So if I want to rebuild...

[mrwilliamsburg33]

A motor... Any motor... I want to learn how to build one... or rather rebuild one that I can get for cheap or free. Im sure the free option is slim to none unless I just find one laying around that someone wants to get rid of.

I would want something that I could put in my blazer later after I built it if I was confident in my build (Like a 350)... or just have something to tear down multiple times to really just figure out how it all goes together...

How did you all start on your first engine build? I'm not the mechanic genius that some are, but I can do anything if I put my mind to it, and if I have instructions then its no problem...

Im just looking for suggestions and comments on how to go about it... Its just something Ive always wanted to do. I dont want to pull my 305 and mess it up, so I'd rather have a junkyard find that if I screwed up, it wouldnt matter...

 

[ryan22re]

There are plenty of books out there on how to rebuild, blueprint and hop up small block chevys. Buy one or two, read it, and then build one. 305's are about free these days, so the that would be the cheapest to play with. A decent rebuildable 350 shouldn't cost you more than $500. Fuel injected engines won't have as much cylinder bore wear, (due to the fact that you don't need to pump the carb to get them started which keeps the oil on the cylinder walls when starting) so a fuel injected engine is most likely to not need an overbore and should be rebuildable in your garage.

This is a good start if you don't want to buy any books:

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticle...heap_street_650_dollar_small_block/index.html

 

[79rustyk10]

I wouldnt pay more than $200 for a core 350, still way too many of them out there.

Like was said theres a bunch of books. I would get ahold of a GM service manual, and a subscription Car Craft wouldnt be a bad idea either, theres ALOT of engine building tech there too.

And... just getting any core engine and tearing it apart is a good learning experience, old tractors, and small engines is where I got my start with working on engines as a teenager.

 

[howdiy]

They are really a lot simpler than your making it out to be

 

[teacher_dave]

"How to Rebuild Your Small Block Chevy" is pretty much the best one out there for people new to rebuilding. By David Vizard, published by HPBooks. That, and an inexpensive rebuild kit form Northern Auto Parts, and you're ready to go.

One of the most important things (and one of the hardest for new builders) is to NOT order your rebuild kit until you've got your engine completely apart and inspected.

If you find a motor that's still running, just re-ring and bearing it and valve job and see what happens. Even if the cylinders are a little out of spec you can freshen it up and it will run. The biggest costs in a rebuild kit are the pistons and cam, so if you can get by without replacing those, you can rebuild one really cheap.

Dave

 

[diesel4me]

You should be able to get a motor free that needs rebuilding pretty easy--I had a chance to get a 1999 305 out of a plow truck last week,my friend put a low mileage one from a van in the customers truck instead of chancing the head gasket that leaked and filled the crankcase with coolant had not ruined the bearings--it ran sweet as could be a few weeks ago,but after my friend did all the brake lines over and various other work,the truck started smoking and losing coolant into the crankcase...the owner drove it a few miles home with the radiator almost empty,then it was so full of coolant it wouldn't spin over..my friend probably did more damage to it by draining the water & oil out so it would start ,so he could drive it in the shop--but it probably would have been "saveable" without a lot of money thrown at it...they got the "new" motor for 500 bucks with a 90 day gaurantee,so he figured for that much replacing it was a better way to go rather than put money into a "wounded" engine...the motor was scrapped the other day...many shops around here prefer installing a whole engine rather than try fixing an old one ,so its pretty easy to score a freebie or real cheap one to fool with..

Many shops have a scrap collector come by and collect all their junk,if you hook up with one of those guys I bet they would sell you an engine for slightly more than scrap price,a case of beer,etc...some junkyards sell motors they dont know the history of or whether or not it ran well cheap too,sort of a "you buy it you own it" deal--I've gotten several of those running well with minimal expense,50 bucks is what I paid for a complete "take out" a few times..some yards here deal with so much volume many times they dont even want to chop out an engine,if your willing to remove it they'll give you a real good price--others let vehicles sit forever with hoods open and the engines get cannibalized and those can be had for next to nothing--however any engine that sat with water in it might have cracked when it froze too,so be sure they'll let you choose another if that is the case before paying for it...

 

[mrwilliamsburg33]

Good Tips.. thanks for the input. I'll try to find a book and read through it before I get started. All the deal with replacing pistons and stuff, I don't know anything about that. Having an engine bored? I know nothing about that either. I know what they do but the stuff you have to do to it after that I don't really know. I just feel like there is a lot of stuff that engine builders just "know" that unless im told, I would have no clue about. Thats why I would like to start and try one to see what it actually involves. I'd like to say that I built my own motor

 

[longbedder]

I, like you, wanted to do it myself and learn the process. I had 3 engines rebuilt over several years.

Notice I said "had" rebuilt. I did the disassembly and final assembly on two of them - that's really the average guy's only role. You can mess around with gasket matching and doing a homebrew porting job, but the real work goes to the machine shop.

The machine shop will hot tank clean and machine the block, do the necessary balance work on your rotating assembly, do your valve/head work, grind/polish the crank, etc - it's just stuff you aren't equipped for.

On the first one, I did all the little stuff like gapping the rings, installing bearings, assembling valvetrain, etc, and then put the whole thing together - it was great for a learning experience - but man it took forever and didn't cost as little as I thought it would, and I had to borrow specialty tools. On the second one I had them put the bottom end and heads together, and the cost increase was very minimal. I just put the heads/intake/pan/dizzy on and sealed everything up. On the third one, I took the whole engine in, asked for a rebuild and figured out the parts/specs with them, and a week later I has a spiffy new engine all sealed up ready to go...and once again the cost increase was relatively minimal.

Ryan22re is exactly right about fuel injected engines - they tend to be enormously cleaner (think carbon deposits and sludge) and the bores are usually in much better shape.

 

[mrwilliamsburg33]

So how much would be acceptable for a junkyard 350 fuel injected?

 

[Smokinthehippies]

just keep eyes on craigslist. my first engine rebuild/practice i picked up for like $80 bucks. it was worth it just for the practice of tear down, rebuild. i didnt do a very good job, but it was an awesome learning time as its already helped me understand & diagnose problems on the engine that runs now.

 

[yellowK20]

Build a 305, people practically give them away and parts are cheap

 

[JPOutfitters]

keep checking Craigslist like previously posted.........I gave a builder 350 4-bolt main away on Craigslist and the guy that came to get it was smiling from ear to ear!!

It had thrown #1 rod and it went straight through the oil pan.......never hit anything else on the way through. The piston slid down into the pan too. It was luck....but that guy smiled the entire time we loaded it into the back of his trailer pulled by a VW Bug!!!