Engine rebuild: top end only?

[majortom75]

Hi all! Two part question:

1) Among the projects I intend to tackle is a plan to rebuild the stock 350 on my L48. The car has 106k miles on it and this will be my 1st engine rebuild. My father in law (a camaro guy) will be helping me out. He recommended that I only redo the top end to save some time and money as the crank and main bearings are probably still in pretty good shape (in his opinion). I only put a couple thousand miles on the car a year and hope to build horsepower & torque up to the mid 3's. Should I bother rebuilding the bottom end as well? Any thoughts would be appreciated

2) I've been looking at the Edelbrock Performer power package in combination with aluminum Performer heads and some headers for the rebuild. Does anyone have experience with this package and can anyone recommend a good set of ceramic coated headers that will bolt on to the existing exhaust (Mid America performance exhaust system). Also, will this combo get me to the HP & torque numbers I'm looking for?

Thanks.



P.S. Can wait until spring. I'm tired of looking at snow

 

[ShakeRattleRoll]

Everyone might have a another outlook than I may have. But if you do have the funds for a rebuild I would go that rout and not waste your time on just rebuilding the heads. After the engine is rebuilt atleast you will know that you have a solid bottom end to start with.

 

[DDLS3]

Re-build the bottom or do nothing with that milage. Bearings take a beating right from new.

 

[AKRAY4PLAY]

run a leak down test on the cylinders. any ring blow-by will be exaggerated with higher cylinder pressures from making higher hp. if your oil pressure is still good, it tends to tell the condition of the bearings, then your lower end is probably alright. sending an oil sample in for screening with tell you if the brass from the bearings is in the oil, high brass ppm = bad bearings. passing a leak down and oil sample tests, the lower end will be good enough for your needs. a nice set of heads, healthy cam and good exhaust will get you 350hp pretty easily. the thing to remember is your pistons are for low compression, and you'll need small chamber heads like 64cc. if you build a power house motor in the future, your head selection now will be next to useless.

i think your plan of sprucing up the old motor for the time is great. save some pennies and put yourself together a monster over time. once you start putting power to these cars, you can't stop. the Vettes love to much power, everything about them gets exponentially better. brian

 

[majortom75]

Thanks for your feedback guys. Brian, thanks for your advice. That is exactly what I will do.



Tom

 

[nicky d]

i also have a L48 with 85000 miles
planning on using rpm performer heads ,650avs performer carb
hooker headers ,side pipes and performer manifold , cam
iam not sure if my set up is all that good i have the same questions
good luck let me know how you made out