Don't think the.350 I have on the.stand.is a.good.choice for that car. Really needs to be in a truck. Block was 50 bucks also and came.ironically out of an 81z. Was in great shape to it got boiled And reringed new bearings and a mild cam. Headache are 80s truck heads. Swapped.a.couple.sets of x heads to the.shop for the truck heads that.were.ready to.bolt on. Now I wish I would have.gotten my
Other x heads done.and used them. probably go.with the 327. All I need is headers and exhaust happy Craigslist hunting!

 

Indeed the 350 did replace the 327 for a reason, but not necessarily because the 350 was a better engine. The 307 replaced another engine, as did the 305, the 267, etc., etc. Chevy and all makers replace engines with other engines in an attempt to stir interest in their product line, and not always with good results. Same reason the venerable smallblocks were eventually replaced by the LS series. It didn't mean there was anything wrong with the old smallblock, just meant that if they didn't continue to experiment and bring out new designs the public would lose interest.
The 350 is a wonderful engine, and has proven itself to be a very successful format, but the 350 is no more successful than the 327, or a number of other Chevy engine designs.
If the 383 was a more popular engine Chevy would have snapped it up and used it as a factory basis for one of their models, much as they did with the old 301 (built from a 327 with a 283 crank) which became the extremely successful 302 in early Z28's. Doesn't mean the 383 isn't a fantastic engine, but it just never caught on enough for Chevy to decide to cash in on what hotrodders came up with.
Chevy did the same thing with their first 427. It was not the big block we've all come to know over the years. Originally the 427 "mystery engine" was a reworked 409 that became popular in A/FX cars in the form of the 427, until Chevrolet worked out a new design of the 396/427 big blocks. Nothing wrong with the old 348/409/427 engines, but evolution and sales demanded a new improved replacement, thus the big block we know was born.

 

IDK why they never used the 383 in production. The 496 and 502 got their day in the sun.

 

Did those two become a model install, or just a popular crate engine? The 383 is offered by GM Performance, just not as a factory installed engine. I assume this happened because the smallblock was being phased out, so no reason to adopt that engine to a certain model.

 

The 496 was available in front of the Allison transmission a few years ago in the Chevy/GMC 2500 HD. Not sure the year. A guy wanting to buy my old pickup stopped and was complaining about the millage. IDK about cars but you can't through a stone in my town without hitting a boat with a 502 or two or three in some cases.

 

Same here for 502 crate engines. I go to a big cruise and it seems almost every car with a big block is a 502 crate motor. I thought they were spendy, and the economy was in the toilet, but somebody has plenty of dough to buy all these!