I've recently started working part time at the local machine shop disassembling and building engines. First, to let you know I'm not just a Ford guy or a Chevy guy (though I'm having a late life love affair with flathead V8's), I have engines from all the big three in my shop at home, own both a Chevy and a Ford older cars, and drove old Mopars for years. Today I had the displeasure of taking down a Chevy target 350. Worse yet, it was an Autozone/O'Riley's/Advance rebuild. This is one of those mexican motors you can buy for under $1500 new. No wonder. Very crude castings, rough machining, flashing everwhere, no ports even close to matching, and rods that looked like you carved them with a dull knife. Why somebody bothered to number the rods and caps is beyond me because not one matched. Poor original quality; worse rebuild. I know these things proliferate in the street rod/rat rod world because of their price. If I ever hear anyone say target motor again, I'll know they're ignorant, cheap, trying to rip somebody off, or a combination of the three. There's no way GM ever intended for this to be a high mileage replacement; just a lowbuck lugger to get a lemon off the lot. The old adage is "You get what you pay for." Look on further than here for a prime example.
I've heard a lot of stories about those parts store rebuilt engines---None good! Son had to go through two on his Ranger truck to get one that even ran decent. I believe a random junkyard engine would be a better deal. Thanks for the tip.
A few years ago, my dad bought a '73 Camaro that had a GM 'Target Master 350' in it that had been put there sometime in the late '70s and then was parked shortly after. That was a hard runner for what should have been a stock 350. We knew it was a service replacement, but this is the first I've heard that they are assembled with subpar parts.
I have heard stories about those Mexico built replacement motors down through the years and I think they are or were the cheapest of the crate motors GM offered.
That why the SBC is one of the best engines ever. You could get away with shit like that & even sell them on the regular
Possibly back then they were still made decently. Maybe even in America. I don't blame the Mexicans for the quality. I blame the owners of the reman. shops. Many of them are right here in the USA telling those in Mexico what to build.
Ya beat me to it. Genuine GM crate small blocks are pretty darn decent engines based on everyone I know who's bought one. Meanwhile the cheap parts store rebuilds? Oh boy. I worked for western auto briefly in college, close to 20 years ago, saw a reman 350 that was a disaster.
My favorite engine....Mopar and Ford V-8's may have been built to a higher standard.But the SBC and to some extent,the BBC and were such brilliant simple engines .Very easy to tune and nicely packaged and maybe less parts. Bad ones? All the stock engines..................
A friend of mine told me he wanted to show me something. Took me to another guys garage where he had removed an AutoZone rebuilt Chevy 350 from a jeep he was fixing up. It was running poorly so he took it out to find out what the problem was. Right off the top he showed me the camshaft which had a lobe on it that had been welded and hand ground down. Getting no satisfaction from the store,last I heard he had hired a lawyer. I would not even consider one of those pieced together scrap recycled junkers. What good is a warranty if you have to pull it back out and sue them to get it right?
The only regular problem I heard of out of those older crate motors was that it was prudent to pull the pan and retorque the rods and mains. My best friend worked as a parts manager for a Chev dealership that sold a bunch of them in the 80's and that was the main issue that they ran into outside of the guys driving the crap out of them in bobtail trucks and blowing them up that way. And you can't fault GM for half assed parts house rebuilds, who came up with that concept? I've seen some production rebuilders that do a damned good job and I've seen some that have less than skilled workers throwing them together with bottom line parts.
My son's old '85 ElCamino was originally a 305, and the PO installed a new GM Targetmaster 350 4-bbl to replace the 305. It ran great, didn't smoke, and compression across the board was within +- 5 lbs of 165 lbs. He had the receipts from the Chevy dealer he got it from, and it wasn't maybe four years old. I agree about the cheapo Chevy engines from the various parts houses, though. Basic junk builds, designed to get a POS into sellable shape. That's it.
You are confusing the Autozone, Advance Auto, O'Reillys REMAN engines with the GM brand new Goodwrench motors (Used to be called Targetmaster, now Goodwrench) The GM engines, for the money, are about the best deal going. I installed one into a Vette for a guy I knew, and also know quite a few rodders that slipped in a hotter cam and are running one. They are really a good value. Remans are a crapshoot at best. When I was in the marine industry our company bought a zillion remans from a very well known rebuilder, supposedly the best in the business. They admitted to us up front that we were going to have a 20% fail rate right out of the box. They said that is an acceptable industry standard. Just as recently as two years ago the marina I worked at bought two reman 351 marine motors from a VERY well known rebuilder (that rhymes with LEGAL) and both would not get oil pressure right out of the crate. We sent them back and they supposedly sent us two new ones, but they somehow had the same scratches our techs had put on them. Anytime someone tells you they have a "rebuilt" motor in a car be very careful. Don
are we all talking about the same thing? fill me in please. the "target" 350 was a cheap replcement engine in the 1970's-80'. they started out great but the quality fell off in the end. to the best of my memory they STOPPED making the target. so you tore down a target thats 30+ years old .............or are you talking about a replacement engine of any kind?? or a crate motor? some refered to any replacement
Ive had a bunch of small blocks over the years but the weakest one was I think a 262 ci in a 76 Monza spyder the wife drove. Even the 307 my Granny had in her Chevelle ran stronger. I have to say that none of 'em ever left me stranded for long. Can't say that 'bout my beloved Poncho's. Indy
My story: friend bought rebuilt 350 from Checker. Spent Saturday installing it. FIred it up and it had a rod knock. Went to store, manager said that he would give friend another one. Pulled and replaced. Fired second one up and it had rod knock. Went back to store and manager said he would give him another......friend declined and got refund. They appear to give so many "replacements" on engines, alternators, water pumps, etc. that they arent concerned and give you a replacement with a smile.
One of the things you have to watch for on these engines is they are not rebuilt. They will usually say something like 'remanufacture' or 'reconditioned'. IIRC the legal definition is not the same as a rebuild. A remanufactured engine may reuse components that are still within 'acceptable limits'. That's why you can get odd ball components, a .040 over piston here, .020 connecting rod bearing there. Only the bad component is replaced. Everything else is reused.
I am surprised. My 262 Monza ran like a raped ape. It was a 4 speed car, 3.38 gears and by simply bolting on a quadrajet and hooker headers it flat out screemed. It was one of the fastest cars off the line that I ever owned, top speed was limited to about 115 mph.
i hate em and i like em. i hate em cause they are S H I T.. cant deny that.. but i love em cause when you kill one while goof assin' around you don't feel bad about it cause it was cheep shit to begin with.. now just imagin how you'd feel if you blew a 351c or a mercruiser 350 or a buick 3.8 ... you be both pissed and heart broken.
at work I ordered a NEW replacement "906" vortec head to see about porting them and selling them. The casting I got was absolutely the worst thing I have seen. the entire thing was at best 20 grit. Looks like I cast it myself, in a cat-box and nothing lined up. It was returned the next day and now I use RHS castings that are 100 percent better. I wouldn't be surprised if those heads I got are similar to what they would use in one of those parts-store rebuilds.
305's are shit was it a 278 came out in like 78 or so they are junk in my opinion the best small block chevy was a 327 then the 283
I sold parts at a Chevrolet dealership in the early eighties. We sold Targetmaster engines. Had a few comebacks. We learned that you could tell where the engine was assembled by what type of crate it was shipped in. An employee bought one for his Camaro. They were low compression, 4 bolt main engines. He changed the cam before installing the engine and it was a pretty good runner. What many people didn't realize was during that era you could still order many different type hipo shortblocks. One example was 1969 Z28 302 . Some of the people I worked with did just that.
you know.. i didn't like the 307's, yea they had a bit of potential.. but stock... they couldnt get out of their own way.. anything that had one had to use gear instead of Tq.
The Hecho en Mexico, Target Master 350 I had dropped #8 exhaust valve right after the warranty ran out, it lost a keeper. Punched a hole in the piston, snapped the head off the valve stem, and that was drove through the head by the piston. The amount of wear in the cylinders was what really bothered me; all the cylinders had a huge ring ridge at the top of the bore. The cast iron is apparently very "soft" on these engines. I still have the block, and plan on building a large journal 327 with it, but I also don't expect it to last long due to the soft cast iron; it won't be used in a daily driver. I don't think any Chevrolet V-8 can be called a "bad" motor; some just had bad parts (such as the soft cams 307's were known for). The Target Master 350's are basically typical of anything built/made off shore/cross borders. Just my opinion. Butch/56sedandelivery.
The Jalopy Journal
