time estimate on engine swap

[86 K-10]

I've got my fresh 350 sitting on the stand waiting to replace the 305 and all (hopefully) the extra parts i will need for the job. I'm hoping to complete it in a weekend and drive it to work on the following monday. Can anyone give me an estimate on how many hours are involved from start to finish? Thanks in advance!

[old Rusty C10]

well ive never done one completely alone.. ive always had a buddy around to help and or hang out drink with while doing this.. it should take four to five hours to get it out and clean up the engine compartment and perhaps another three or so to put it all back.. that is moving at a moderate pace.
on edit that is pulling just them otor from the truck not pulling the motor rans as a unit and disassembling outside the truck

[sethv]

If you start on a Friday afternoon and work at a decent pace, you can probably have it running again Sunday afternoon. It really depends on how fast you work and if you don't have to run to the parts store all the time.

Took my friend and I about the same amount of time, from taking the hood off, to disassembling the old engine and getting everything ready on the new one and finally getting it started.

[77c10]

I have learned the hard way, if you think it will take 12 hours, be prepared for it to take 24 hours. Lots of unforseen things come up!

[RandyP]

And it depends on how far away O'Reillys/AutoZone/NAPA is from your place. No matter how much you prep, you're gonna have odds and ends you find out that you need at the last moment.

[N2TRUX]

It really depends on your experience, tools available, and obstacles encountered. Since your asking how long we can assume you haven't done it before. That means its going to take longer. If you don't have a good assortment of tools, it will take longer. If you encounter parts that don't fit, or need modified the hours add up quickly.

It is very feasible to start on Friday and drive on Sunday, but I suggest a back up plan in case.

[74 stepside]

N2TRUX said it right. Depends on your experiance and tools. Fastest Ive done it in is 4 hours with a BBC in a 68 camaro. But it didnt have a/c or power steering. Plan ahead and get everything ready. Its also a good time to pressure wash and paint the engine compartment if your up to it.

[TDS-MN]

I'll echo everyone elses response, it can certainly be done in that amount of time, but your results may vary depending on skill level, and amount of help you have. It is very hard to predict every little snag you may run across, and having a parts store nearby can help a LOT.

I hope to do that same swap, sometime soon, actually. Good luck with yours!

[86 K-10]

thanks for all the responses! i've pulled a motor before, just not in a square body and not on a time limit. i do have some help that i'll be paying in canned yeungling and some $3.99/lb sirloin the plan is to start next friday, i'm terrible at remembering to take pictures, but i'll do my best to post some after the swap.

[86 K-10]

just for your guys info, it's a pre-85 block with a .060 overbore (i know, i know) and hypercuetic pistons, vortec heads i scored for free, cam with around .44 lift, , comp cams magnum steel roller rockers, summit racing hei, jegs 331 high rise intake, and a holley 600 with a 1" spacer. i've also got a 4" air cleaner, headers, bolt-on exhaust, a msd street fire cd ignition that will be going in with it. preeetty excited

i'll let you guys know how the chinese intake and distributor work out. the intake looks and measures out exactly like an edelbrock rpm and the distributor feels pretty well made, but we'll see.

please ignore the mess in the background, my garage is a disaster after spending the week working on my wife's POS wagoneer

[wyattglock]

I have done an engine swap in a weekend with a couple of competent friends. The biggest thing is to stay relaxed and dont set the bar to high for yourself. As previously stated, if you think it will take 12 hours, expect 24 and you wont be disappointed. Another thing I have learned is that if it looks like it is going together quick and easy, check the assembly again because you probably left something out!! Good luck!

[Goldfinger]

As long as your sober enough to put the engine in the right direction it should take around a day. friends help a lot.

[TDS-MN]

Originally Posted by 86 K-10

thanks for all the responses! i've pulled a motor before, just not in a square body and not on a time limit. i do have some help that i'll be paying in canned yeungling and some $3.99/lb sirloin the plan is to start next friday, i'm terrible at remembering to take pictures, but i'll do my best to post some after the swap.

Yum, you need any more help?????

I end up for getting to snap pictures on most of the work I do too, just get too into it and forget. Motor looks nice, i hope it performs well for you. Hearing your plan, I'm going to guess that you will most likely meet your time goal on the project. Being able to replace the exhaust etc at the same time should allow things to go more smoothly, not having to fight with old pieces and parts.

[crm318]

Having a helper will cut times in half I have found, especially when putting it back in. One time, I had a master mechanic buddy come over and help me take out and strip down a motor (that I had drove to his house). We had the motor out so fast that when I was taking out the head bolts to remove the heads, they were still to hot to handle.

[406 Q-ship]

Depends on what goes wrong, how much fabrication of pieces (like throttle brackets to Holley from Q-jet) the tools you have available. In a real shop (business not hobby) with air, lifts, and a lot of room to work, I have done a Goodwrench 350 engine in a 81 El Camino (loaded with accessories too) in 9 hours. I drove it in and 9 hours later cleaned up and drove it home ( no real issues and no fabriction). So it is possible but give yourself alot of cushion.

[Junqueboi]

That's more than a weekend job for a regular guy, sorry. I've changed many engines out of different GM vehicles & little things like the throttle cable and fuel line on that aftermarket carb can eat up LOTS of time. Sure you can slap it together but doing it "right" takes time.

You MUST have a competent helper to help you guide the engine into place if you are on any kind of deadline. It will take hours to get it hooked up if you are by yourself. You'll be constantly getting up/going down... don't let anyone fool you into thinking you can do it in 15 minutes because some guy said he could.

If you want your truck to match your engine, when the old engine comes out you are going to see a lot of really nasty funk...get ready for another hour or two of scraping, brushing, cleaning, etc.

Once you get the engine bolted in...consider the wiring...it sounds minor but you want to take your time on the engine harness, particularly the wiring around the starter area. Think of how long it takes to route spark plug wires...unless you are a genious or a slob, it does take time/patience. You don't want a wire to land on a hot exhaust manifold/header/etc.

It's always wise to allow for tuning issues. Sometimes that distributor just doesn't go in right! Allow time for timing, etc.

I don't mean to sound negative or anything...I speak from my own personal experiences as a regular guy. I LOVE doiing stuff like this but the fun quickly turns to cussing fits/cuts/unknown-material-in-the-eyeball, etc....'speshully when it's 2AM the night before I have to drive this thing to work the next morning & the starter wire terminal breaks off or the lower alternator bolt disappears...you name it....it can happen!

[Tx Firefighter]

The fastest heavy line mechanic in a dealership is going to take 7 or 8 hours for a straight swap. With your less experience, lesser tools, and some minor modifications needing done for different components, you better plan on an entire weekend, and make it a non holiday weekend so the parts stores are open.

[MilkyJoe]

When I did a rebuild on my s10, took about 2 hours to pull, 4 days to rebuild, and 4 hours to install and adjust everything. ran after 5


I too am swapping a 350 into my 305 truck. being that the 350 doesn't have any vaccum lines or anything, I think installing it will be fast. probably 3 hours. then just adjusting timing, carb, and various misc.

[86 K-10]

well the swap is set to go down next friday afternoon. i'll post the amount of time it took once it's done. i'm pretty confident i've got all the little parts and such, so hopefully trips to the parts store will be minimal...but since it's only 5 minutes away, a couple trips wont slow me down too much.

btw, i went ahead and installed the cd ignition on the 305 today just to have one less thing to do next weekend. i really didnt expect it to make much of a difference, but man was i wrong. dramatic increase in throttle response and mid-range

[DetroitDan]

I had an 83 c10 that went through 5 motors and two transmissions. I spent a couple weeks doing the first one, but then I got the hang of it, most every junkyard motor I blew up came out and was replaced over a weekend. Last one was so easy I did it midweek. I didn't time myself tugging the broken one out, but I remember getting up early to try to get it to run in time to get to work. I set the motor in and bolted everything up in 90 minutes and drove it to work on time. That was starting from an empty engine bay with the hood off, and the only thing I didn't finish was putting the hood back on, because I was alone.
Having done it 5 times, there were no rusty bolts or hidden problems, and I was swapping complete running motors in, not fussing with distributors and carbs. We used to joke that I should put wingnuts on all the bolts.
It had headers so the bolts were easy to get off. Two engine mount bolts, few bellhousing and torque converter bolts, little miscellaneous things and it practically jumps right out of there. I also was doing it outside in the dirt, rolling a hoist around on plywood I laid down. No air tools either. It really is a piece of cake. I'm not a real mechanic, but these old squares are the easiest thing in the world to work on.