Not sure what to do?

[Barney1970 CST]

I am at a point were I do not know what I want to do with my 70 CST lwb. I have the orginal 350 that came in the truck and have pulled it for a rebuild, already pulled and had the 350 trans. rebuilt. I am looking at the money the 350 is going to cost me in new parts and machine work, and reworking the heads, parts and machine work will run me around $3,000. I was not going to build anything very wild, everything new inside, except the crank and rods. My problem is I can get a rebuilt 350 that is already built cheaper then what I can go thru my 350. I do not care about keeping it orginal for now, I will keep the orginal motor. Do you guys trust buying motors from CL and things like that? I have a buddy who runs a machine shop, he is also the guy who does my machine work. He has motors he has built and people did not pay for, I can get a built Big Block for $3,000 from him. What would you guys do?

[1low]

cl is a gamble sounds like a good deal on a rebuilt big block id go that rout

[Barney1970 CST]

Originally Posted by MJs69CST

If your not concerned with keeping it a matching numbers truck, I would buy something from your buddy. Trouble with a lot of Craigslist motors is no receipts; on occasion you can find one with the receipts though--got my stroker 383 that way.

Anyways, best of luck with your motor choice.

My buddy has a 383 stoker he will sell for $2900, it has alum. heads. I figured it may be a little wilder then I wanted, he has not put a cam in it yet so I can tone it down.

[Barney1970 CST]

Originally Posted by 1low

cl is a gamble sounds like a good deal on a rebuilt big block id go that rout

I have a 70 CST swb with a big block in it and it is a blast. I can get the brackets and the motor mounts, I just dont know how the front springs will do. My other truck is a factory big block so it does fine, this truck is not. How do these trucks do with not changing the springs when installing a big block in place of a small block.

[mr48chev]

I'm gun shy of "craigslist" rebuilt motors unless I know who has done the rebuilding and it has some sort of warrenty. There are a couple of guy in this area who are always advertising "rebuilt" engines in the little nickle or Craigslist and you really don't know what parts are in the engine or who did the machine work or how much machine work was actually done or what was replaced and what wasn't. One of those guys I know for sure usually just does a ring and valve job using a rering kit with rod and main bearings, throws in a new timing set an a new oil pump and calls the engine rebuilt.

There are some decent GM 350 Crate motors straight from the GM performance dealers that won't break the bank. New engine with a warrenty. You might want to check that out first before laying down a stack of cash.

Here are the offerings from one dealer http://www.superchevyperformance.com...gines_s/17.htm
Prices are all over the place so it could be worth shopping around http://www.citycratemotors.com/scrip...product=323685

[Barney1970 CST]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I'm gun shy of "craigslist" rebuilt motors unless I know who has done the rebuilding and it has some sort of warrenty. There are a couple of guy in this area who are always advertising "rebuilt" engines in the little nickle or Craigslist and you really don't know what parts are in the engine or who did the machine work or how much machine work was actually done or what was replaced and what wasn't. One of those guys I know for sure usually just does a ring and valve job using a rering kit with rod and main bearings, throws in a new timing set an a new oil pump and calls the engine rebuilt.

There are some decent GM 350 Crate motors straight from the GM performance dealers that won't break the bank. New engine with a warrenty. You might want to check that out first before laying down a stack of cash.

I never really looked at it that way, I can get a warrenty. I will look into that and see what they cost. I can always just stay with the orginal motr and rebuild that, will cost me a little more, but I will know what I have.