Engine experts please lend a hand.

[thebluemax]

I have a 350 out of a 91 chevy 1 ton and and needing to get the engine rebuilt. The problem is my buddy pulled the engine and took the heads off before I bought it and it's missing the pushrods,rockers,lifters and springs. I need to know whether i would be better off just ordering the parts beforehand or letting the machine shop order them? Any parts recomendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

 

[cybrfire]

Call the machine shop that you'd have do the work, ask what they'd charge if you bought them there and then compare prices. They may cut you a break from retail for having the work done there.

 

[pseudomike]

Napa should carry all that stuff as well as any good autoparts store. If your going with a bumpy cam you'll want better springs on those L05 heads. Machine shop would probably mark the price up but they might be them cheaper than you can so it might not be too bad. You shouldn't be looking at too much money either way.

 

[thebluemax]

What is a good cam to run ? I'm not building a race engine or anything just a mild performance engine hopefully that runs on pump gas.

 

[pseudomike]

Is it going to be a TBI?

 

[thebluemax]

I am going to run an edelbrock performer carb.

 

[496truck]

Is the machine shop doing the assembly of this engine? If so, they may require you get the parts from them. If you don't get the parts through them they may not warranty the finished product. You may want to ask them about this.

 

[1979gmc]

also' it's how you want to build the motor. more for horsepower and tourque or for stock purposes. the machine shop probably would go with cheaper parts.

 

[thebluemax]

It's going to be a mild performance build I guess. The shop said just bring the engine minus the tinwear and they would take care of the rest of the dissasembly/reassembly I guess. It was months ago that I got a quote but they said around $700 total out the door. I would like to stick with bolt on power parts...Intake/headers/cam/etc if possible.

 

[runamok151]

i'd keep the tbi over a carb any day. imho, edelbrocks suck off road. i have one on the wheeler i recently bought and it stalls out w/ every bump or off camber situation. its so bad, i don't even like driving it. a tbi system will go on it when i start the build up. q-jets are supposed to be much better off road if you need a carb.

as far as building up the motor, i put an edelbrock performer intake, cam and roller rockers (stock 1.5 ratio) in my '89. it works great w/ the tbi and really woke up the truck. greatly improved the power from 1500-4000 rpm. max torque is supposed to be about 1900 rpm and it feels like it. that's right where it runs at highway speeds and the trans doesn't down shift nearly as much any more.

 

[chulisohombre]

700 bucks is a good price.id just let the machine shop do the work.tell em what you want and if they are a good reputable shop,they will know what to do to the engine to build it the way you want.the parts you need to finish the engine should not be that expensive,and are usually part of the rebuild anyway.my edelbrock carb runs good after putting in spring needle and seats.but a lot of people dont like them.ive never had a problem.quadrajets are the best offroad carb when tuned right also.if you still have the tbi that also tuned right will run great off road.ive had good luck with comp cams stuff in the past.they have a exclusive off road cut cam i believe that gives better low rpm torque.i also use their roller tip rockers and valve springs.had em in for years without a problem.