383 engine and 4 spd granny tranny for sale

[stringpickin]

383 Engine and 4sp Granny tranny for sale.

65k on the engine.. Had a blown head gasket or so I thought. Got serious about fixing it, been driving it while using up a bit of water for about 6 years... All I had to do was add a bit of water every 5k miles or so. Never fouled plugs. During EFI conversion I was going to fix the gasket. Well, much to my dismay a Cracked Block was the problem. About a 2 ½” crack in-between 3 and 5 horizontally positioned about an inch below the valve cover. Because I travel long distances I did not trust pinning and filling the crack, so I pulled the motor and am putting a brand new motor from Smeding Performance. While nice, was an expensive little fix. The exciting thing, a new engine with my new Edelbrock EFI conversion. Very Neat..

The engine was blue printed by a very excellent builder in my area. Using the best 383 Kit available at the time with upgraded forged pistons. Comp Cam.. 268, a notch above a truck type/torquer cam. Heads Ported, Polished, Manley valves if I remember correctly with carbide tips. Edelbrock Performer Manifold with working Quadrajet. Water pump with about 25K on it, fuel pump about the same. No distributor and valve covers, cause I robbed them for my new one. The 70 Chevy 4sp tranny was gone through about 100k ago. New front shaft, bearings, syncs and whatever else needed refreshed. It is still very nice and tight. I don’t’ abuse or drive my vehicles overly rough. The tranny does not try to hop out of gears at all. As I said, very tight tranny.

I am located in Northern Ca. Can ship any of it, just have to figure out what the cost would be. Maybe you could share the cost in crate materials if I need to build a crate for the engine. This baby would be a great motor for racing. Swap the cam out and run that baby.. The crack has been around so long that I think that the block must have been frozen one time before I built the engine. And mildly enough that it didn’t show up under magna-flux. After putting it into service the normal use opened it up. If I didn’t know it was a cracked block I was going to drive the thing to Scottsdale Az. in a month, about a 1000 mile trip. The water usage was never enough to concern me. It never ever tried to heat up, so I trusted it. Now that I know it was a cracked block, I would not hesitate to put this motor in something that stays pretty close to home and drive the heck out of it..

[Jeremy_5]

how much are you asking for both the tranny and engine?
Where in Northern California are you located?

[stringpickin]

Hey Jeremy, I called around to see what the tranny is worth. 3 places I called all said they get $350 for the tranny. And they don’t even know the condition of the trannies they are selling. I also asked them about the motor, and of course they said that was a bit hard to pin down. They looked at it as though parting it. Heads, useable, $150 bucks min. for the pair. cam/lifters/rods useable, 400 crank and rods(crank useable, but if building a new 383, the longer rods should be used, not the stock 400 rods). Manifold and Carb useable.

Everyone seemed to think that besides the fact that it could be driven if watched carefully for any further size increase in the crack that $400 bucks for the engine would be fair.. I have been told if it was 65K and running with no crack, that being I know exactly what it is and how many miles and etc. and because it is a 383 the motor would be worth a thousand bucks.

Unfortunately for me it isn’t worth that because of a lousy little crack. So anyway, I thought if you take the tranny and the engine of my hands how about 650 for both…. I live about 100 miles north of Sacramento, 15 miles east of Chico just starting in to the foothills. About a 1 ¾ easy drive from Sacramento. Basically come in to paradise and make two right turns and you are at my place, but probably have you pick it up at the shop where my truck is at which is two right turns and a left.. LOL.

Let me know if you think that sounds fair. Any input from anyone else on price is surely appreciated too. Basically I am looking at separate prices the motor being worth $400 and the Tranny worth $350.. but as I said, $650 for both sound fair?? Thank you.. Barry

[Jeremy_5]

that sounds pretty fair, and your not to far from me I live about 30 min. north of sacramento. I am still working on getting a frame right now, but when and if I do get a frame I would very interested in the tranny and engine. I will pm you if I get the frame, I am hoping it will be soon.