Matthew91-Z28

Hey all....been interested in the 305 - 350 swap for some time now. Lots of research. All the various posts have helped me out alot. The only thing I am curious about now is who to get the stinkin engine from! I have looked at Crate and was fine with that until a mechanic told me that they have a high failure rate and to go with a Jasper rebuild (of course, his garage is one of two Jasper engine installers in the city). I can afford to spend around 2k - 2.5k on an engine. ANy advice would be great. I would like to stay with the TPI setup.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

New factory crate failure rate higher than assembly line rebuilds?

That's a good one!

Matthew91-Z28

Yeah...exactly my thoughts. How can that be possible unless he was feeding me a line of crap. Maybe the garage gets a %

Frank 84 Bird

Get a GM Crate motor you won't regret it.

Matthew91-Z28

Yeah..definately thinkin crate after the reply i got from Jasper; the only good thing is the 3 yr warranty. But, Its rated as 240 hp vs the 300hp brand stinkin new crate. Plus, I'd have to give them the 305 I have in the car now. I want to keep it for matching #'s sake. Is that a prime concern of everybody's?

Soulrev

I'm gettin ready to swap 305-350 myself. Where's a good place to buy the GM crate 350? How much do they run for? I know a remanned 350 costs about 1,400 out here at an auto supply store.

91B2L

I thinking about it myself, I'm looking for something simple and keeping My TPI. try this place www.sdpc2000.com or www.gmpartsdirect.com and enter part# 12510737 it's a L98 short block and # 12556121 a L31 short block. These are just some samples.

Soulrev

Does that L98 include the heads and all that stuff or just the block itself?

RICH92RS350

I bought a 300 HP TPI 350 crate from goautocenter.com last year.
Very satisfied. Engine was $1855 plus shipping and consists of a 93 Caprice Short Block, TPI heads and Crane Compucam 2030 (hydraulic roller). All new GM parts, warrantee, etc.
-Rich-

Matthew91-Z28

wholeheartedly agree with rich on that one; I think goautocenter.com has the best deals.....

johndo1707

hey, are those shortblock part numbers you listed or do they come with the heads? the L98 was only $1000 and the L31 was $1300. ???

Soulrev

for that price I don't think they do come with the heads.

91B2L

Those blocks don't come with the heads. The difference in the L98 and L31 is, the L98 is 2 bolt mains and the L31 is 4 bolt. I was thinking of making the combo simple; by porting the stock heads and adding a better cam, nothing to radical, That's just me, something around 280hp or 300hp. Might find some vortec truck heads in a junkyard.

TA82

One thing you might consider is looking for a used small block chevy that you have easy access too. It's better if you can find one in the want ads, or one in an old beat up car or something that you can pull it out of. Often times, you can get a REALLY nice motor for pretty cheap.

Someone gave me a 1976 Chevy Camaro... inside, there was a 350 4-bolt from a 1974 Chevy Impala Police car with a TH-400 attached to it.

It was a 3970010 block... this particular motor was a 4-bolt, and has a higher percentage of nickle in the block's casting which makes it even MORE durable.

This, plus the fact that the heads that were also on this block were from a 1971 Corvette. The heads were 2.02 intake and 1.6 exhaust... pretty damn decent deal if you ask me.

It had been rebuilt 30k miles ago, so this particular one doesn't need rebuilding, jsut cleaning up.. but the motor even has a heavy low-end cam in it... runs fine, and burns no oil whatsoever.


I'm only suggesting it because you can often find REALLY good deals locally... for REALLY cheap too.. either someone doesn't know what they have, or they don't care and want to get rid of it. Then you can turn around, have it professionally rebuilt the way YOU want it to be.. and have full control over the parts that go into it.

It'll cost you about the same price too...


Todd

3gc

I bought the l98 short block for $1250 shipped from SDPC in january. It would have been a lot less expensive if I could of gotten the long block but then it wouldn't be as powerfull. Also I asked SDPC and they told me that GM dosn't sell the Long block anymore. They used to and it was $1800, $2800 with aftermarket heads and a bigger cam and other goodies. So far I'm $3600 into this engine and still have a lot more to go until I have it running .

If you want to stay with the TPI setup, I don't suggest getting the vortec heads. You'll have to immediately get the new base, which is another $400+.