Engine question.

[PowderB]

I have a 350 that came out of my 69 c10. It turned over fine,but when i took the oil pan off i found that the rod cap for cylinder 3 had come unbolted and had banged around in there a few times. The question i am having here, is that cylinder 3 and 4 have a chunk out of the cylinder wall at the bottom from where the rod had hit it. cylinder 3 has a 1/2 inch wide x 1/2 in chip out of it and cylinder 4 has a 1 inch wide x 1/2 inch chip out of it. A mechanic friend said that i could put a good piston in each cylinder and rotate them and if the rings were not visible in the crack i could still use the block and rebuild. Is that the case and I can rebuild without a problem or should i scrap the block and find a new one. I will have to replace the crank,but the block other than the 2 chips out of the bottom of the cylinders is in top shape. Any information you have would be more than helpful.

[Longhorn 70]

it has at least weakened the block. There may be other chips, cracks, damage that is unseen. 350 blocks in rebuildable shape are cheap. If I were going to replace crank, bearings, rod, and gaskets on a SBC, I'd do the whole thing. It may have also hit the head/valves of that cylinder too....I'm betting it did.

[PowderB]

Cylinder heads look fine, i saw no visible damage on the valves or the head, even the piston tops looked smooth. I was really hoping i could have salvaged the block. Someone's bad overhaul job cost me a block. I was trying to get this truck running on a budget,but I guess im in the market for another small block at a reasonable price.

[SS Tim]

Can your budget handle building a second engine if this block lets go? If you must reuse the block it needs to be stripped down and inspected for additional cracks or damage. To deal with the chips you should dress them out and blend by grinding like clearancing for a stroker crank.

[PowderB]

you are right. i should really salvage what i can off of it and start fresh. Take the rest of the stuff to the scrap to recover some of my loss. It would be better in the long run to slow down and search for something i know will last me atleast untill i am ready for a full teardown and rebuild on this truck.

[danw210]

I have found that when budgeting a truck rebuild you have to have a buffer built in for things such as this. When you figure what you THINK it'll cost for you project, multiply that by 2, at least that's what I have found so far. There are so many things you run into that you didn't budget for.

[airdale94]

I would say you probably would be fine also. If your not going to put money into machining the block. Sometimes when they stroke engines they remove metal from the bottom of the cyl. walls for rod clearance.

[Boog]

Heck, take it to an engine machine shop and ask them to check it for you. It's possible to sleeve those two cylinders and save the block. I have done it a couple of times.

[PowderB]

That may be an option,but I am checking with the guy I got the truck from and ask him about an old 350 goodwrench engine he had sitting behind the truck. Maybe he will sell it to me for a good price.

[Boog]

See if he'll let you have it professionally checked to make sure it's ok before paying him then.

[PowderB]

Also what type of headers work best for my 69 c10? Block huggers or long tube?

[PowderB]

I have some numbers off my engine i dont know anything about them. i would like to have it decoded so i know what year the motor is. V0821FBM CHSX(or 4)02054 and 4088548 are the numbers on the block and by the bellhousing by the distributor is 191. If anyone can decode these numbers for me i would appreciate it alot

[jjhare]

This is what the suffix code FBM come up at Chevy mania.

Code Year CID Vehicle HP RPO Trans Carb Comments
FBM 87 350 Truck 170 L-05 TBI

http://www.notarypublic.com/partsid/...fm?block=Small