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Alright. Heres the deal. I bought a parts truck with what I was told has a small block Chevy 350. Supposedly the engine and tranny have only 3,500 miles on it. The previous owner gave me all the recipts for the tranny, so I know it's new. He also gave me recipts for the engine mods (intake, carb, cam, etc.) but doesn't have any receipt's for the engine work itself. So, last night I decided to tear down the engine to verify that it is all new inside. Now the fun begins. First off, I want to make sure that this engine is a 350 and not a 305 or anything. So I start looking on the side of the block and I can't find any "350" markings anywhere.
So question #1 is...how else can I tell if this engine is a 350? The heads are staying on so I can't check the bore size.
Now, I'm taking off the harmonic balancer and all is well until the balancer comes off and I see that where the end of the puller was turning, happened to be at the crank end. The puller has a cone shaped end on it and when I was cranking down on it, it bored out the end of the crank. It basically tapered the inside of the end of the crank where the threads are. It only did so about 1/8" in but still, :o:o:o:o!!! is all that I could say.
So question #2 is...I know the machine shop balances the crankshaft when doing the machine work, so is removing some material going to throw the entire crank out of whack or will the balancer make up for little things like that or ?
After dealing with that, I take off the timing cover to find a dual timing chain setup. I'm thinking to myself, "Cool, I think stock motors from the factory come with single timing chain setups so obviously someone has at least been into the engine this far." As I look in between the gap of the bottom of the timing chain and the oil pan, I see something shiny. I grab some needle nose pliers and pull out of the oil pan one of the three tiny oil galley plugs. Now, it was sitting inside the oil pan but on the upper part of the pan which I thought was odd. Almost like it just feel out when I was pulling the engine or when I put it on the stand. I also inspected the plug and it does not look beat up at all like one would after getting tossed around from the crank.
So question #3 is...how do I check to make sure that the valvetrain on the left side of the engine is alright? (It was the left galley plug that feel out)
I need to know answers to these questions before I begin the assembly (which I was hoping to do tomorrow on New Year's Day) Thanks.
So question #1 is...how else can I tell if this engine is a 350? The heads are staying on so I can't check the bore size.
Now, I'm taking off the harmonic balancer and all is well until the balancer comes off and I see that where the end of the puller was turning, happened to be at the crank end. The puller has a cone shaped end on it and when I was cranking down on it, it bored out the end of the crank. It basically tapered the inside of the end of the crank where the threads are. It only did so about 1/8" in but still, :o:o:o:o!!! is all that I could say.
So question #2 is...I know the machine shop balances the crankshaft when doing the machine work, so is removing some material going to throw the entire crank out of whack or will the balancer make up for little things like that or ?
After dealing with that, I take off the timing cover to find a dual timing chain setup. I'm thinking to myself, "Cool, I think stock motors from the factory come with single timing chain setups so obviously someone has at least been into the engine this far." As I look in between the gap of the bottom of the timing chain and the oil pan, I see something shiny. I grab some needle nose pliers and pull out of the oil pan one of the three tiny oil galley plugs. Now, it was sitting inside the oil pan but on the upper part of the pan which I thought was odd. Almost like it just feel out when I was pulling the engine or when I put it on the stand. I also inspected the plug and it does not look beat up at all like one would after getting tossed around from the crank.
So question #3 is...how do I check to make sure that the valvetrain on the left side of the engine is alright? (It was the left galley plug that feel out)
I need to know answers to these questions before I begin the assembly (which I was hoping to do tomorrow on New Year's Day) Thanks.
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