Engine Swap -
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I will be good for this project, but I may need them once I rebuild the engine I just pulled since the engine I bought didn't come with one. Give me a price on it and I might go ahead and have you send it to me, thanks!
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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.
Good on the freeze plugs, good advice.
There is no blue color on any of the engine components which I was told you will see if the engine overheated.
This was a 350 crate engine that was put on a boat, never ran in salt if the seller was telling the truth. So I should be in good shape #fingers crossed.
I have a water pump it came in yesterday, so I'll go ahead and swap it to be safe along with the oil pump.
Thanks for the sound advice, gives me encouragement and saves me time and heartache. I am young and on a somewhat limited budget, mostly cause I have this addiction to buying cars
I actually sold my "daily driver", a 2000 jetta for a good price, so I'm "stuck" driving my 78 vette every day till I get this one up and running.Building the engine tomorrow with my guy, wish me luck!
Melting Slicks
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From: folsom california
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Joined: Mar 2013
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Update:
Ran into some roadblocks, nothing too bad, I almost expected something to come up.
I only bought one bolt kit, of course you need one for each head
We couldn't get the harmonic balancer off the original block, should be getting one today. This means no cam swap, but my guy said the cam is the standard one that came with the crate engine, so it should work just fine.
Makes sense I guess, the guy who sold me the engine was upgrading to a 383 for his boat since he thought the 350 wasn't enough power for him, maybe he was just running it with the wrong cam for a boat.
Ran into some roadblocks, nothing too bad, I almost expected something to come up.
I only bought one bolt kit, of course you need one for each head
We couldn't get the harmonic balancer off the original block, should be getting one today. This means no cam swap, but my guy said the cam is the standard one that came with the crate engine, so it should work just fine.
Makes sense I guess, the guy who sold me the engine was upgrading to a 383 for his boat since he thought the 350 wasn't enough power for him, maybe he was just running it with the wrong cam for a boat.
Last edited by elihall08; Jun 17, 2013 at 12:18 PM.
