Chevy 350 rebuild??

[73novaguy]

Hey guys, didn't know if I should post this anywehre except the outhouse because it doesn't pertain to anything PT related. I am rebuilding a 89 Chevy 350 motor that came out of a 3/4 ton pick-up and was told from a few of my mechanic freinds that you cannot rebuild these motors, that if you do the rings will never seat right. I don't need to overbore the motor just basically new piston and rings. Have any of you ever heard of sucha thing! Sounded kinda hoaky to me, but then again I have only ever messed with the older small blocks. If anyone sees any problems with just rebuilding it, let me know before I go out and spend the money on the rebuild. Just wondering if this was a issue related to the stock bore and if I needed to bore it over before the rebuild, even though it doesn't need to be. I am doing this for a freind so any help will be greatly apprectiated! Thanks guys! :firefire:

[TPI Monte SS]

You could measure the cylinders to see if they are even at the top, middle, and bottom of each hole. If it's within spec, you should be fine. Another thing to look for would be the cross-hatch pattern on the cylinder walls. If that is clean and in good shape, you could probably get away with just re-ringing it. I did that with the roller-cam 305 in my '88 Monte SS. Put 20K on it since we bolted it together and it doesn't really use oil. Leaks tho; damn rear main seal. ;)

Also, is it a roller-cam block? Most likely it is, since most '87-up SBC's had roller cams, but the truck motors are questionable as to which got them and which didn't. And, if it came out of a fuel-injected truck and you're gonna use a carb, make sure the hole is in the front of the block for the mechanical fuel pump. Some of the late-80's and '90s blocks are not drilled for that.

[FSTFBDY]

as said above find someone with a dial bore gauge and measure. if all looks good etc You can get away with a Hone job to deglaze the block. this will give you a fresh bore for new rings to seat also.

[myclone]

As was stated above have the bores checked with a dial gauge to see if the taper, out of round, and wear are within acceptable ranges. If so then a hone to break the glaze for the new rings is all youll need.

A lot of old school engine shops will tell you that a late 1st gen small block "cant be rebuilt" because they were/are used to the days when engines were lucky to make it past ~70k miles before needing rebuilt and the later engines can go well over 200k without problem but in doing so a lot of times the bores are beyond spec on what can simply be honed and reringed. Ive personally rebuilt several of the late 80s SBC engines and never had a problem (yet) with bore wear if the engine was below ~100k miles.

BTW, an 89 truck engine prolly wont have a roller cam but the bosses for the lifter hold down "spider" should be in the lifter valley. They may or may not be drilled/tapped but they should be there (its a crap shoot whether or not they are drilled). If the engine has been swapped at some point then all bets are off whether its a roller cam or not though.

The latest gen 1 truck SBC Ive done was a 94 and it didnt have a roller cam but the bosses for the roller lifter hold down spider were cast in the lifter valley (not drilled/tapped though). All passenger car small blocks from 87 Ive dealt with were roller cammed and the latest Ive messed with out of a car was 92.

HTH