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View Full Version : Broken piston, CRAP!



TheJDMan
02-27-2014, 08:56 PM
Took Dust Off out for a drive last week after getting the engine back in the car. After a buzz through the gears the engine started to knock. The noise got progressively worse and as I headed for home it became apparent that I had a serious problem. I pulled the heads Monday and I it looks like the ring land came apart and scored the cylinder. So I decided to retire that engine. Now I'm in the process of collecting parts to build a 383 out of a virgin 4 bolt main 350 short block I have had setting in the basement for the past 30+ years. My plan is to install a Scat 383 stroker rotating assembly. I got the short block disassembled today and it will be delivered to the machine shop tomorrow. Hopefully I will have the car back on the road by April.

Just some totally Irrelevant background info: This 350 block that I'm going to build up has special meaning to me. The engine came out of a 69 GMC 1500 pickup that my dad purchased new when I was in High School. In 79 he gave the truck to my younger brother who eventually swapped in a new engine at about 200,000 miles. I saved the short block for just this day. My brother still drives the GMC to this day as his DD and it currently has somewhere north of 600,000 on the odometer. It has had numerous rebuilds and paint jobs over the years and it just keeps ticking. This just creates a connection to the past for me.

astroracer
02-28-2014, 03:14 AM
That's cool, sorry about the busted parts but it sounds like it was in the cards to put that 350 together. :)

andrewb70
02-28-2014, 06:38 AM
Time for an LS engine...keep the 350 block for nostalgia.

Andrew

epeterson
03-02-2014, 03:59 PM
600,000..that is


Awesome! Haha great story, have a good time building that engine

TheJDMan
03-04-2014, 03:19 PM
Time for an LS engine...keep the 350 block for nostalgia.

Andrew

Trust me I have given an LS swap a LOT of thought because I have known this was coming. But in the end an LS is just not my style. I can easily get north of 500hp out of the 383 and I will be satisfied with that. Plus I can always move up to a throttle body EFI when I'm ready.