 in the 82 was done very similiar and allready has 82K on it with clean oil and uses 1/2 quart of oil every 2600 mi and that one turns 3200 rpm @ 65 and is always towing something.
IMO if your rebuilding a basically stock engine check everything, machine only whats needed, get good quality parts and don't listen to the "you need to align bore the block as I found 2 bearings that were worn unevenly" my response was Those misaligned bearings went 136K mi so why do I need this, Thanks for your time and find different shop.