Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 350 chevy rebuild advice

I'm considering rebuilding the 5.7 in my 95 K1500 next year. It's got 436000km on it, as far as I know its original but I can't be sure. Only reason I'm really considering it is that I'm back in school for auto tech again in January and since the course deals almost exclusively on engine rebuilding,we can bring in our own and do the work in school.All the mahining equipment is there for us to use and its free of charge, only have to pay for parts. If I'm going to do it, this would be the time.

The trucks got pretty tall gears in it, I'm thinking around 3.55,so she's no speed demon and doesn't care much for pulling. I wouldn't mind getting a smidge more power out of it,as long as I didn't sacrifice too much fuel economy.It does pretty decent on the highway now,which is a big plus. I looked up some rebuild kits online and prices vary widely. Are the Summit kits any good? They seem to be cheapest,followed by DNJ, but I have no idea if they are worth having. I know there's some real engine/vehicle guru's here so I thought I'd toss it out there.Any advice is welcome and appreciatted.

summit will work fine for what you want to do.

4 bolt mains,.....forged crank,...

Summit has been selling engine rebuild kits for 20+ years. Must be something good about them.

44henry

Ah... no.

Two bolt mains, cast crank. One piece rear seal. Roller cam. Powder metal rods...

recipe for a blow up.

Bull...

We put out 4100 engines built like that.... a day.

okay,...just don't run'em past 10 to 1.

You'll be spittin' rods all to here and gone.

I seriously cannot comprehend how anyone would enjoy wrenching on cars. I know that theres plenty of gearheads out there but i seriously dont get it, i would rather help a friend move. Good luck though.

Was it '95 or '96 in the 350's that there was the intake manifold issues? Ours is a 96 and had to have the intake gaskets replaced at 85K. Have had no issues since then and now have 120K on it. Momma's truck so is well taken care of, believe me. Don't know what we had to do when it comes times to replace it because she is vertically challenged and likes how she can adjust the seat.....

Back then even Corvette engines didn't run 10/1

The intake manifold gasket material would deteriate and leak with age.

Are you sure that the truck motors in 95 had the roller cam? was it 94 that started the Vortec engine? or is this a TBI engine?

I guess its the idea of taking an engine apart, putting it all back together and not having any extra parts left over.

The real bonus is that it runs...

if it is a Vortec engine... bump compression up to 9:1 add a decent set of headers a MILD cam, clean up the heads just a bit and it will really wake that thing up

A Summit kit will do just fine. I'm gathering that you are just looking to refresh the old girl for another couple hundred K. Just realize that it is what it is and that it's no 400hp hi cranking street rod. What Bristoe was eluding to is if your looking for real horsepower you may want to go with a four bolt main bearing caps so things don't walk around at high RPM's. If it will be a daily driver two bolt will do. I had good luck running 3.73:1 gears in my old Chevy, Richmonds if memory serves me correctly
My 350 had four bolt mains, forged crank that was turned balanced and blueprinted as well as the rest of the motor. Keith Jackson rods and pistons 11:1. 202 heads semi domed with a 7 angle valve job, rolled rods and rockers and a 280 lift cam and a Holley 750 dbl pumper jetted down to be streetable. I had that in a '85 Chevy Silverado short box 2WD with a TH400 that was built with a B&M slap shifter on the floor. It was fun but went down the road when I grew up a bit.

I wouldn't buy a thing 'til you tear down.

Degrease, and magnaflux the block, and heads. If they're good, determine any maching that will be needed. I'd square the block, then line-bore, and probably cylinders bored. Only thing you'll have to determine is if the old crank is OK, needs turning - or replacemant. Do that prior to machining.

If you're lookin' for more "umff", without sacrificng economy, concentrate on losing friction. Consider a Roller cam, and lifters, chit-can the distributor, and run crank-fired ingnition (just behind the harmonic dampner). Ditto on the fuel pump; chit can the crank-driven pump, and go electric.

Throw a new set of pistons, and these in, and smile.

I'm a little rusty on the year, I believe that the only engines we built with flat tappets at that time were for marine applications. They were the last to convert to a roller cam.

Be sure to pay attention to the valve guides and preferably have rotating valve retainers and umbrella type oil control seals (roller rockers are a good investment if you are going to run the vehicle for a LONG time...

We did more Chevy heads (prolly 5-10 sets of heads a week) in my Dad's engine shop back in Erie, Pa than all others heads combined for those 2 reasons.

If $$ is a problem, perhaps look into "knurlizing" (a spiral thread sort of process that is then reamed to proper i.d.) the guides, this works well if the machinist is competent and again use umbrella type valve seals rather than the simple valve stem O-rings just under the valve keepers.

Chevy seemed to have excessive lateral pressure that prematurely wore guides... Either way you can find a process to fit your wallet, I would bet.

Full disclosure - This info dates from the 60's when I started working at 11 years of age, to the mid 1975, when my Father passed and the unfortunately shop closed. Perhaps Chevy changed the design and geometry since then... If so, please forgive my ignorance of a solution. Have fun.

Be safe and good luck
Patty

The FBody LT1's did alright and were a touch over 10:1 through 1997.

Pretty sure the Vette LT1's would have been a hair over 10:1 through 1996 as well. LT4's were even higher.