I purchased a 1990 Chevy pick up, 2500 4 wheel drive. Standard cab, motor was knocking, but I picked the truck up for 250 bucks, the truck itself is sound, 14 bolt rear rebuilt axle shaft to axle shaft with new posi and gears, or so im told, SM465 trans shifts fine (except into 3rd, sometimes tries to slip into first)

Anyways, I found a 350 on craigslist out of a 93 pickup, it has 150k on it, when the guy pulled the motor it had a blown head gasket, so he redid all the gaskets on the motor and kept it as a spare for his K5, which he rolled recently (gorman miller jeep trail i'm told) for 200 bucks, a complete running motor, I cant complain, but how long it will last is worrying me, however, I'm hoping to keep the original motor and rebuild it. It has a snapped rod in the number 3 cylinder, it doesnt appear to have in scratching in the cylinder, however, I havent had the chance to take a closer look, will no more monday When I have the motor on the stand and I can pull the pan rods and pistons and take a closer look.

I need to find a decent rebuild kit, i was recomended towards a kit from summit racing, 200.00, 30 over on the cylinder bore, but I am open to recomendations from the tech-savy members of Pirate. Also looking for a cam for the motor if I keep to rebuild, I would like to avoid machine work and changing springs, but am open to the idea depending on the cam, I dont need anything too crazy, just a reliable strong yet mild built 350 (also, keep in mind the motor has roller lifters as well).

Im looking to make it my new tow vehicle (boat, and camper trailer) so i would require tourque, and im also hoping to make it my offroader as well, as my jeeps still sitting in the garage with a blown trans and my k5 still needs alot of work (305 motor with blow by, rust eaten body, what can I say, it was free!) I have gotten by with my 86 suburban as my tow vehicle and my jeep as my offroad toy, but the 86 is slowly dying, and the jeep needs a full rebuild on the trans. With 297,000 miles on that damn jeep, its not worth the time and money, and the suburbans pushin 263,000 on that 454, and that motors about to quit on me im sure.

Recomendations? (I have no one to advise me in the right direction, most of my sources are drunken rednecks who jimmy rig things to make them work) and I have no intentions of jimmy rigging my pick up.

PS, Dont Flame me with your noob bashing crap. Thanks! :flipoff2:

Summit racing has some good rebuild kits for a great price in my opinion. That's where I bought mine from and it is a very complete kit. Iicr it was a little over $300 but it really depends on what you want.

I would also give them a call about the cam questions you have as they are pretty good with setting you up right.

I'm running a 480 lift crane cam in a tbi motor with stock springs and it does pretty good.

Just my thoughts though.

Yeah I hear alot of good things about summit. I'm probably going to be giving them a call. Last I had heard, Crane Cam's had gone out of business, not sure, I'll have to look into it.

Just a thought. Check out Powerhouse on the internet at ENGINEKITS.COM they have a bunch of combinations that I have actually used and they are one of the cheapest around. They specialize in stroker kits as well. Take it easy. BTW they are located in bakersfield,ca. Most of the guys i have talked to there are really helpful.

Northern Auto Parts has about the best prices for kits that I've found. That said, I ordered my kit through Summit because they offered a kit I liked better.

However, aren't you putting the cart before the horse here? I'd wait until you had the motor torn down to buy a kit. Maybe the bore needs to go out .040 or maybe it only needs to go out .020. How are you going to order rod and main bearings without knowing how much the crank might need to be turned. I understand wanting to have all the parts there and ready for when you tear into it, but do it right and wait until you have it apart. It won't cost much or take long to have a machine shop look at the crank and bores to tell you how much machining is going to be required if you don't have the tools at home.

I got ya, your right, Im just looking around to get a general price range, ill take the block in next week to have it checked on the bores and if I need to take it 40 over or not. not sure as of yet.

Ditto on the powerhouse. They sell stroker kits at a very reasonable price, trust me, the extra 33 cubic inches are worth it for the price.

Remember...you get what you pay for. Since everybody and their brother sells rebuilt Chevy engines, paying anything for a used engine that could be a ticking time bomb would be a waste of time and money. Hell...it may even be cheaper to rebuild the one that's in your truck now.

yeah, I'm going to, however Im planning on using this truck for my daily driver. So Im gona drop a used motor to get me by, while I build the original motor. Wont need it for too long, a month or two maybe, til I complete the rebuild on the original motor.

I found a shop about an hour away, they have a wide selection of used "Refreshed" engines, Was asking 650.00 for a 350 TBI 4 bolt main refreshed, comes complete from oil pan to air cleaner exhaust manifold to exhaust manifold. I offered him 5 and he took it, has 2 month warranty from the day I pick the motor up. Its nothing special but I'll be able to pick up a decent motor and have my blown motor rebuilt in the mean time while I still have my transportation to get me by. Its a large auto center thats selling the motors, so i'm not worried about being ripped off. We'll see what happens.