Thread: 350 build questions

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Know nothing about cars. What do i need to get this thing running?

Young. From what i can tell it needs a intake malifold, carb, and push rod?

Wouldnt believe it but its a 79 malibu and the truck keyhole had been drilled. Still wouldnt open. Popped out a speaker to take a look in the trunk where i saw some what looked to be stock paneling, black trim etc. Jiggled a screwdriver in the key hole for a bit and and the trunk clicked. Along with all the excess panels and trim were valve covers. Brand new b&m floor shifter. A distributor. Push rods lifters and rocker arms!

my question would be why is it all apart. Did you buy it that way? How do you know the bottom end is good or even the valves. You should get answers to these questions before spending $$$$$$ on a busted engine.

This should be your first purchase. New from Swati21, $13.78 plus 3.99 shipping....... $17.77 delivered to your front door.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...2389189&sr=1-1

Read through this book several times, then disassemble the motor down to the bare block and begin the rebuild. Assume nothing, take everything you find at face value. If it's good for part of the rebuild, put it in one pile. If it's junk, put it in another pile. The very first thing I would buy after the book is a 12" dial caliper.

Here's an affordable unit that is obviously an offshore unit (China) judging by the price, but it's just fine as a starter tool for a young fellow to get used to measuring things in and on a motor. You can even measure block deck height with this 12" unit. My best advice is not to buy an electronic caliper. I have owned them and every time I would reach for them to use them, the batteries were dead. These DIAL calipers are bulletproof, they work every time you need them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Precision...EAAOSwDmBY3Lzm
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Originally Posted by techinspector1

This should be your first purchase. New from Swati21, $13.78 plus 3.99 shipping....... $17.77 delivered to your front door.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...2389189&sr=1-1

Read through this book several times, then disassemble the motor down to the bare block and begin the rebuild. Assume nothing, take everything you find at face value. If it's good for part of the rebuild, put it in one pile. If it's junk, put it in another pile. The very first thing I would buy after the book is a 12" dial caliper.

Here's an affordable unit that is obviously an offshore unit (China) judging by the price, but it's just fine as a starter tool for a young fellow to get used to measuring things in and on a motor. You can even measure block deck height with this 12" unit. My best advice is not to buy an electronic caliper. I have owned them and every time I would reach for them to use them, the batteries were dead. These DIAL calipers are bulletproof, they work every time you need them.
12" Precision Stainless Steel Dial Caliper Shockproof Mechanical 4 Way Caliper | eBay
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Excellent advice for a rebuild, but if I'm not mistaken that's a flat tappet engine and I wouldn't spend a nickel on it when the cost of a replacement roller cam engine is so reasonable. With the rust on the intake surfaces I'd say the cam is likely toast, and like Charlie says maybe the bottom end too. Buy the book, read it twice, take apart the engine to learn something then buy a nice base line 350 roller to drop into the Malibu.

Just ordered the book! Its dark now. I did want to replace the cam anyway and im gonna take a look at it tomorrow. What should i look for to make sure the cam is still worth leaving in there?

You would have to mike the lobes. I don't know the wear tolerance specs, but I'd suspect that if it is more than a couple thou, it's due for replacement.

Double entry. Please delete. Thank you.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

You would have to mike the lobes.

And there is the reason for the dial caliper.

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Looks like it has fairly new front schock absorbers
Exhaust valve rotaters

No sludge buildup in the nooks and crannies , fairly clean in the valley, probably had pretty decent maintenance done to whole car------if you can find the lifters , look at bottoms of all of them for obvious wear patterns--------they have a slightly crowned base so that they will rotate as the cam turns-if they don't turn they will kill the cam-------------

looks like a little oil residue by the exhaust crossover port on the left head-------

Pull the plugs and see what they look like-don't mix them up

How many miles are on vehicle?????

From looks of what I see I'd probably put the intake and carb on with some fresh gas, oil and filter and fire it up to check it out-----just cost of intake gasket and some oil-----

Flat tappet hydraulic lifters have the foot of the lifter ground on about a 50 inch radius, so they are slightly rounded on the foot. This, together with the uphill grind on the cam's lobes, causes lifter rotation which keeps the lifter/lobe working with each other. Problems arise when the lifter fails to rotate and the cam begins to eat the foot of the lifter. The lifter goes first, then takes out the cam lobe. You can hold two new lifters together end to end and you will be able to see the radius. If there is no radius, the lifter(s) are toast and the cam is not far behind. The problems with flat tappet cams began when the oil companies stopped adding extreme pressure lubricants to the off-the-shelf motor oils. They did this because the auto manufacturers were having an excess of warranty claims due to clogged catalytic converters. Apparently the extreme pressure cam lube in the motor oil was doing the damage. Well, as you can imagine, as soon as extreme pressure lubes disappeared from off-the-shelf motor oils, we began to experience lifter/camshaft failures. This tutorial that I wrote several years ago will explain it better than my long-winded explanation here......
http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...ips_and_tricks

Most of us have changed our way of doing things, opting for hydraulic roller cams in our motor builds. Roller cams require only off-the-shelf motor oils and require no break-in.

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Very good pictures showing what we've been talking about for 20+ years now with more concern about free shipping of replacement crate engines instead of basic mechanic stuff---------