dennis6

1. When installing a pre 86 350 such as a goodwrench into a former 91 305 car, can I buy a flexplate and dampner for the goodwrench 350 and not have the whole assembly balanced?

2. Assuming I can, what size dampner would I need?

3. Can one use a lift plate that bolts to where the carb is located on the intake manifold, with a aluminum manifold? Will this warp the manifold?

Thanks

jase

To the first question,yes.Lost on all the rest.

dennis6

Anyone know if I can just reuse my 305 dampner?

TransAm12sec

My dads got that motor in an 87 monte. I'll talk to him about it to see what he uses.


I would assume you can use an aluminium manifold because I have seen it done many times, but I do not know for a fact.

88Camaro350

You will need a new flexplate. You need one made for a 2 piece rear main seal. They are different than the one from your 305. I bought a roller 1 piece rear main seal GM goodwrench engine so I reused my 305 flexplate.

My buddy bought this motor and he got a 6 3/8'' balancer if I remember correctly. He got it through paceparts when he bought the motor.

Im not sure about your third question.


Oh you shouldnt need to get it balanced...they are internally balanced.

scott92RS

Will you be putting your original intake on that engine cause I thought the bolt pattern on the heads 86 and under were different from the 87+?

RB83L69

Use your original balancer.

Get a flex plate for a 83-85 305 Camaro/Firebird.

Yes you can pull the engine with a carb plate, I've done it many times. Just make sure you have good carb studs installed, and use washers under the nuts, so they don't pull through the holes. Use studs rather than bolts. You can get a pack of them for about a dollar at Auto Zone or wherever, in the Help! stuff; they're also water pump studs. Same thing.

dennis6

Thanks everyone.

I will be using a different intake, and I had planned on a different flexplate.

SSC

The crate engines come with two different tabs. One fits the 6in ballacer and one fits the 8in use the one that looks like your original. I had a bad experiance with a carb plate the manifold actually cracked and broke, the engine fell only a few inches but I vowed never to use one again.

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

id say get a load leveler. I loved having one and my friend who used my hoist after me for his stealth vr4 swap loved having it as well. Makes positioning the engine much easier.

F-BIRD'88

If your goal is to build a hi performance combination the base GM "Goodwrench" motor is not the best choice. Even as a starting point.
It is a low compression low perf motor.
None of its components are designed for hi perf use.

You'd be better to get a readily availiable rebuilt 350 flat top pistoned based motor.
This can include flat top hypereutetic performance pistons
precision machining and assembly
block decking
hi perf bearings etc.
Cost is less quality better and warranty about the same.
Find a crate motor with good heads. Thats where the power is at.


shop around.

rleprechaun

Get 4 bolts that are longer than the ones holding the intake to the heads. Lift the engine by the bolts in the four corners of the intake. Make sure the bolts bottom out in the holes. You are screwing into the heads so it is not a problem.

Damon

To my knowlege ALL 3rd gens with SBC V8 came stock with the smaller 6-3/4" balancer. If you happen to have an 8" balancer laying around, feel free to use it- it won't interfere with anything like pulleys, oil cooler lines, etc. Just make sure it's a neutral-balanced 350-style balancer, not the un-balanced 400-style balancer.

dennis6

If I could find a good rebuilt performance engine for under 1200 dollars, I would most certainly go for it. I seriously doubt that is gonna happen.

F-BIRD'88

ya get what you pay for.

rleprechaun

The GM goodwrench 350 also has a 3 year 36,000 mile warranty. This warranty is valid no matter what external bolt-ons are used. You can use any intake, exhaust and ignition you like. Make sure you keep up with your oil change or oil and filter receits.
The goodwrench 350 is not a bad short block. Get all the external things right while the warranty is expiring. As soon as it does change the heads and cam and you have a nice 400hp 350. Make sure when you change heads you go to a set with 64cc combustion chambers to raise the compression.

Ray87Z

I disagree, the Goodwrench motor is a great base for a street buildup. It's a new 4 bolt block with LT4 Powdered Metal connecting rods, with all new parts, not remanufactured for $1200, the heads can be sold for $200+ so you're left with a $1000 brand new 4 bolt shortblock that uses good parts, hard to beat that.... No it's not a full out race shortblock but for $1000 what idiot would expect it to be? It's 8.5:1 compression is low but that is with 76 cc heads, swap on better heads with 64cc chambers and possibly thinner head gaskets and the compression issue is taken care of. The cam is mild but you can swap in a decent one for $100...

My engine was originally the Goodwrench, before I ever installed it I sold the stock heads for $250, threw on Vortec heads (64cc)and a CompCams XE262 cam and it is a greet street motor.

That setup will outpower the GM "330hp HO" Vortec crate motors for cheaper (higher compression if my math is right {HO crate only has 9.1:1} and a bigger cam)...

Chevy Hi-perf magazine or maybe Car Craft did a big Goodwrench buildup series back a year or two ago, great results.


The 36 month warranty on this thing is only in pre85 GM vehicles already equiped with 350s though. According to paceparts if in a newer vehicle or non-350 car GM will honor the warranty for 12 months instead. Might as well forget about the warranty and go to town on the mods, the chances of it tearing up within 12 months are virtually nill, besides, you need more power bad...

Briansz28

I had a Goodwrench 350 put into a '85 truck that originally had a 305 and it had a 36 month/ 36,000 mile warranty. I had to get a new water pump and radiator for it to be valid, though

rleprechaun

The articles that Ray 87Z are refering to are in Chev High Preformance. The titles are "The Goodwrench Quest" from Sept. 99- May 2000 with 6 parts. They run the **** out of a Goodwrench 350 on the dyno and eventually make 400hp.
I bought a Goodwrench 350 from Scoggin-Dickey in Aug. 1999 and put 36,000 on it in 1 1/2 years, it has 80,000miles on it now. Other than replacing the valve cover gaskets, I have had NO trouble with it.
Scoggin-Dickey told me if I did not open the engine, the warranty was good for 3 years/36,000 miles, even thought I was putting it in a 1987 Trans-Am.

SSC

The deal with the 350 crate engine is 3-36 if the vehical was an "OE V8 " or had an option for a 350. This is what my old supplier Burt Chevy told me, used as a replacment for lets say my 82 there would only be a 12 month warrenty. Bolt on's are not allowed and can void warrenty last time I checked they claimed a non OEM carb/ intake would void warrenty yada yada and a 70 chevelle dident have an option for a 350 yada yada at this point I told the parts rep to byte me yada yada then asked for manager, I'm not buying engines from you anymore. sad day for that dealer. Any who your not supposed to do anything except pop your parts on or it voids warrenty and yes it is rare but they can take a dump in less then 12 months.

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

i heard from someone who has delt with the need to replace teh engine inder warrantee that gm is pretty cool about the warantee if the engine needs replacing. The 12 mo. warantee does apply for cars that didnt have that engine as an option but other then that the jist i got was taht so long as the failure wasnt user related and the engine wasnt modified from its origional state, theyd replace it.