question regarding engine building

[68firebird]

I've got a 350 4 bolt sitting in my aunts garage collecting surface rust. when I originally got it I had it magnafluxed and they said it was good. I was thinking of slowly building on the side. My question is I have the block and the crank, but I don't have the caps. Is it as easy as buying new caps from summit or somewhere else then bring the block, crank, and new caps to a machine shop and let them do what they do? thanks for any help.

[wmhjr]

Yes. So long as you have a good machine shop with a good reputation.

[TT302Z28]

ok...

The price of a good core 350 4 bolt these days is $150. The replacement caps and the align bore at the machine shop is going to cost up to $400. Remember also that when you are boring and honing the new caps you are also taking metal away from the blocks bearing saddles too. This places the crank closer to the cam and can have negative results.

If you lost or don't have the caps it maybe better to get another block than machine that one.

Otherwise money aside, yes it can be fixed. You may want to just ask the machine shop if they have spare caps. When I ran a machine shop we kept all of the caps from bad or upgraded blocks. It always seemed better to machine in the original GM caps than the aftermarket stuff.

[Scott Parkhurst]

ok...

It always seemed better to machine in the original GM caps than the aftermarket stuff.

My experience has been the opposite. Aftermarket billet main caps have never been an issue. If you machine the block with the same hardware it'll be assembled with (studs/bolts etc) and new aftermarket main caps, there shouldn't be any issues. If they're splayed caps, all the better.

[68firebird]

k thanks for the info guys.

[TT302Z28]

Again..you are taking an equal amount from the block you take from the caps.

You need to start with a 2 bolt block to do the splayed caps.