Picked up a great running 350 the other day. Runs good, absolutely no smoke, but dirty. Previous owner said there was an oil leak at the rear of the engine. When I cleaned the crud off, I noticed a hole in the dome of the block right above the oil filter. This engine came out of a plow truck that had been serving double duty as a salt truck. Unbelievable....... the salt had corroded the block at the oil filter location so that there was about a 3/8" hole that was pumping oil. Also the bosses' on the side of the block for motor mount location was diminished to nubbins with threaded holes. As far as the hole above the filter, I ground it out, cleaned it, welded it, and J B welded it. The engine was given to me, so I thought I might as well use it for something. Whaddaya think, is it worth puttin' in something? Think it will hold together? After it was cleaned up and painted it looks presentable. With a $30 dress up, looks even better. Oil was clean in it, and holds about 40# oil pressure at idle, and runs really good. Hated to pitch it.
Sounds like it might just fall out of whatever you drop it in after the rust finishes what it's doing.
Should be OK,but not for a drag car,4 mounts use bolts that have very near full depth=mayevem tape holes a bit more to be sure,or use a Hrust type mount on front of motor.
Did give a thought to the Hurst type mount on the front. That part of the block is in pretty good shape. Only drawback was, that the car I was thinking about setting it in already has side mounts. Guess I could change it, just a lot of putzing around. Thanx
You know there's supposed to be a 3/8" hole above the oil filter for an oil pressure line. I've never in my life seen a hole rust in an engine block.
That hole above the filter is a pressure outlet on a BBC, but no pressure there on a SBC. It's a return port on a SBC.
If you have worries about the mounts pulling out and the block has holes in it...then just throw it out. How thick do you think the water jacket walls are? How about having to replace all the frost plugs? How good is the oil pan rust wise and the timing cover? ETC.... If the block is iffy then it isn't worth the cost or effort to even replace what needs replacing and then clean it up and paint it etc. Would you do any of that if the block had a crack in it? No difference really...junk is junk.
I saw a flattie in a BC fishing boat that had so many pinholes in the block the guy was afraid it was going to sink the boat! I sold him a block from a wreck I had. They do NOT like salt!
If the block is really suspect and you want a 30 I'd look into finding a decent used block and get a rering kit with bearings from Northern Auto Parts or one of the other vendors who sells that kit for under 100 bucks. For under 200 buck you could have a reasonably fresh 350 that you could trust by swapping the internals out of that engine over along with the heads.
Pics. I havent seen that much rust in my life. Cars sit out here for 50 years and you can take the rust off with 600 grit.
You would not believe what salt water will do to unprotected metal...and thats what you drive thru when driving on salted roads. I've seen blocks get real weak, along with exhaust manifolds etc. Of course the bodies and frames usually fail before the engine and I would say thats the case here. The engine was likely running well and pulled from a truck that was about to collapse from rust.
if its not the salt, its the chloride solutions they put on the salt to make it work below zero, we just junked a freinds plow truck after 10 years of service because the frame rusted away from the spray getting inside of it , it litterally rusted in half behind the lower a arm mounts , all the aluminum engine parts were heavily pitted .the only thing that save the transfer case was it was powdercoated when he blew it up several years ago and had it rebuilt . the stuff is nasty . and whats worse is if the vehicle owner parks it inside between plowings in a heated garage , it makes the chemicals eat metals like a starving person at a buffet ...
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