Should I make time or buy another motor?

[crazeetxn]

Howdy all. Need some words of wisdom and or encouragement.

Background: '86 shortbed, 350, stock, had bent push rod, pulled motor, pulled heads, had heads rebuilt. Sitting in pieces in bed of truck with block on engine stand and heads sitting next to it.

Problem: Put in for a good job offer as I'm getting ready to retire from my current one. If the job comes through, I'm going to have to go and come back for my wife and kids when they finish school this summer. I'm leaving her the good truck, but I'm going to need something while I'm there. I can't seem to find time to put it back together. Don't want to buy a long block cause if I just put the heads back on, presto, long block.

Looked on CL, but couldn't find anything and I'm really not wanting to buy a used one and have it crap out on me down the road. Maybe get one to get me by until I can get this one back together? Maybe buy a turn key, drop and go? But man that's expensive.

Ya'll got any ideas?

[draimondi]

I personally would make time and put it together or if you're really that pressed for time i'd pay for someone else's time to put it together for you. Buying a new motor will be a lot more spendy than paying someone for a few hours of work to put things together for you.

[LynnJr]

I also say put it back together.It shouldn't take that long.I would leave the e4xhaust manifolds off until it is bolted down on the motor mounts to ease the installation of the cross bolts.
Other than adjusting the valves and you can pay someone to do that its pretty straight forward.
I would put the heads on one night and stop.
I would then add the intake manifold and stop.
By doing it in little segments you allow the silicon to properly dry and you don't get tired of working on it.

[Pyrotechnic]

What caused the pushrod to bend? Is the cam lobe and lifter under the bent pushrod still ok? How many miles are on the motor and how well was it cared for?

Putting back together what you have will be cheaper right now, but in order to make it pay off in the long run you need to make sure you aren't putting brand new heads on a ticking time bomb. Now is the time to do your homework and really make sure the short block is 100% correct before you put it back in. Whatever you saved will be lost if the engine has to come back out.

You can get a remanufactured 350 for around $1200. Might be expensive now, but in the long run it pays off because you get a warranty plus the confidence and longevity of a like new engine.

[motornut]

Do you know if you have to smog it?
a newer block would ensure passing that too

[crazeetxn]

Motor was a reman long block. Had it about 7 years and has about 70K on it. As for knowing if the cam or lifter is the problem is beyond my scope. I can tear down to make a short block but that's where I know my limitations.

I see some new long blocks out there in the $1200 range. This is a forever truck and I at least need to get it back to a daily driver.

Had it out about 6 months ago to change freeze plugs, slapped it back in, and they still leaked. So I yanked it again, had someone else do it, and alls been good. Having to keep pulling this thing is irritating me and if I put it back together and it craps out is gonna to really run me the wrong way. But then again, I may put it back together and get 100K out of it.

[LynnJr]

In my humble opinion your best bet would be to put it back together and run down to a salvage yard and buy an older block or a newer roller block to build yourself your next motor.
Even if it took 2-3 years to complete it would be ready to go when needed and a better over all motor.
When funds are available buy another piece of the puzzle and assemble once you have everything.
They make very nice inexpensive engine stands now with small casters so you can easily move your engine.Add a engine bag to cover it and your all set.

[crazeetxn]

Alright. So I'm going to put it back together this weekend and keep my fingers crossed. If it doesn't work out, then my wife said I could just buy a new long block

[8lugnutz]

Originally Posted by crazeetxn

If it doesn't work out, then my wife said I could just buy a new long block

Can you have your wife talk to my wife?

[crazeetxn]

Originally Posted by 8lugnutz

Can you have your wife talk to my wife?

Use terms like, piston, distributor, heads, rods, and eventually she'll just say fine. Now what that fine means is up for interpretation, but I know how I'm taking it

[8lugnutz]

Nice approach, I'll have to try that..... I'll let you know how that works out for me :-)

You in West, TX or West Texas?

[school boy]

mentioned above is buying a roller block. all 88-98 sbc's were roller provisioned wheather or not a roller cam was used. I see a lot of 88-95 tbi remained engines in the 1200 dollar range. this could be an option if buying new. and the tbi heads are made for low rpm so maybe up your alley for daily driver. anyways, just throwing out ideas

[ironroad9c1]

yep, roller motor for the win and avoid any tbi heads, either go with some NEW vortec heads (USed are almost always cracked between the valve seats ) or some good rebuilt TPI heads if you are not going to run it hard.

[crazeetxn]

Lug - I'm out in Swee****er, but I'm from your neck of the woods...Tyler

Thanks for all ya'll's inputs, I'll keep the rollers and vortec in mind if this doesn't pan out. Now I'll have to come up with more lines to "upgrade" a new motor

[school boy]

Originally Posted by ironroad9c1

yep, roller motor for the win and avoid any tbi heads, either go with some NEW vortec heads (USed are almost always cracked between the valve seats ) or some good rebuilt TPI heads if you are not going to run it hard.

whats wrong with the tbi heads? They flatten out at about 4800-5000 rpms but most daily driven trucks don't need anymore than that.

[rs74]

Do you have any shops around you that can rebuild it for you? You can get on rebuilt here for between 1000-1200. If you don't have the time but have the means to pay someone to put it in for you then go that route.

[bnoon]

Originally Posted by school boy

whats wrong with the tbi heads? They flatten out at about 4800-5000 rpms but most daily driven trucks don't need anymore than that.

They flatten out at that RPM on a 305! 461 castings are 305 H.O. heads and/or early 305 TPI heads (58cc chambers) and those are a great budget head... TPI vette heads are aluminum with 58cc chambers and the same ports as the iron 350 TPI heads 083 castings... TONS of heads are better and just as cheap to rebuild as the tbi heads.

[school boy]

tbi head flow, 193 iron LO5 head: 178 intake; 146 exh
tpi head flow, 083 iron L98 head: 194 intake; 106 exh
tpi 305 head flow, 081 iron head: 195 intake; 110 exh
tbi 305 head flow, 187 iron LO3 head: 165 intake; 140 exh
Im not saying go out and rebuild a set of tbi heads over others, but for their purpose they work well. The tiny factory tbi cams and low compression really hurt those engines. I do like the l98 aluminum vette heads, good head for the price. But like mentioned above, if buying new/remained the the tbi long blocks are well priced and are roller blocks.