[ QUOTE ] I won't even admit what I've $$$pent on my engine... [/ QUOTE ] Yeah, but that is one bitchin' engine!
Here is a little insider tip I received from a friend that works at a machine shop. If you are going to build a SBC do not use a 4 bolt main block. If you have one, sell it to someone who will pay the extra money they think it is worth and get a cheaper 2 bolt main. A 2 bolt main block has substantially thicker and better webbing throughout the block, making it a stronger motor. Most all 2 bolt mains they rebuilt at his shop never need a line hone, but if they do it is minimal. The 4 bolt main blocks are extremely rare if they do not need line honed, they are more flexible and substantially weaker. I just picked up a 64 Corvette 327 for under $200, had a fresh rebuild 28 years ago and was never fired. Steel crank, forged 60 over pistons, a good deal. It is only sweeter that I get to take it to my friends machine shop for a light refresh, all for free if I supply my own parts. Hope he still is around when I build my 55 Desoto Fireflite. Geno
I have 2 aluminum 215 Buicks, it's my favorite engine. But they ain't cheap to take care of. The money is still worth every bit of it though, the light weight alows my car to handle like a dream. I can't stand having a run of the mill anything. My current project is a '63 Comet wagon, I'm putting in a inline 200 from a '79 Fairmont that I got from jerry for 200 bucks. It seems like a really cheap engine to build unless you want to get cool stuff for it then the prices get pretty high. But it will be ten times cooler than all the v8 swap comets. Hopefully it doesn't become a money pit.
[ QUOTE ] If you are going to build a SBC do not use a 4 bolt main block. If you have one, sell it to someone who will pay the extra money they think it is worth and get a cheaper 2 bolt main. [/ QUOTE ] you can also use splayed 4 bolt caps which are stronger as well guess the real point is what kind of a poof uses a sbc anyway?
Dammit Rocket88, You are going to have to stop posting. Everytime your avatar comes up in a thread I lose concentration and forget what I was reading about.
Lotsa "poofs" use SBC's. I've used them in the several cars I've built. I have nothin bad to say about them at all except they're so commonplace. Ok, ok, the nickle content of the chevy blocks isnt' up there with some of the other higher-priced GM offerings. And sometimes you can run into sloppy machinework from the factory. Alright, alright...so they've had a little cam-lobe problem for a long time but they're working on that. I still like 'em in shubox fords...
so your out of the closet.... hey i'm guilty of using them as well - but only cos they're so easily availible - walk down road pick up block walk home - that simple - never use ta cost anything either - NZ$500 for gaskets rings and bearings and i had a runner - use 2 get around 2k for a going chev if i sold it as a going motor - easier to sell if i stuffed it in some other offering from australian GM - such as a holden HQ
i've 310,000 miles on my poly 318 and still going , no rebuilds.. just a water pump and regular oil changes.
I clearly remember the first Honda Civics in the seventies, how popular they were on the used car lot, and how the local car dealer learned to automatically replace the rings and bearings before he sold a used one, because the engine had a life of 50,000 miles and was sure to come back blown up if he didn't. The new ones are a lot better, and go amazing mileages if given half decent maintenance. I know lots of Chrysler built V8s that have gone way over 100,000 miles and some that have gone over 200,000 without a rebuild. If you rebuilt an old one with OEM quality parts, it would do the same again. It is the cheap Chevies built with the cheap parts, and the cheap Target Master motors that blow up at 20,000 miles. I have seen this happen more than once. If you use cheap parts and build a cheap motor you can hardly expect it to last very long.
I just checked as My old price was out of date but Hot Heads wants 1438.05 for the engine kit for the 330 Desoto I have had out in the shed for the past 30 years. That doesn't include machine work, intake, carb or anything else that it would n ed to be a basic hot rod engine. A kit with similar pieces for the 66 396 sitting in the shed with it runs about 650 from Northern Auto parts. For the 350 in there with them an engine kit that is close to the same as the kit for the 396 runs 250 with Felpro gaskets. The machine shop I go to doesn't differentiate much as to prices for certain operations on one engine or the other except where extra work is involved. Yuppers the cost of "cool" can run up pretty quick. As far as the rice boxes and euro that Nads seems to like, yes we already know that and that's why our wife has one as a daily so we don't have to spend valuable hot rod shop time working on her daily to get her on her rounds the next day and for the commuters among us rodders they leave cash in the hot rod kitty. My two all American drivers have 177 and 240K on them and neither has had the head or pan off though. one is 15 years old and one is 19 years old Change oil and put in gas is about all I have to do with them.
The Jalopy Journal
