I've been looking at the forums fora while and everybody praises the 305 to 350 conversion. Though I have not seen anyone mention where they get there engines from. I know a lot of people get engines from JC whitney or Jegs or some other premium provider, but I cant afford high quality like that. I saw a guy down the street selling a 305 complete engine without a starter that does crank (When it did have the starter), out of a Caprice for 250$,but I still keep hoping that i'll find a 350 somewhere out there for a good price like that. So my question is should I go for the 305, or does anyone here know of a good junk yard or shop that sells some cheap Engines in the southeast. Im from florida and ill drive for a good deal but even I have my limits. 'Ppreciate any help ya'll got.

 

they are out there for cheap. go to any junkyard. chevy trucksare the most common vehicles to find in a junkyard, and the majority all have 305's or 350's. you probably wont be spending much more to get a 350, and its well worth it. 305's just like any v8 have capability, but youll be spending much less money to get the same performance with a 350. you can get yourself a fresh 350 from a junkyard, have the cylinders bored and honed for around 50 bucks a cylinder, i kno its 40 around where i live, and get a complete rotating assembly out of summit for like 400 bucks. that right there is basically a brand new motor. edelbrock carburetors, although i prefer holley, are very cheap, you could easily get a remaned edelbrock for 200 bucks, and an intake manifold off ebay for around 100 bucks. match it up with procomps hei vacuum advance distributor off ebay for 50 bucks and you have a strong running motor. oh by the way, if you cant install all the new parts of the rotating assembly yourself, you will be paying labor for a shop to do it, i would assume your fine with the bolt ons. plus there is a book for everything nowadays.

 

Hey thanks for the tips, I might have to hit up the junk yards again. My camaro has been sitting empty for too long. Do you happen to know which year truck or camaro that carries a 350, or atleast the most common vehicle to carry one in the junk yards. I've never been good at recognizing engine traits.

 

There are probably more GM 350's out there than any other V8...there's definatelyblocks for cheap. Junkyards are probably the cheapest but there is a downside to that route. After you get the block, make sure you have an engine shop crack check it. This is something you may not be able to see before you buy it. What I did, was went on ebay and found a 350 short block from an engine shop (in Florida actually). I made sure it was a late model block (for the lifter valley spider tray bosses,1 piece seal etc.) and it was. It came with cam, lifters, rotating assembly, oil pump,etc. and all the machine work was done and you were guaranteed it was a good block otherwise you'd obviously return it. The internals weren't anything special but it didn't matter cause I had my own cam, rotating assembly etc. I sold the internals it came with and made a couple hundred bucks back. I got the whole short block including shipping to the midwest from florida for about $900. In Summit's catalog, a new GM 350 bare block is $700. I had several 350 blocks sitting around at home but the machine work I had quoted at an engine shop ended up being more expensive than buying a machined ready to go block. I had machining quoted for boring with torque plates, line honing, magnaflux, etc. the whole works. Just the machining was 900-1000 bucks. Let's say you wanted a 383, ( I would if your building a 350 from scratch.) The crate 383 in summit (NAL-12499106) short block is $3369. If you geta block machined at an engine shop (clearanced for stroker crank) and then buy say the eagle rotating assembly in summit (esp-b13004l030) for $950 (includes flexplate and damper too), you've got a 383 short block for around 2G's (1000 block, 1000 for rotating assy.)...that's what I would do. You don't have to worry about buying a cracked block at the junkyard or anything (not necessarily likely but it definately could happen).Since you're starting from scratch, you can pretty much build the 383 forabout only 300 bucks more than a 350 and have even more motor yet since the 350 rotating assy. wouldbe about 600 bucks. That's what I would do. Can you really build a decent 350 for$250 bucks like the 305 that wouldturnover down the street from you, no (unless you got really lucky) but just ask around like you are on here and I'm sure many people on here have their old 350 heads they could partwithorby shopping onebay. I havethe complete original 350 TPI motor from my Z sittin in the garage since I have all new stuffso they'reout there, just have to ask. Looks like you're on the right path by asking here. Another thing you could do, is look for junked camaros....you can find some totaled that might have had a 350 in them and all the engine block, heads, oil pan, (wiring harness if you're keeping fuel injection) etc.can be re-used. That would give you a good start and lots of spare parts for a couple hundred bucks! My buddy bought a totalled ex-fire chief '95 caprice (police package) for 300 bucks and got the perfectly good LT1 out of it. It's now a dual tunnel ram 406 LT1 making 600 hp (with the stock LT1 heads ported and worked). He sold all the stock intake stuff, wiring harness etc. off of it and made money on the car. He got like 600 bucks for the spare parts and paid 300 for the car while getting the block, heads, and any other parts he needed for it...

 

what's your location in florida? i can help you sniff one out if you're close to me. i'm in palatka.