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I need and engine!! Post up or... DECISION TIME!

What motor to drop into my '73?

  • Crate Motor from who-ever-engine.com

    Votes: 56 41.8%

  • Built motor from a local shop

    Votes: 43 32.1%

  • Buddy's old corvette block & lotsa elbow grease

    Votes: 31 23.1%

  • back pages of 'tradin-times' - fingers crossed!

    Votes: 4 3.0%
  • Total voters
    134
You guys rock. So nice to get opinions and knowledge!

The poll is starting to break as a toss-up between local-built & crate... hmmm.

and beast has a great question:

BUT the question is can your drivetrain take this kind of power?
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Ahhhh...... I dunno. The running gear is all stock for the 73. I have 32's on it and would like to go to 33's. I could say that I wouldn't drive it hard but I couldn't keep a straight face saying it. I am not a mudder or anything, but I do enjoy getting out in the woods... also weren't green traffic lights made for the throttle?

Oy. is 400-ish horse too much for my rig?
 
IF PRICE IS NO OBJECT: then the only chioce is a brand new crate engine. There is no justification for any other choice.
 
1-ton said:
IF PRICE IS NO OBJECT: then the only chioce is a brand new crate engine. There is no justification for any other choice.
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Hmm, one could debate that statement. And I currently own one of each, GM crate and one I spec'ed up and built with a good machine shop. I like 'em both.
 
What should I do? I have $2-3,000 to spend and I can install the motor myself.
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You could drop in a mild 454 for that money... so why piss around with only 383ci? :D
 
There's a crowd of small-block guys gathering at this minute with burning torches chanting ...."KILL u2slow......KILL u2slow".......

Jeff
 
Billy, your orig. post was perfect for attracting lots of opinion. How about narowing it down to whether you want a heavy or lite rig? In other words SBC or BigBlock (notice I didn't limit it to BBC).:D
 
JeffHK5 said:
There's a crowd of small-block guys gathering at this minute with burning torches chanting ...."KILL u2slow......KILL u2slow".......
Click to expand...

:haha: :haha: :haha:

roadnotca said:
whether you want a heavy or lite rig? In other words SBC or BigBlock
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IMO, ~200lbs difference doesn't make a 5000lb rig heavy or light.
 
Light or heavy....
I realize that as a rule, lighter is better. That said, I don't plan on getting airborne, and my wheeling isn't intense enough that a few hundred pounds one way or another should make much of a difference.
I love the idea of a big block, no doubt. Just saying '454' gets me all tingly. My main concern, frankly, is my inexperience with engines. The reason the Blazer is without it's 350 is that my DD ('83 2wd silverado) threw a rod a couple months ago, and a friend & I swapped the boat-anchor blown 305 with my blazer motor. I was a little intimidated but this forum and my buddy got me through it. Now the silverado has got a lot of giddyup and the K5 has none.
But the K5 sits in the garage all winter, so I have time. Mostly, I want to try and buy an engine that is more or less turnkey. I do not have the confidence that I wouldn't goof something if I was dinking with heads or cams or something.
Ideally, I would buy a motor that had already been dynoed and tuned. So I could drop it in, bolt accessories, and light it up.
I am definitely open to a big block. I just need to keep it around $3k.

Thanks for all the input, guys!
 
I mention descriminating between SB & BB because SBs and stock 10B get along, GM didn't install BBs over 10B SFA for a reason.
 
how about a vortec swap ?

I'm doing one right now but running into lots of little problems if i knew about before wouldn't have been any big deal should have the whole thing running for just under 3 grand and the motor i got from a salvage yard was only 1300 and had under 60K on it. would have only about 2 grand if i had used the factory wireing harness and all insted of buying a new one for 800 just for the engine management insted of sorting through the old one. Was supposed to take most of the headach out of the swap. But it's my fist swap so it's all a head ach for me
 
roadnotca said:
GM didn't install BBs over 10B SFA for a reason.
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Hmmm... a 6.2L weighs the same as a BBC, even has an extra battery, and came with a 10-bolt SFA. :thinking:
 
IIRC a 500 Caddy weighs about the same as a SBC, and there are plenty of companies out there making header adapters to put BBC headers on them, motor mounts and the like...
 
u2slow said:
Hmmm... a 6.2L weighs the same as a BBC, even has an extra battery, and came with a 10-bolt SFA. :thinking:
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Hmmm...didn't know that, of course at the time I wasn't looking for a diesel. But while we are volunteering opinions on K5 configurations for "Billy" (a newb) to consider, it's disengenious to lead him into thinking bolting-up a BBC is the complete answer; if it was we'd all be driving BBC over 10Bs. If you are driving one, tell us about your success.:D
 
beater_k20 said:
IIRC a 500 Caddy weighs about the same as a SBC, and there are plenty of companies out there making header adapters to put BBC headers on them, motor mounts and the like...
Click to expand...
Exactly, that why it's the popular swap, beater_K20 is right on the money.:D
 
roadnotca said:
while we are volunteering opinions on K5 configurations for "Billy" (a newb) to consider, it's disengenious to lead him into thinking bolting-up a BBC is the complete answer; if it was we'd all be driving BBC over 10Bs. If you are driving one, tell us about your success.:D
Click to expand...

Is it not also disengenious to lead him into thinking bolting-up a Caddy 500 is the complete answer?

Each possibility has pros and cons... a 425hp 383ci has issues. As does a mild BBC, as does a 472/500 Caddy.

I don't have 454/10b-SFA experience. I will report on my 6.2L/10b-SFA experience when I get it assembled. ;)
 
u2slow said:
Is it not also disengenious to lead him into thinking bolting-up a Caddy 500 is the complete answer?

Each possibility has pros and cons... a 425hp 383ci has issues. As does a mild BBC, as does a 472/500 Caddy.

I don't have 454/10b-SFA experience. I will report on my 6.2L/10b-SFA experience when I get it assembled. ;)
Click to expand...
Cool, is this an ex-military K5, or a commercial and are you rebuilding to stock?
 
What is a 10b-sfa??

(now you all know what a newb I really am!)

10- bolt something or other....
 
I'm thinking Solid front axle.

I thought about the diesel option but I was afraid of the continuous bitching and crying about..."it smells"...or..."it's making me sick". A lot of mid-west and eastern welling takes place under a canopy of trees which holds the fumes down low,.......people even complain about my tow rig in camp! WAAAAAA!!

Jeff
 
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