How much power is too much - spec for new crate engine? (1 Viewer)

[tdskip]

@Downey - I think the red thing is an unused engine puller adapter. I’ll check tomorrow.

 

[BrianSanDiego]

Good morning and happy Sunday all. Hope everyone is doing OK and safe.

@Lil'John - have been thinking about that but concerned about what I’d actually be getting/buying, a bit put off by the unknows.

@BrianSanDiego - custom exhaust by local shop, will need tweaking as I’m going with a different set of headers (existing ones are funky and prevent mounting power steering pump). Happy to take more pictures and post if helpful.

Thanks a lot TD. Good luck on your motor project!

 

[Downey]

Aren't those just standard Advance Adapters or Transdapt mounts?

Ok, possibly they are just the tops of the weld-on frame mounts, even/flush with top of the frame, I just don't understand the gigantic hole in the passengers side mount ???

 

[NKC]

My guess is the Red thing is a floor jack.

 

[tdskip]

 

[tdskip]

This is bad, right?

( sludge in crud that almost completely blocked the oil pick up )

 

[RAYJON]

my favorite option would be a good used 4.8 or 5.3 ls they are hard to beat for the $$.

Good runners are less than 500$ complete. plus 100$ or so for a tune if you do the harness, if you want to keep the turbo 350, you can run it on micro-squirt..without a vss.. although I think george came up with a solution for the vss..

LS motors are amazing we have several 3/4 tons at work with 200k miles of hard abuse fully loaded 10k lbs plus..and they still run great, just avoid the ones with displacement on demand DOD.. they eat the DOD lifters at about 180k.. shop started changing them at 150k in all the half tons as preventative. After a few ate the camshaft and needed a motor

if you get one put new exhaust studs/bolts in it before install.. they are a pain to change the the chassis..

ls motors are a quantum leap from what you have.. and they last forever 300-400k is normal, we have crew vans with 450k miles on the factory 6.0. and they don’t leak or burn oil... and those things are beat on daily with a lot of idle time..

 

[RAYJON]

By the way what you have is a target master crate motor from the 80s, if I remember right they were like 800$ for a 350. the made in Mexico casting gives it away, they were really cheep crate motors gm sold in the 80’s most had blue paint and everything in them was select fit as the machining was horrible, we bought a couple in the shop I worked in back then in trucks that worked hard they didn’t last long... they seemed to start burning oil in about 50k miles if the heads didn’t crack first.. (your heads are earlier castings) We went back to the black painted Detroit motors that were 500$ more..

pull some main caps bet the bearings are all different.. usually had +1 or +2 on them, what we were told is it was all the rejected parts off gm production lines..

if you decide to stay carbureted find a 5.7 vortec ( l31 255hp) , have the heads checked for cracks and swap the intake(different bolt pattern) and distributor drive gear(roller cam) they run good and it will bolt right were that one was.. ohh and the flexplate will be different.. snag all the serpentine stuff when you get it..good runners are 2-300$ complete..

 

[RAYJON]

The crate motors gm sells now are all L31 based, the 300hp motor is just a L31 truck motor with a cam.. find a good used one and save yourself a lot of $ for other cruiser stuff.. do some reading you can do a lot without spending a fortune,

 

[tdskip]

Thanks @RAYJON

I used to live in Reno BTW, miss it. Great town.

 

[spdracr58]

I bought a crate 383 with about 380 hp and 400 tq, added a MSD atomic EFI system. Only complaint is fuel pressure when coming off hard throttle is really harsh, jolts the cruiser. But it runs well. Had some issues to sort out that the crate engine people screwed up, but has plenty of power. Also running a turbo350 tranny.

 

[tdskip]

I bought a crate 383 with about 380 hp and 400 tq, added a MSD atomic EFI system. Only complaint is fuel pressure when coming off hard throttle is really harsh, jolts the cruiser. But it runs well. Had some issues to sort out that the crate engine people screwed up, but has plenty of power. Also running a turbo350 tranny.

@spdracr58 - she must haul butt with that much power.

 

[spdracr58]

@spdracr58 - she must haul butt with that much power.

She gets up to speed quite nicely. Much better experience to get onto the freeway now.