The horror!

[badassciviv]

was working on the new 68 4x4 trying to put power steering on. I did not know what engine I had in the truck. the truck looked fairly unmolested so I was hoping that the 327 was still in it. Now there was a casting number on the front of the block where the water pump mounts up but count not decipher them. now to make a non power steering truck have power steering. the alternator has to move from the drivers side to the pass, I had the required brackets to do this swap but i had to change my water pump from the short style to the long one so the belts would line up. Not a big deal as i just got this truck and did not know the history of the engine or water pump for that matter. Putting in a new pump was not hard to do. While the pump was off i thought it was a good idea to change out the timing set. Was a good idea, the chain had a ton of play in it and it had the plasticy gear set, yuck. The timing set went in fairly easy as well. Now here is where it all starts to snowball down hill. the front oil pan seal/timing cover seal had to be replaced. I consulted my Chilton manual and it states that to drop the oil pan and replace the gaskets you have to raise the engine 3 inches. Oh brother this easy job just got harder. i had an engine hoist in the corner of the shop so out it came and up i started to lift the engine. 1 and 1/2 inches the engine hits the firewall. crap! because I have a 4x4 the engine is set back it will not lift enough to get to the oil pan. SOO out comes the engine. I get the oil pan off and spend about an hour scraping off the old crusty gasket and I put on a slick one piece neoprene gasket it sure is not going to leak now! I also find a casting number on the rear of the block. So i get the trusty laptop out and get to deciphering. THE HORROR the 327 is no longer in the truck but a crappy 305 vintage 80- 84. horse power? 145! now i am not sure if that is the power rating with a 2 barrel carb or not. I now have a new 1406 edelbrock new cap rotor and coil, the engine has HEI ignition. I had to make up some MSD 8mm spark plug wires. So I hope i have upped the pony count a bit. I am now looking to put in a 350. I found a fuel injected 350 not sure what the vintage is yet. I guess the question would be how hard is it to switch to injected. I know I have to put a inline fuel pump. But will this engine match up to the bell housing of my tranny, and will my clutch linkage which now bolts to the side of my block, work with a newer 350?

[haysonj]

I think in 87 they changed the crankshaft bolt pattern so anything after that you need a different flywheel

[BigChevy80]

Yeah I feel for ya man. I just deciphered the codes on the engine in my newish '72 GMC and found out it's not the original engine either. Luckily it's still a 350, but for a while there I was sweating because the same year code I found was used on a 305 in a late 70's nova! If I found out it was a 305 I would've cried...

[badassciviv]

Ha! I feel you there! why someone would go through all the trouble to install a 305 when there are so many 350s out there. it sucks that i put all that work into the engine before i decifered the block casting.
so what year 350 did you find in yours Tony?

[BigChevy80]

Originally Posted by badassciviv

Ha! I feel you there! why someone would go through all the trouble to install a 305 when there are so many 350s out there. it sucks that i put all that work into the engine before i decifered the block casting.
so what year 350 did you find in yours Tony?

According to the assembly code, it's out of a 1975 Impala or Chevelle. I still have to get under there and find the casting numbers and date code. Maybe I'll luck out and find that this is an 010 high nickel block

I'm not holding my breath, though... lol

[westofb]

It could have been worse....could have been at 267 cube from the late 70's early 80's.

[68C15]

if the fuel injected 350 is a throttle body type you can still use a carb. there are intakes out there fro the same price as a normal one. just the 4 middle holes are at a slightly different angle.

[rsavage]

I've got a 70 4X4 with PS and my alternator is in the stock location on the driver's side. Is the 68 different so that you would have to move it to the other side?

[lax54650]

when i bought my truck i was told it was a 350 and would run and the trasnny was good. ran the numbers it was a 305 from a 81 malibu. no compression. out it came seperated tranny from it and found a chunk gone from end of torque converter. so basicly i needed a different engine and a rebuild or different tranny. bought good rebuild 350 from builder in town here and got a th350 from craigs list. turns out he is ia member here. but the truck is relatively rust free. shorty step.

[joedoozer]

The 305 is not good to find if you are expecting a 327 or a 350.....But finding out its a 307 is waaaaaaay worse than a 305 haha.

A buddy of mine bought a truck and had that happen. Owner giving him the "its a strong 350" story. The clown that went with him to look at it said "yeppers looks like a 350 to me". I went with him to pick it up, used my cell phone to run the number on the block. 3 0 7, i felt for him.

But the bought the POS for $300, tuned it up, rattle canned the truck gray primer and sold it 2 months later for $1,000 haha. So he did ok on the deal .

[badassciviv]

Wow! I think this has happend way to often! I think too many ppl just look under the hood and say " Yup, its orange, I am selling you a Strong 350, I mean just look at that shade of Orange!" HAHAHA

[joedoozer]

Originally Posted by badassciviv

Wow! I think this has happend way to often! I think too many ppl just look under the hood and say " Yup, its orange, I am selling you a Strong 350, I mean just look at that shade of Orange!" HAHAHA

Haha!

[badassciviv]

Originally Posted by rsavage

I've got a 70 4X4 with PS and my alternator is in the stock location on the driver's side. Is the 68 different so that you would have to move it to the other side?

I am not sure about the 70, all the brakets for the power steering i could come up with were for the drivers side/high, right where the alt was. do you have AC? Where the ac pump would go, thats where my alt is. I dont have AC. All I have is Mexican Air condition option Low setting roll down window high setting flip out butterfly window lol. Soon to upgrade to delux Mexican air with a sliding rear window haha!
ps, just a note,,,,, I love Mexicans haha

[Mike J]

bought my '68 with a 250 6cyl. in it, which I actually wanted-- but later realised after looking at the SPID, that it was originally a V8 truck, and the 250 is from the mid 70's...

[monte0185]

Im running a freshly built 307 in my truck. Well it was freshly rebuilt in one of my truck now its freshly rebuilt in another one of my trucks since i only manged to put about 50 miles on it in the other one before changin my mind to build a 4wd. I have yet to figure out why everyone gives the little motor such a bad rap. All you have to do is bore it a little put a decent set of heads on it and a decent cam and itll hold up to any 350 with a similiar cam and heads. Mine i know for a fact will roast first second and catch 3rd with ease. Or at least would in the 2wd it started out in. ANyway good luck with the build and alot of sprint car people run 305's with a 400 crank making them a 337 stroker. Just a thought.

[AH619]

Originally Posted by monte0185

Im running a freshly built 307 in my truck. Well it was freshly rebuilt in one of my truck now its freshly rebuilt in another one of my trucks since i only manged to put about 50 miles on it in the other one before changin my mind to build a 4wd. I have yet to figure out why everyone gives the little motor such a bad rap. All you have to do is bore it a little put a decent set of heads on it and a decent cam and itll hold up to any 350 with a similiar cam and heads. Mine i know for a fact will roast first second and catch 3rd with ease. Or at least would in the 2wd it started out in. ANyway good luck with the build and alot of sprint car people run 305's with a 400 crank making them a 337 stroker. Just a thought.

i agree, i put 367,000 miles on an original 307 in my 72 4x4 pulling a boat most of those, with a 4 speed i had all the power i needed to pull the hills amd mountains in n w arkansas.

[Jim_PA]

307's are better than 305's. It's all about bore/stroke.

[Longhorn Man]

power steering and the alt belong on the drivers side on these trucks. A/C goes on the passenger side as does the smog pump if ever equipped.
Personaly, I'd take a 307 over a 305. 305 engines are good donors for heads if on a real strict budget, as long as they don't need any work.
A 5.0 would be better than either one though in my eyes.
Small blocks just don't make me giggle anymore.

[69GMCLonghorn]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

power steering and the alt belong on the drivers side on these trucks. A/C goes on the passenger side as does the smog pump if ever equipped.
Personaly, I'd take a 307 over a 305. 305 engines are good donors for heads if on a real strict budget, as long as they don't need any work.
A 5.0 would be better than either one though in my eyes.
Small blocks just don't make me giggle anymore.

Not that I know you, but I can't picture you being a giggler at all, but I'll leave that alone... I agree that 307's get a bad wrap. Were they a 350? no! But they typically got a couple MPG better than 350's, and could really pull a LOT of weight! Plus, with the usual minor breathing upgrades, they'd sing pretty good.

[Longhorn Man]

:giggle:

[Andy4639]

I 've got a 87 305 HO TPI engine in the 71 with well over 200,000 on it and it's got all the power I need.

[retodd7711]

Same story here.
"It's got a 350" Said the seller.
Well, numbers don't lie.
Early 80's 305.
But it's tuned right, gets almost 15 mpg on the highway
and will pull a wicked burnout.
So what the heck....

[BigChevy80]

I'd take a 305 over a 307 any day. 307's have a short stroke and you'll never be able to get any kind of low-end power out of them. You could build one for high end horsepower, but if you're going to do that, you might as well go after a 327 (same short stroke, larger bore).

I think the only reason they built the 307 was to use up all the 283 blocks and 327 cranks that they had laying around after building the 302.

['72customdeluxe]

Originally Posted by Andy4639

I 've got a 87 305 HO TPI engine in the 71 with well over 200,000 on it and it's got all the power I need.

Completely different scenario though. These are average 70's and early 80's carbed smogger 305's not a tpi engine. These are more like 150 horsepower stock for stock your motor will whip my factory 350.