Rebuilding my 350

[Imran]

Hey everyone,

A little history on the car. I bought her with two engines, the original #s on a stand b/c it was giving the previous owner (PO) "troubles". The PO put in another 350, supposedly balanced and blueprinted, and put in a performance cam, edelbrock intake, huge carb, and was setting the car up for racing.

I've been driving the car for several months with this engine that hasn't lived up to my expectations of a "Drag Car" (it's SLOW).

The oil pressure gauge has been funky for the past couple of weeks, and I haven't had time to fix it. And of COURSE, during this time, the oil pump decides to go bad and I don't know until the engine starts making weird noises.

So now I have two engines that need rebuilding. I want to put the original motor back in. However, I want certain things out of it and this is where all of you knowledgeable people come in.

1. What to do with the engine that's in it now?
2. How do I go about getting these things out of my original engine:
a. Reliability, the car will be a daily driver
b. Best MPG as possible, ie 20+
c. Run on lower octane gas
d. Still have decent power.

Here's a list of parts from the "beefed up" engine that's in her now that I'd like to re-use:

New Holley 600cfm carb
Edelbrock Performer Intake
MSD 6A box
Upgraded to HEI Ignition

I know you guys love using your brains thinking these things up, so help me out!

Should I buy all the parts myself or just turn her loose to a shop?
What do I need?
What part of the rebuilding can I do myself (I've never done an engine rebuild, but I've done 99% of the restoration of the car myself, I'm very good at learning)?


And also, if you know anyone in the Tampa area who would be good for a project like this, let me know.

You guys and gals are the greatest. I would have given up on my baby if it wasn't for all of your help in the past. Thanks

Imran

 

[AKRAY4PLAY]

Imran,
you have an interesting problem. if you are going for the numbers matching full-monty restoration, then i would rebuild the original motor back to factory specs. it will run good and be dependable with decent gas mileage, but the fun factor is low for most people in that trim. your best upgrade to get better mileage is adding an overdrive unit, something like a 700R4 tranny or electric shift overdrive unit that bolts onto the tail shaft of your current tranny. 700R4's lend themselves better to lower HP motors for increasing the "fun factor". overdrive units are more expensive and tailored more for the high HP racer guys looking for durability and cruzable rpm on the highway. if you are leaning to the performance side, then rebuild the motor that is in the car now. this is where i would recommend that you set a power goal/money budget and work toward that. i got caught in the "it would be nice if" and "it would only cost an extra ??? for that", trap. there are more than a thousand different ways to go when it comes to building a small block. if this is the route you settle on, everyone here will be more than happy to help you out. just let us know and we'll be there for you, Brian

 

[Imran]

Hmmmmmmmmmm.........

I guess my question becomes... is it smarter to rebuild the original engine and stick it back in seeing that performance isn't that big of a deal to me, or should I just rebuild the stronger one that's in there now?

I see your point as far as MPG goes, I haven't bothered to figure out my ratio yet, but I doubt that I'll be changing that or adding an overdrive unit in the near future. I've got a 4spd, and love it. I guess what's more important now is to get the car to run on a little lower octane fuel. This is going to be my daily driver, the next Vette will be the monster

 

[MoeJr]

I have a customer with a 74 Convt just like yours except it is an automatic. My suggestion is to rebuild the original motor to factory specs with the exceptions being: 1-An HEI Distributor instead of the MSD,2-A slightly bigger cam and 3- A Hi flow exhaust. On our customers 74 we put in an Accel HEI Distributor an L82 cam and CHambered exhaust and the car runs like a scalded dog. Now with that L82 Cam in that car with Automatic we also addded a slightly higher stall converter in order to preserve some bottom end torque as the L82 cam is a little soft down low. With your 4 spd it will be less of an issue or use a slightly lower duration cam than we used. I hope this helps. get rid of that Holley Carb and use the original QJet. it is a much better carb when rebuilt correctly and set up properly. Just my .02.