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Thinking what I should do (Thoughts???)

brans87

brans87

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So Found out the small block 350 I had for my wife's 67 C10 is trashed and needs complete rebuild. Only good thing found out is the 2 bolt block has never been bored (Don't need a 4 bolt for 400 HP or less).

So with needing all machine and wanting to do vortec heads on it I started thinking!

Here we go guy's (need thoughts honestly as $ is a factory)

I have a 87 K5 that I seems to drive alot lately since kids love it but it seems to roughly get 10-11 miles with 35's 4.56 and 14 bolt FF.

Thinking instead of machine work by a 5.3 from a guy I know if price is right and can hear run,then swap into my K5. Then take my GM crate motor out of my K5 (roughly 20k on it) and swap heads,intake and carb it and throw in her truck.

My 350 TBI motor does not have a place for mechanical fuel pump which kinda sucks since she likes the classic look and would need to find a quite electric fuel pump for her 67 C10.

I wish she would do a LS motor but she is the classic look girl with her truck and have to stand by her on what she wants for her truck.

So thoughts?

Should I leave my K5 alone and just pay for machining for her small block or what ?

Machine work : Thermal clean block,Bore,cam bearings freeze plugs,recomm align hone and deck but said don't have to deck, resize rods for arp bolts bearings,oil pump timing chain you get the jest of things.


Trying to do this wisely and not jump gun. I can do all swapping myself as have all tools needed.
 
I say if the price is right on the 5.3, then do it. But tell her classic looks only get you so far, and her classic good looks still need brains behind them, so she'll need an electric fuel pump anyway...

(A carb'd engine may look good, but a FiTech'd engine has the brains to back up the good looks... :D)
 
5.3 is way to go for her truck I know but telling her that is alot damn harder! She like the pretty finned air cleaner and valve covers.
 
Put the 350 from yours in hers, just with fitech on it...
 
Still gotta have a electric fuel pump that is quite and worth a damn.
 
Ditch heads and sell intake, After market built TBI and wiring harness.
 
even if you leave your k5 alone . . . . a brand new gm crate engine is under 2k and drop it in and fire it up and be done .

hate to say it but reman of engines is almost not worth it anymore unless you NEED numbers matching . machine shop quality is hit / miss / engine assembly work is hit or miss / even if you do it your self is your time and do you know what your doing . then in the end you will have more in to it than a brand new gm crate engine of the same or better power .

i dont know if they offer efi stuff for the 72-older in cab fuel tanks . better check . even a inline efi pump mounted correctly can be fairly quiet unless you direct mount it to a frame or body with no cushion .
 
A full rebuild with machine work and everything on a stock 350 near me is right at $1800. I'd do that or buy the $1600 260hp gm crate engine from jegs for hers. You'll be that much into a 5.3 swap and not have 2 trucks down at once.
 
260HP is insufficient though.

:rotfl:
At $3k a crate engine can bolt in and provide good power. Also no need to convert all the everything’s to LS.

Having the same debate myself. Not satisfied doing a “rebuild” being as I want to get to a hydraulic roller cam. The same power can be had from and LS, add the conversion $$$, or upgrade the good crate engine and bolt it in.
 
if I was going to build an engine I’d probably go BBC and use the Edelbrock (or similar) aluminum heads
 
5.3 is $700 pulled can hear it run first.

I would get better mileage then current setup which is 350 TBI 700R4 with 35's and 4.56

Have more power in my truck and better fuel mileage then current setup.

Trying to figure out if did use my 350 TBI in her truck which heads I should use. Gas tank is in the back between frame rails so doing a intank fuel pump would not be to bad.

I could sell off my old TBI wiring harness,ECM and the after market throttle body to make a little $.


Buying a crate engine seems like a easy way out and more $$$ Cause I want least 300 HP
 
Was just my observation. Most LS swaps seem to run significantly higher than estimated unless you have a wrecked vehicle and take everything.
 
Guy I know has whole trucks. Should only need motor,wiring,take manifolds and exhaust past O2's to be safe,ECM,over flow.
 
Buy the 260hp one and a cam with it. Carcraft pushed that motor over 430hp with bolt-ons, did over 50 Dyno pulls, and the bearings/internals all looked great afterwards...

Less than 2k for 300hp.... But if you can mod the harness and all that yourself, you wouldn't be much more than that in a 5.3 swap for yours
 
brans87 said:
So Found out the small block 350 I had for my wife's 67 C10 is trashed and needs complete rebuild. Only good thing found out is the 2 bolt block has never been bored (Don't need a 4 bolt for 400 HP or less).

So with needing all machine and wanting to do vortec heads on it I started thinking!

Here we go guy's (need thoughts honestly as $ is a factory)

I have a 87 K5 that I seems to drive alot lately since kids love it but it seems to roughly get 10-11 miles with 35's 4.56 and 14 bolt FF.

Thinking instead of machine work by a 5.3 from a guy I know if price is right and can hear run,then swap into my K5. Then take my GM crate motor out of my K5 (roughly 20k on it) and swap heads,intake and carb it and throw in her truck.

My 350 TBI motor does not have a place for mechanical fuel pump which kinda sucks since she likes the classic look and would need to find a quite electric fuel pump for her 67 C10.

I wish she would do a LS motor but she is the classic look girl with her truck and have to stand by her on what she wants for her truck.

So thoughts?

Should I leave my K5 alone and just pay for machining for her small block or what ?

Machine work : Thermal clean block,Bore,cam bearings freeze plugs,recomm align hone and deck but said don't have to deck, resize rods for arp bolts bearings,oil pump timing chain you get the jest of things.


Trying to do this wisely and not jump gun. I can do all swapping myself as have all tools needed.
Click to expand...
I went to put in an 87 TPI motor, 305, and after it was all together, water ended up in the oil.
Took off the intake to discover it had 3 hairline cracks on drivers side of lifter valley and two on the passinger side.
Got another 305 and discovered three hairline cracks on the drivers side lifter valley.
Machinist said 305s often crack in the lifter valleys fter 20-30,000 miles so I opted for the tried and true 350.

A nice stock used 350 for 600 bucks will serve your purpose while you rebuild the current motor.
 
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