Im going to be attempting my firstoverhaul of an engine and was wondering if anyone could give me any advice and what are some of the things i should replace besides the pistons gaskets and bearing.

I would like to have the block to head surface machined and the head surface machined just to make sure everything is perfectly smooth but im not sure if i should cause then my comp. goes up.

Would it be worth replacing the piston rods? Should i reseat the valves? How does the engine come off the trans. just some bolts? are things going to be dropping out of there went i unbolt it?

Ill need help putting the thing back together putting in the cam and timing chain and what ever all is in there.

This is for a 1984 Chevy 305 4bbl.

 

For starters, what is wrong with the engine that is prompting you to rebuild the engine? That being said, what kind of budget are you working with?

 

Also what do you want out of the engine... Before you dive into it there are a few books on rebuilding that you should read or at least have for referance, the Lingenfelter book is ok as is the Vizard books but they dont deal with the nuts and bolts of a general rebuild chilton has a few and one that is older but somewhat detailed is titled How To Rebuild Your Small Block Chevy.

 

Its tired. It has 95K miles on it and my friend had the same engine (year and everything) that blew up at 80Kmiles so i dont trust it. It makes a funny noise. same noise my friends engine made before it blew. maybe its not a problem but i dont know. And it smokes on startup and runs rough.

Moneys not a problem. Its going to be a stock rebuild nothing fancy.

 

OK....take it to a trusted engine shop in your area. Regardless of if you want to put it together or if you want them to put it together, GET THE MACHINE WORK DONE!!!

You will hear that this is not necessary and that is not necessary from the butcher, baker and candlestick maker. Bunk! Here is what you need to have done:

*All parts degreased
*Old cam bearings, freeze plugs and ALL oil plugs removed & new installed
*Mains checked and align honed if needed. 70% chance it will need it.
*Bore and torque plate hone. All thin cast blocks must be plate honed!
*Polish or grind the crank
*Resize the big ends of the rods (no need to check, they need it) - At minimum, replace the nuts.
*Complete valvejob on the heads / use new springs and locks!!
*Resurface the heads and do necessary guidework.

If dollars permit, have the block parallel decked and have the rotating assembly balanced.

If you want to be a little different; you can put the 3.750 stroke crank in it and KB has pistons off the shelf to make it a 334. Just food for thought there.

 

My own experience with stock rebuilds is that it is very difficult to do all the machining replacing parts legwork and everything else for the amount of money you can buy a stock gm rebuild for as a example http://www.greenwoodchevy.com/engine14.htmi cant hardly believe they can do it for that and offer the warrenty.......

 

That is for sure about the price. However, it is the same reason a prime rib is a little bit more money than a Big Mac. The hunger is satisfied but was the quality the same? No.

About 3% of my business is stock rebuilds because most do not want to pay for it. The difference in quality is huge (wanted to use asports announcerword there) and you can not compare the two. Most of the stock builds I do are usually for my race customers or for someone that they sent to me. I rarely, if ever, get the customer that just needs to have their engine rebuilt and is not aware of the engine building industry. The price that they sell these things for is insane but I can tell you that the reman industry standard return rate is around 10%. I'd go out of business if 1 out of every 10 engines had to be repaired or replaced. I don't want to see 1 come back in 5 years!

For the customer, it is up to their personal finances and their personal desires.