350 open to weather - what's my next step?

[Engineered Vintage]

So I picked up a '72 Blazer frame awhile back complete with SM465 & NP205 t-case. I mostly bought it for T-case - and Makovai needs a new frame for his Blazer.

It also has a 350 with ram horn manifolds, Edelbrock intake, decent looking (at one time) plug wires, etc... Chrome (at one point) Chevrolet valve covers, etc - In other words - somebody put some $$ in this engine at some point.

This engine has sat out in the weather for indeterminate time with no carb and no cover over intake holes - also distributor was not in it (i.e. direct path into intake runners & down into oil pan for rain water)

Setup is from Southern Oregon coast - and with openings and amount of rain it is safe to assume water is throughout engine.

I don't really need a 350 right now - but will probably hang onto it as a rebuilder.

What would you guys do with it? Tear it down for storage to prevent further problems/learn what I got? Leave it outside covered? Scrap it? or?

Any advice?

That is picture of frame below - (with a nice view of my Uncle as well)

 

[4xcrazy]

Tear it down, clean it out, rebuild it.

 

[scottsdale86]

Tear it down making sure to keep it numbered in original position of components and clean it up.

 

[Engineered Vintage]

Tear it down making sure to keep it numbered in original position of components and clean it up.

I would prefer not to dump any $$ into this thing at this point - all extra funds are going to my '72 (and Disneyland trip this year)

Is it realistic to tear this thing down and "clean it up" without dumping some coin on it?

 

[4xcrazy]

I would prefer not to dump any $$ into this thing at this point - all extra funds are going to my '72 (and Disneyland trip this year)

Is it realistic to tear this thing down and "clean it up" without dumping some coin on it?

Sure, if you're a Democrat i guess.....

 

[scottsdale86]

Yeah i mean you dont have to magnaflux it or anything just take it and get it disassembled and wiper the goo out of it. If it looks too beat up scrap it. Hot tanking would be best but would also involve money.

 

[4xcrazy]

The instant you remove anything major on that thing, it's going to cost you money, at a basic of gaskets alone...

and i was joking about the Democrat thing, basically,,, use someone elses money

ya posted up what we would do with it, you already had an idea as to store it and use it as a rebuilder later on, you KNOW it's going to cost money for that, then you post up a few minutes later and say you don't want to spend any money on it... i dunno....

scrap it then, or sell it on Craigslist for $50-100 as is...

 

[Engineered Vintage]

The instant you remove anything major on that thing, it's going to cost you money, at a basic of gaskets alone...

and i was joking about the Democrat thing, basically,,, use someone elses money

ya posted up what we would do with it, you already had an idea as to store it and use it as a rebuilder later on, you KNOW it's going to cost money for that, then you post up a few minutes later and say you don't want to spend any money on it... i dunno....

scrap it then, or sell it on Craigslist for $50-100 as is...

On the democrat thing.

No I hear you - on your points - I was looking for a magic answer that I didn't think was there

I don't really need this thing - At this point - I will just leave it together and shove aside for some point in future.

 

[tRustyK5]

I'd drain everything out of it, then pour in about 5 gallons of gear lube...including copious amounts into intake ports, through spark plug holes etc. Then seal it up and put it aside. At least then it might come apart OK later if you decide to rebuild it.

Rene

 

[Engineered Vintage]

I'd drain everything out of it, then pour in about 5 gallons of gear lube...including copious amounts into intake ports, through spark plug holes etc. Then seal it up and put it aside. At least then it might come apart OK later if you decide to rebuild it.

Rene

Good advice - thank you

 

[Fordum]

Rene is almost correct. Except he forgot about the no cost part. Do what he says, but use used oil from your next few oil changes.

It will protect as well as gear oil, probably soak into the threads a little better, and does not cost anything.

 

[sweetk30]

got 1 in a deal 1 time. looked good till pulled the pan and heads.

crank had parts turned down up to 1/2"

and 1 cylinder with 2 HUGE holes from water frezzing and blowing the block out.

i say strip it. if looks good save or sell it. and keep parts or sell parts from it.

 

[Stomis]

got 1 in a deal 1 time. looked good till pulled the pan and heads.

crank had parts turned down up to 1/2"

and 1 cylinder with 2 HUGE holes from water frezzing and blowing the block out.

i say strip it. if looks good save or sell it. and keep parts or sell parts from it.

Thats the worst case scenario. The motor I built w/ my dad when I was younger was an outside sitter here in north NJ. Couldnt turn it over. Cylinders had to be bored, had to be line honed, decked, the hole 9. Basically any surface that a bearing rides on needed to be over sized.

Really its not all that much more than a typical performance machine shop bill.

 

[pmpski_1]

i say strip it. if looks good save or sell it. and keep parts or sell parts from it.

Right. It doesn't cost anything but an hour of your time to tear it down. At least then you have an idea whether it's any good, and what you'll need to save up for.

 

[owenst7]

Strip it and use the bare block as the base to a glass coffee table, like on Top Gear. Use the crank as a base for an end table (my neighbor has some HUGE crank that he used for his mailbox).

 

[diesel4me]

I remember when my co-worker at the junkyard blew the 400 SB he put in his Cutlass,and needed another SBC to replace it--unfortunately the yard had few left in any of the cars,the few left were cannibalized or junk,with the exception on obe 305 he had put in an 80's Monte Carlo some years before,and the owner ended up junking it after the tranny blew and it was too rusty to bother fixing..

I went over to the car with him and looked in the engine compartment--there sat the engine with no intake or dizzy,FULL of acorns,leaves and water!--(no hood on the car for years!)--I laughed and said GOOD LUCK!..he insisted it was a "great runner" when it was parked there,but I told him I doubted it would ever run ,he'd be lucky if it wasn't cracked from water freezing in it,etc...he decided to go ahead and pull it out and start re-assembling it using the parts off his 400SB that were missing on it..

To my surprise,despite the motor being full of swampy water and leaves,acorns and other crud when he removed the oil pan,we saw no big cracks,so he washed the gunk out with a pressure washer and blew it off with the air hose..by the next afternoon,he had in in his car and running!..it smoked some at first,and had noisy lifters for almost a week--it finally quieted down,but the smoke never went completely away--still,it ran a LOT better than I ever expected!..it lasted him a few months,he was a leadfoot and beat the car mercilessly on his 30 mile commute to wotk every day...when a '68 GMC pickup came in with a good running 327,he grabbed that engine to have for the car,and it wasn't long before he finished the 305 off and had to install it...

I was surprised that engine even spun over,by all rights it should have been seized tight,or at least have some stuck valves!...I expected it to start steaming after it did run the first day when the cracks opened up in the block,but evidently it had none-..
Kind of weird,when other cars nearby had engines sitting for years under a hood,no water in them,full of clean oil,that we couldn't get to spin over even using a crowbar on the flywheel teeth!...(somehow,it was always the greasiest rustiest ,crappy looking motors you expected to be junk that often ran the best,and the minty looking ones were the ones that were seized tight and took a ton of work tofix to get to run!--and painting up a greasy old "pig" that ran great was almost gauranteed to make it start knocking or blow up too--leave it grungy and it would run forever!)..

It might be worth trying to get that engine started while its still in that frame--drain the oil,put new oil in (assuming its not seized up) and put in the missing parts (dizzy,intake,etc) and see if it'll crank over by hand first to ensure no valves are stuck shut..it might surprise you!...if it runs I'd let it run awhile then fill it with drain oil right to the top of the valve covers before you stash it away under cover so it wont rust up any worse...

I have a 6.2 with a busted crank sitting outside on an engine stand,with no oil pan on it--only covered up with a large hefty trash bag--been there 2 years and it sat outside on the ground a good year before I got it too,upside down--the pan was stll on it then...despite it being exposed to the elements,the bottom end still has no rust,I guess the sooty diesel oil clings well and penetrates the pores in the cast iron--the intake got plugged with mud when it was plopped on the muddy ground,so no water got in that end of the engine...it was a great runner up until the day the crank snapped,in my friends ramp truck--I bet if I had a good crank I could just pop it on and have a good spare enigine..I grabbed it for parts like the oil pan,injector pump,etc,but if I came across a crank free or cheap I'd probably try to get it running again...