one piece or two piece rear main seal? one piece = needs later pan and flywheel; two piece should drop right in; but by the way check your engine, some 85's may (?) have a one piece rear main seal; most (all?) won't, but it never hurts to check.

 

go back to May 25 in C4 Tech/Performance and read Dusty Joe's thread: "Bought my first vette, engine seized, have block question" for a pretty through discussion on resurectting an 85.

 

As stated before, 2 piece or one piece main seal? You can reuse your flexplate with the 2 piece, if its a one piece, you have to get one for it, not that expensive though. I would assume the used engine you found is complete with oil pan, etc. Do you know the part number or the engine casting number? If you can find that out, you can figure out how close to the original motor it is and whether you want to make any upgrades.

 

I worked with my guy and got the engine pulled yesterday. Bought the replacement marine engine, plan on swapping the cam with my original. Am using the gasket rebuild kit that came with it to put on new head gaskets and I am using my original intake manifold and also replacing its gaskets.

I am reusing the oil pan from my original, The replacement block I got is from the crankshaft up to the heads I guess if that makes sense.

 

Might be a good time to pull a main cap and a couple rod caps and take a look at the bearings, just to be safe. Then you'll know just how healthy your bottom end is, and don't pull the oil pan without installing a new oil pump. Beyond that, sounds like you're in the right track. Good luck, and keep up posted on how it goes!

 

sound advice

 

So new oil pump and new water pump?
..I just ordered all the parts last night, am I making a huge mistake if I go with the original oil pump?

 

SOme may say that you should replace the oil pump "just to be safe"/ it's the "best way" (only way) to do it/ people like spending other people's money. It's your money, but statistically, oil pumps don't fail much. They run, IN OIL! I wouldn't consider changing the oil pump. IMO, if it needed an oil pump, it isn't an engine that you want to be putting in your car...meaning if it needs an oil pump, the rest of the motor is likely worn out. If the motor isn't worn out, then the oil pump isn't.

 

OK thank you. I don't think I was clear though, I am using the oil pump and oil pan from my original engine, the one that did go bad, that did have gas mix in with the oil. I don't know if this is relevant to the health of the oil pump or not. 155k on the original motor, looking at it my guy did say the bottom end of engine had been opened up at least at some point.

 

Oh, O.K. I did miss that.

Can you open your old oil pump and simply inspect the gears and housing? If there is scoring/wear, buy a new one. If it looks mint/brand new you could us it. I don't think gas in the oil would hurt the oil pump.

 

That sounds like a plan, worst case I just run to Advance get one, scared what they are gonna want for it though. It's only $30 shipped from rockauto

 

$30 is cheap insurance. No way I'd run a oil pump with 155k miles on it. No way in hell. Not only is the pump itself likely worn a bit, but the spring inside it that works the pressure relief valve is likely weak. Over time, the heat of the oil, and age in general, will make the relief valve in the pump open sooner than it should. I've seen them successfully rebuilt, but $30 is hardly worth the time it takes to rebuild one.

 

As much as I hate the fact that I coulda ordered it with everything else yesterday and saved $10 shipping, and the fact that I SHOULD be fine using it, it does seem like an unnecessary risk, where $30 here can save me the pain and heartache in the future lol, I'm working overtime, I'll just put in an extra hour or two and not look back I think. I think advance would be twice this in stores, so if I where to wait to open it up then I would have to go in and get it, which would be about an hour roundtrip and $60 for me.

Thanks for the input on this both of you.

 

I can only work on this on saturdays with my guy, so I am trying to avoid missing parts that will stop us from being able to finish the job or tempt us to take shortcuts.

With him only asking $200 from me to do this I want to make things as easy as possible for him, need to stay on good terms for the future :p

 

Grabbed this one off amazon, $25 shipped. If I'm stupid for ordering this one somebody let me know quick.

 

Ok, just saw this thread.
The Chevy full roller "marine cam" is the same cam that Chevy uses in their marine engines and the HT383, and the ram-jet 350.
These cams go for about $50-$100 on EBay as a takeout cam, brand new. That's where I got mine.
I put one of these cams in my 57 Chevy truck, using an 89 Chevy corvette engine, and it has a dead smooth idle and gobs of torque. I really like it.
So is the marine engine a full roller?
If you couldn't find one for your flat tappet engine, I would try to find one with the same tight lobe separation.


Oil pumps are cheap. buy a new one every time you have a bearing cap off or 75,000 miles on a roughly used engine.
Have a good time with your corvette.
I would give the guy doing the work a "bonus" of $100 because he is in for a bunch of work.

 

you are off to a good start by replacing the oil pump. I think everyone whose's ever built any performance oriented chevy will also recommend replacing the stock oil pump drive shaft (with its plastic collar) with an aftermarket one with a metal collar.

if your going to swap out cams, (your builder probably already know this) make certain each lifter goes back on the same lobe as it did originally.

If you install a new timing chain, if the budget allows, spring for a "true roller" style, not only do they operate with less parasitic loss compared to a stock link and pin chain, they do not stretch nearly as much with use and the valve and distributor timing remain much more stable.

Reading your posts definitely takes me back to when money was always a concern. When an engine was out (but no rebuild was contemplated and the heads remained on the engine) my personal priority was to address the things that went INTO the engine; timing chain, lower end bearings and oil pump; crankshaft seals and pan gasket, cam and lifters (maybe). Everything that went ON the engine could be addressed later once the engine was in the car and running.

But if your dealing with a MARINE engine, did it use raw water for cooling ? If the boat did not have a heat exchanger or radiator, the original water pump led a hard life pumping salt ? brackish ? muddy ? water rather than antifreeze. Sooo now might be the time to replace the water pump while the engine is out. But if not, the water pump replacement can wait.

But what cannot wait are the freeze plugs. A marine (and good quality automotive) engine should have brass ...not steel...freeze plugs. If they are steel just replace them, steel rusts and brass doesn't. Brass freeze plugs are cheap; don't take a chance especially with the freeze plugs at the back of the block (if those leak down the road, you will have to pull the entire engine or transmission to access them).

I personally think that a marine engine with 400 hours should make a good runner; that's 40 days, 10 hours a day. Which is not very much at all. If it didn't overheat in that time due to some cooling system failure, everything should be fine. good luck.

 

A lot of marine engines are set up to run backwards. Make sure your car doesn't.

 

By the way, I have flywheels and flex plates left over from a previous project. If you need these, let me know. Ummm oil pans as well.

 

thats really cool