discovered an inexpensive option to having all my rotating assembly worked over today. Eagle sells a complete rotating assembly for a .040" over 350 Chevy that would drop right in my 327, and end up making it a 357 c.i. engine.
The kit is a forged crank, forged rods, new pistons, wrist pins, rod bearings, rings, and all balanced for $600. Since my 327 is a late 60's large journal, it shares the same dimensions as a 350 SBC, so this is a drop in swap, and I gain 30 c.i. in the deal, plus have all new parts, not rebuilt original parts. I'd only need main bearings, and a gasket set to get my engine back going, and be a new lower end.
Gonna give it some thought for a couple days, but I can't see a down side, other than not being a 327 c.i. engine anymore, and that's not a bad thing.

 

Val, Doing the complete rotating kit on mine was great. As you know I did the complete kit with all the parts as I started with basically a bare block. Doing the rotating assembly on yours I think would be great. Then you'll know whats in it.

 

Who's rotating assembly did you get for your engine?

 

I got Summit, but that was because I needed a lot of other things it came with( timing gears and chain, oil pump ect...). Doing the eagle, in your situation I think is less expensive..

 

I looked at the Summit kit, but as you mentioned it has many pieces I don't need. I will have to add a gasket set to the order, but that should be it. I am probably going to change cams again, as I've got a friend who was going to rebuild his 350, but ended up buying a complete engine after buying many parts. He wants to sell his cam and lifters cheap, and it's a Comp Cam I've been looking at already. Also want to go to a little quieter gear drive, as mine is noisier than any I've ever heard. My Falcon sounds much better, and it's a Pete Jackson

 

Got the cars swapped around today, and the Austin in the canopy. Man was it ever gorgeous today! Sunny and warm, so I took the Falcon for a drive while I was moving it around.
Hit the local Harbor Fright later to pick up one of their sale tool carts. They have a really nice toolbox cart that's normally $259, on sale for $99 with a coupon. It will make rolling my tools around from garage to canopy much easier, plus I needed more tool storage!


I'll drop the pan tomorrow, and see if I can get #8 rod apart to look at the bearings.

 

Well I finally got some time today to begin digging into the Austin's engine, and it's as bad or worse than I expected. I'm really not sure how it held together long enough to get home without a rod coming apart! When I dropped the pan I saw that #8 rod cap, and the end of the rod were black in color, which told me they'd gotten pretty hot. I pulled the rod cap and found the bearings had spun, and were so badly beaten that one had begun to ride up over the other. That actually may have taken up some slack and helped to keep it together, and also explained why it wasn't noisier!
Lot of metal in the pan and oil, and I wont know how far the damage goes until I pull it and completely disassemble it. Pretty sure now that I can go ahead and order the Eagle lower end assembly, as it definitely looks like this one isn't worth rebuilding. After all this damage, I'll also have to make sure the whole block is good also, and have it cleaned, mag'd, and the crank bores checked. Might even take a look at CL to see if I can find a cheap 4 bolt main 350, and go through it, instead of putting any money into this block.

 

Man thats a shame. Hope your block checks out okay or you come across a sweet deal.

 

my grandfather has a couple motors for sale, only small block is a 400 that is a 4 bolt main. needs boring and a new set of pistons. the other is a big block 348 doubt your interested since your all set up for a small block.

 

Thanks. I'll get it torn down and sent off to the machine shop. Once they look it over I'll be able to decide what direction it takes. I'd like to use it, if it's OK, simply because it's got a pretty recent bore .040" over, and would save me that cost if I can simply hone it and check the block out.

Thanks for the offer too Dalton. I'll see where this goes.