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GM Crate Motor....which 350?

BigOrange90Jimmy

BigOrange90Jimmy

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I'm looking at buying one of these mofo's. I've got TBI and all that one piece rear main junk...I don't really care if I have to get rid of it, but I would like to stay with FI. Which SMALL BLOCK engine would you go with? My tranny is a 465 with a 205 behind it, 3.73 gears, and 35's.
 
I believe all the new crate motors except the "target" motor run Vortec heads. This will require you to change the heads to FI heads or a different intake manifold for the TBI to fit Vortec heads. The "target" motor is the low model stock engine. Not a bad motor but it is stock powered. It comes with the best warranty though.

Harley
 
I am running the GM Goodwrench crate motor and does me fine for power. Fixing to do a cam change and add some aftermarket FI to beef it up a little. In stock form ran my 35'squite well. Just depends on how much you want to spend really.
 
If having Vortec heads on anything but the target motors is true, then having a chip burned is going to be another thing you will have to look at.

The older heads "require" more advance than the Vortec's need/want, and that has to be changed in the PROM.

Is your motor junk or?

I would *think* that as long as EGR isn't a big concern for emissions, a carbureted Vortec intake with a TBI adapter would be MUCH cheaper than the GMPP TBI intake.
 
My motor is out of the truck. I THOUGHT it was a crate motor (bought truck used), but as I found out, it was a reman that has been punched .040 over. I tore it down because it was involved in a vehicle fire before I got the truck (that's how I got it so cheap).


I just want something that I can trust more than my own work. Given, my last motor is still running in SF87K5's blazer, I don't want to go through all of that again. The "What if?" factor bothers me too much.
 
To keep it simple, if low end power alone is enough for you, I'd go for the "base" engine, anything that will allow you to bolt up all your TBI stuff. (intake, etc)

The cost just starts to add up if you get crazy with HP and what not.
 
Go with the HT 383....Edelbrock makes chips that will taylor their MPFI set up for them....That would be sweet....
 
crate 383 with a chip and mpfi sounds like big $$$$$$.

If your rig is pre 1976 then without a doubt get the base chevy high output 350. part number in jegs is 809-12486041. $2389.99 but has 330 hp and 380 ftlbs out of the box. you will have to get the vortec manifold, dist., water pump, flywheel, etc but real cheap at a junk yard.

Otherwise i would say take a look at ebay. Found a reman 355 with 350-375hp Lt-1 block(high nickel content) with camel humps, 350 hp cam, 10:1 flat tops, edelbrock manifold(had to swap for holley efi), gm x rods(good for 8000 rpm) and moly rings for $1735 with crating and shipping. Make sure you get it from a seller with at least a thousand feedbacks. If they sell a lot of motors they have to sell good ones. Mine was magnufluxed, hot tanked, bored and align honed.

I tried to find a gm crate motor that would bolt into my 88 with over 350 hp and there just plain isn't one unless you have 4 grand.
 
I'm with you on this one.

Friend bought a GM straight 6 from them for his van, has had NO problems with it, and they actually have a shop close to me. Of course that is only one person I know that has used it, but a 7 year warranty, either they believe in their work, are idiots, or plan on being gone before that time is up.

I talked to them about getting a short block (stock roller cam setup block for a Vortec truck) and putting my TPI on it, but they were adamant that would mean a "performance modification" and void the warranty or something along those lines.

In the case of truck TBI, I would think a Camaro TBI application would be nice (stock roller cam, some better cam specs) but again, I suspect from that place, putting it in a truck would be a no-no.
 
Putting anything other than a stock engine in that truck (TBI), as you are finding out I suspect, causes a LOT more problems than just simple hardware.
 
Bad Motors

Z3PR said:
Hard too beat a 7 year / 70,000 mile warrenty
Click to expand...

No offense but that's what I thought too. 2 years later I have a knocking piston rod from a bad press fit.

These guys are called S&S Engine. They are out of Spokane, WA. You will get the correct dated block but the assembly is not very good. They do not even champher the crank oil holes and the oil return up in the block is unworked as well. One of the heads they sent me had been cracked and poorly repaired. There was an uneven valve cover surface seal from crap weld and grind job.

Be careful if you buy there.
 
jiminycricket said:
No offense but that's what I thought too. 2 years later I have a knocking piston rod from a bad press fit.

These guys are called S&S Engine. They are out of Spokane, WA. You will get the correct dated block but the assembly is not very good. They do not even champher the crank oil holes and the oil return up in the block is unworked as well. One of the heads they sent me had been cracked and poorly repaired. There was an uneven valve cover surface seal from crap weld and grind job.

Be careful if you buy there.
Click to expand...
Did they honor the warrenty ??
 
From what I can tell, these guy sub-contract the work out or something...basically the shops end up being reps for that company. I'm not sure what the shops involvement is, whether they do the actual work, or if the parent company just sends them the engine.

Sorry to hear you had problems, a 50/50 track record sucks. :(

2 years out of a bad assembly seems a long time! Now you have me worried that in another year, the motor I put together will start making noise. :)
 
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