There are some posts early on about what engine I would go with. I have decided to go old school and get another GM 350 motor. One became available and I bought it. It’s in the process of getting all setup like I would like. Mild engine with enough power but good to drive on long trips. I say mild but I am shooting for

410 – 415 horsepower.

405 – 415 torque

This is low by today’s standards but back in the 60’s and 70’s this was on the high side. People now-a-days can take a Chevy 350 to 1000 hp. I am building a “cruiser” truck to travel around in and take to car shows.

Here are some pics of it when bought and getting worked on.

Here is the engine before the work started on it.

Three pics of the work being done Pictures taken 1/24/2023

The last three shots are new valve spring being put in. The ones I bought arre top of the line for this year engine. All indications from researching is that its a 2006 crate motor that someone started to rebuild with some top of the line GM aluminum heads. These are the parts you are looking at in these three pics.

Parts let to go on. Roller Rockers – New camshaft – New valve covers – New gaskets – New timing chain – new timing cover and new paint (Chevy Orange) With the new parts someone already started putting on it and the matching of good parts i am trying my best to do this should be a good reliable mild horsepower “400ish”engine and will be a good “runner”.

I have more real good parts to go on…….about $1200 worth of them. It’s going to look a lot different than the first pic above. Fingers are crossed no issues. Still need:

Would love to get it on the dyno and see what it will put out, but I am in a time crunch so that may not happen.

Updates on the engine

Engine getting painted. This is where it’s at today 2/15/2023. I put the a new valve cover on just to get an idea on what it will look like when the painting is done. Just note here…parts guy at the store sold me the wrong color paint. I have got the correct color…..so this will look the correct Chevy Performance Orange when it gets the second and third coat of paint. Look at the oil pan on the bottom….its looks more orange….as it should, it was painted with the correct paint color.

Hopefully in a couple of days it will be as complete as it can before getting swapped into the truck, which I am scrambling to get the truck done enough to limp it to the school so that can happen. Here is where I am at with the truck.

It was dark so pics are not great.

Update: 3/7/2023 – I have it back on the ground…been 2 years. I have to sort a couple of brake line drips. The 2.5 inch drop in the front made a huge difference in my opinion. I did manage with a friend to get the brake line drips stopped i think. I now have to work on getting to front steering components aligned enough to drive it to the school.

Update 3/7/2023 – The engine is almost done. As I said earlier it will look alot different. I went with an old school look with some modern accents. Here are some new pictures…just take alot above and see the progression and how much the engine looks different.

Here is some details:

Primed and painted with Chevy orange paint (engines from the 60’s and 70’s would have come in this color). I painted all the new aluminum parts this color. Others leave the aluminum not painted….but old school.

Black Krinkle official Proform GM Chevy tall Center Bolt valve covers with breather

New 160 amp Official GM Proform Alternator

New Aluminum turnbuckle style alternator bracket (turnbuckle style ensures infinite adjustment)

New Marine AC Delco spark plugs correct for this engine (what it would have came with)

New 8 inch correct for this engine balancer (what it would have come with)

New high flow Water Pump long style (what GM trucks had)

Moroso GM style Spark plug wires looms (Original GM’s where crazy expensive – I saw no point)

Proform High performance new HEI Distributor (Provides spark to plugs)

New 8mm GM Performance ignition wires – (red for contrast)

New aluminum time cover (hard to see its behind the balancer)

Footnote: that old crappy looking starter works, but will be replaced with a new mini starter.

New internal parts list coming and part numbers so if anyone what to duplicate this they can I will provide as much info as I can.

Update On Engine

New engine is about to go in the truck…….maybe in the next couple of days. Pictures below.

After this is in it will down to some tuning and hopefully getting it running great. I will be making a list of the parts I put in this engine to get it from the pictures that started this post to the one sitting in front of the truck in this picture. I have to grab all my receipts and make that list.

Also, it will be great if this engine fires up with minimal tuning and no issues. Hunting for what I wanted and needed has been a challenge and is continuing to be, I still need to get the correct power steering bracket.

Engine is installed…….

Finish installing all the doodads from the old engine – install radiator and fill – install exhaust manifolds and mufflers – Tune Carb – check all engine vitals – oil pressure and such – install fuel pressure regulator

Hopefully all engine sounds will be normal and all good.

9/6/2023

Engine has been broke in and sounds ok. I am still getting some little odds and ends done. I had to get a temporary exhaust put on. This was just so when the engine is broke in it and to at least have some sort of exhaust on until later when a complete exhaust can be put on. Here are some pictures of me getting it back from the exhaust shop.

Here are some pictures of the exhaust manifolds I had to use. Tried headers but the ones I bought that were supposed to fit did not. While these are not as performance orientated as headers and are just a little better than stock manifolds, they fit better, seals better than headers and will work great for my needs. I am not racing this truck so I am happy with these. I had to get new motor mounts for clearance, but it had to be done. They were not cheap for what they are.