Hey guys I need to buy a rebuild kit for my 350, and I called a shop I found on Ebay, and the guy started asking me all these questions, I'm no expert or anything, but he started asking me about deck height, I know what it is but I don't know what the atual specs are on the 350, I'm going to have high compression, Desktop Dyno estimated 11:1 compression ratio, so would that have anything to do with what deck height or since my compression will be high, should I ask for anything you guys would recomend for higher compression?

 

you can't buy a rebuild kit until you know what overbore it needs. you need your machinist to tell you that.
he probably won't bore it, until he has the pistons you want to use, in his hands. easiest way past that is to use what he has in stock.
deck height is 9.025" usually (right?) either way, he shouldn't need that to sell you a rebuild kit. I can't think of why at least. just needs to know that you want a 1pc RMS set. (assuming you're getting a crank in this kit).

I wouldn't buy a rebuild kit, add the parts yourself based on what you want. buy a $50 gasket 'kit' if you like to buy kits.
you can't calculate your CR until you know your deck height, or specifically, how far your pistons are from your deck, at TDC. certain pistons have different pin heights (1.56" or 1.54" usually). Build your shortblock, then find the heads to give you the CR you want. what cr do you want anyway ? you should get pistons for that range anyway....

 

I'm not boring the block. The cylinder walls measured 4 inch exact. I took the engine to the machine shop, the guy said it looks good if I wanted to use stock pistons. Which I'am because if I didn't I would have to buy new pistons then unpress my rods then press them back into my stock rods, and I really don't have a lof of money left over after buying new heads/cam/intake/cardburator/distributor/ and getting the block power honed and hot tanked. So since Im keeping my stock pistons and not boring the block, should I just ask for a normal rebuild kit without the pistons? Would you happen to know the stock size for the ring size on the stock 4 inch pistons? Thanks

 

Hard to beat summits prices and they should be able to tell you exactly what you need for a standard rebuild..........

 

if you don't want to press your pistons off the rods, and press on new pistons, then you don't want new rods do you? if your pistons are good, your crank is probably ok.
just buy new bearings.
rings? uhh you're joking right? 4" rings for a 4" bore... std size. If they honed it, see if they left the walls for a iron ring or moly faced. usually you leave a different finish for each...

 

one of the best rebuild kits you will find is here http://www.northernautoparts.com/Pro...ctModelId=1668
I have there 383 kit and it runs awsome

 

You're not makin much sense to me here?

 

a rebuild kit usually means all rotating parts. you basically want a re-ring kit. new rings and bearings and gaskets basically.

if you're reusing your stock pistons, then you have to reuse your stock rods. Otherwise you'd be pressing off your old pistons, and putting them on new rods (dumb idea).
you should probably get ARP rod bolts for your rods though, good performance upgrade. you need main, and rod bearings and a small block chevy gasket kit. main bolts from arp are a good idea too, at $17 it's hard to go wrong. You should call whoever hottanked and honed your block, and ask them what kind of rings you should use. They power hone it based on the type of rings you want to use, so if he says "oh go ahead and use moly rings", then that's what you do. if he says "oh, you gotta use iron rings 'cuz I left the walls at bla bla bla", then that's what you do.

you should probably get a new oil pump while you're there, cheap insurance.

i'd ditch ebay, and go to summit. You get more of a warrantee, and a better product, and more customer support from them, and the prices are probably exactly the same.

 

ohhhh Okay I see what you mean. Yeah Im using the stock pistons and rods, if I were to buy rods I would have to buy pistons aswell, but Im to broke for all that $. I actually ditched Ebay, and used the web site up there ^ that guy gave me. They have really good prices and good quality it seems. So thanks for getting into detail there, Im going to call up the machine shop now and ask them about the powerhone. Thanks

-Chris

 

Do you think I'd need to order a new timing chain set to? The old one I'd say had about 100,000 miles on it TOPS. The teeth on it look good to me but then the mileage kind of scares me.

 

Absolutely....and a new oil pump AND oil pump drive shaft with a steel coupler on it not the factory plastic one......$13.00 for the pump and $16.00 for the shaft at summitt (mellings and arp):nod
ANNNNNNND you need a timing set for a roller moter not a standard sbc. Factory GM set is $49.00 at summit......

 

i'd say get a true roller timing chain, robs a bit less power, but is more $. I used a comp double roller, exactly $1 more then the summit brand one $32, so I figured i'd get a good brand name one.

again, I got the oil pump driveshaft since I lost mine, and got the melling (or some other brand...) one with the steel collar. just get a plane ol' melling M55 pump though. Mr gasket #26 spring is a good idea too.
I got mrgasket 87 (head bolt washers) while I was at it, since I was reusing my stock head bolts.... just something to think about.

these little nickel and dime things add up, but are worth it. I probably spent 2+ hrs trying to clean my old dented oil pan, and spraying it hugger orange. still not great. I could have gotten a summit or equivalent pan for $30! I think i'm worth $15/hr!

 

haha thanks for the advice, I think im going to look for the ARP bolts on summit, because at this site their $50+! do you know the part number on your timing set, so i can search it?

 

not trying to rain on your parade but if you use ARP rod bolts on your stock rods, you need to have your rods re-conditioned. the amount of force that is involved in installing them causes them to throw off the "roundeness" of the rod journal bore. in any case you should have them recon'd any way if the motor you're working with has 100k on it. it's not very expensive (approx. $15 per rod) insurance. plus it adds longevity to your motor. both the recon of the rods and ARP bolts are highly recommended IMO.

 

What your really looking for is a refresh kit. All you need is new rings, timing chain, oil pump.

Why do you need new pistons?
Why do you need new ring?

I'd say slap a new timing set, oil pump and bearings on there and call it good.