Hot Rods 350 Chevy crate engine

Hi all, I've been hunting for a 350 Chevy crate engine for my truck this side of the pond with no luck at all. Do General Motors still manufacture the pre 86 units?
Cheers, Ron.

 

I don’t think so, only CEs they make now are LS based from a blurb I read looking for a ZZ4 shortblock a few months back.

 

Aftermarket? Try Smeding - - no actual GM parts but can look traditional with little effort

 

Take a look a these https://blueprintengines.com/

 

saw one for sale recently, but the $5500 price tag scared me off

 

Chevrolet isn't showing Gen 1 small blocks in their performance catalog anymore Order Performance Parts Catalog | Chevy Performance (chevrolet.com)

You have to do your reading between the lines but you can get Gen 1 small block crate motors from Summit, Jegs or a few other vendors.
Some here with a mix of gen 2 and ls thrown in. Chevrolet Parts and Accessories at Summit Racing

You can also find what you want at Blueprint engines and search the part number and find it through Summit or Jegs depending on who offers the best shipping solution.
I see that most of the Blueprint small blocks are one piece rear main seal so that would require a different flex plate or flywheel than a Gen 1.

 

All the crate blocks I saw on Summit and Jegs and Blue print were “.030-.060” over, so not a new block as the GM crates were.

 

Some of the SBC from blueprint come with a new block…

 

Nice, I never saw that on their site. I did watch about a 20+ Minute video done on them, very impressive operation.

 

To be clear....that's not a new stock made by GM block.....it's an aftermarket performance type block, along the lines of a Bowtie or Dart block.

 

Here is the link to Bluepoints plant tour.

 

Looks like Chevy is only selling the "vortec" 350 now as the remaining older design engine. But it's not pre-86, it's 1996-2002.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/nal-19432780

Get them while you can, probably going away sometime soon also.

 

Consider Australian sources also.

 

A cheap crate is exactly that, you better take it apart and check clearances, torque values, etc. You might try a couple of local , trusted machine shops and see if they have an engine for sale that customer never paid the bill on. Not unusual, and you will have a good idea what you are getting. Quality is not cheap.

 

The Blueprint engines entry level 350 has China aluminum heads who knows what else