Any tips or advice in what to look for would be greatly appreciated. After purchasing a month after car started knocking from center below. 2 dead lifters that kind of move on each side. Have gone to multiple places and all they wanna do is buy my car. All the Numbers match and I eventually wanna get the motor rebuilt. But for now am at the point of looking for a new motor that I can rely on to travel between states. Any info would greatly be appreciated...The only sound advice I have gotten was that the cam shaft lobes were worn out. But yet again I dont have the means to Put in a new cam shaft and new lifter kit. Without mechanic wanting my car.

 

I have a GM 290 HP 350 crate engine in my 1981 El Camino SS daily driver.And never have had a problem.And there are plenty of other GM small block Chevy crate engine to chose from.And since its has a warranty you could take it to any GM dealer if you have a problem.

 

karl performance has has sbc 406 that would drop right in ,with E street Edelbrok Amuminum heads, lots of goodies 420hp an over 500 tlbs $4000.00 ,you may get them down on the price if you want a good performance engine ,otherwise jegs has some great deals on something like above stock style gm engines ,the 81 cars are still alot of them out there ,an value is still low on them www.karlperformance.com www.jegs.com jegs has a wider variety of of gm engines ,I would love to have an 81 for a big block car

 

Ok so you can't change the Cam so you want to install a new motor. That seems backwards. Changing a 35 year old engine can be involved and very pricey once bolts start breaking. Changing a cam can be done in a afternoon.

The guys asking to buy your car are giving you a compliment or trying to get a deal . Just ignore them. I can not go to the store with someone asking about sell my 67, guys want to give their number incase I change my mind.
If you really want a crate motor check out Pace Performance on the web. They have crate motors from $1500 to well past 20k. I have installed the $1500 engine, they are very nice, I think they have a 3 year warranty but remember this is just the motor, 95% of the time when a car breaks down it is not the motor but something that makes the motor work.