'91 350 internals question

[mgrinshpon]

I just came across a '91 Corvette that got annihilated in the rear end, driveline went right into the tranny and all. Pretty ugly. It seemed like the engine was in perfect working order, though. No cracks or anything, but I only bought it for the aluminum heads anyway .

However, if the stock internals are strong enough, I may just use the 350 gen 1 block instead of this worryingly thin-walled 400 on my Chevy, and who better to ask than Corvette people?

So, what are the stock internals on '91 Corvette 350s? What's forged? What's cast? What's garbage? And what was the redline on these motors? The cam is really, really, really mild, so I don't think it could have been much from factory.

Thanks in advance, everybody!

 

[Hib Halverson]

Cast crank, forged steel rods, cast pistons. Low rev limit. Little hyd. roller.

 

[mgrinshpon]

What fails first at what RPM?

 

[vetteoz]

It is just another production SBC.The revs were limited by the factory TPI intake hense the wimpy cam.Throw a carb and cam in it and it would prob run 350+Hp to high 5's safely.
People say stock bottom end good for 350 -400Hp.Plenty of people running Hyper pistons in perf apps. Obviously revs are going to kill things.
Depends what your aims are.
The aftermarket cast steel cranks are good for 450Hp.
If you were wishing to upgrade the crank and pistons as part of a rebuild, you could instead go to 383 at no extra cost and be close to power of a 400.
Plus you have the benefit of a roller cam saving alot of $$$ compared to installing one in a 400 block.