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350 Vortec block

18K views 100 replies 12 participants last post by  1969chevyss 
#1 ·
I came across a 350 vortec block that was supposedly removed from a 99 surburban. Cylinders have been honed and are in good condition.
Comes with pistons and main caps. Can someone give me a little history on these blocks and will it be ok to install in my 69 caprice which has a 350 4 bolt main. If I build this enginem what will be different from any other build on a 350. Guy only wants 50 bucks and I am looking for a spare engine to build to drop in just in case. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#78 ·
1986c10 said:
Im still learning so all my info may be off a tad but i just built a vortec 350. Idk if youre looking to make a race engine, dd, or street strip motor but i did mine with the intention of it being a street strip motor with the help of lots of info from cobalt etc. After long nights trying to figure out what pistons to use to get around 9.5:1, i basically found nothing. I ended up buying a balanced rotating assembly for about $800 from skipwhite. It included probe forged pistons dished -12cc pistons, procomp hbeam rods, scat cast steel 9000 crank, hastings rings, king bearings, flexplate and after a little bickering a harmonic balancer also. The kit isnt intended for racing as it has a cast crank and procomp rods (good/bad) but it can certainly withstand some abuse and some trips to the strip and was alot cheaper then having my stock crank reground, finding pistons that would work, redoing and pressing out the wrist pins and then spending the $200 my shop quoted me for balancing. My heads ended up being 62cc after decking, i used a .024? head gasket, quench was somewhere around .048 i believe and that all landed me around 9.7:1 compression. good luck on your build man!
Are your King bearing the high performance ones or the SI?
 
#80 ·
Yeah the bronze bushing type are floating and can be installed on to the wristpin and piston with tiny screwdrivers and patience if they are the spiral lock type. I believe my king bearings were non silicon (mains) and i think i actually used clevites with the silicon on the rods

here is the exact kit i bought so you can check out the rods. and they are I beam rods, not h beam like i previously posted.

http://www.skipwhiteperformance.com/detail.aspx?Item=350-RA1F30
 
#82 · (Edited)
That has been my first time buying any procomp stuff and i have yet to fire the engine as im trading it for a 454. But from what ive read, procomp has had lots of good and bad said about them. obviously their parts (heads being an example) sell for very cheap compared to other big companies, with that being said i believe strongly in you get what you pay for. But i do believe that eagle is a great company even though they had some problems with cranks a little while ago. Id buy eagle over procomp as far as rods go but i think if you dont race it at the strip every weekend, you wont know the difference. The procomp rods were much better as far as quality then i had originally expected.
 
#83 ·
Just wondering, I have the eagle i beam press rods, but was considering about getting some bushd procomp rods. I also have the Scat crank from ebay and Clevite 77 p-series rod and main bearings. The only thing I'm not sure about are these piston which I got for cheap and I am starting to think I should invest in a better set, even though i wont be racing. I will probably take it all and have it balanced in about a month or so. They said it would be 170 bucks.
 
#84 ·
either way, your rods will have to match the pistons. ie press in piston and press in rod, floater piston and floater rod. So if you have press in rods and press in pistons already, the procomp floater rod wouldnt work with your piston (assuming it is also a press in style piston).
 
#85 ·
Pistons that have grooves for floating pin clips can often be used w/a pressed pin, but not the other way around, i.e. don't use a pressed pin only piston w/bushed rods.

IMHO there's no real advantage to floating pins in a street engine except ease of assembly/disassembly- which isn't done w/a street engine, at least not often. And you save the cost of pressing the pins. The added cost could be a wash.
 
#86 ·
1986c10 said:
either way, your rods will have to match the pistons. ie press in piston and press in rod, floater piston and floater rod. So if you have press in rods and press in pistons already, the procomp floater rod wouldnt work with your piston (assuming it is also a press in style piston).
Yeah I know my pistons are both pressed and floating.
 
#87 ·
1969chevyss said:
Just wondering, I have the eagle i beam press rods, but was considering about getting some bushd procomp rods. I also have the Scat crank from ebay and Clevite 77 p-series rod and main bearings. The only thing I'm not sure about are these piston which I got for cheap and I am starting to think I should invest in a better set, even though i wont be racing. I will probably take it all and have it balanced in about a month or so. They said it would be 170 bucks.
The Eagle SIR I-Beam rods are junk pieces that won't hold size. The Pro-Comp rods are junk, period.

Look at Scat I-beam rods. Nice pieces that are very affordable.

tom
 
#93 ·
Mann lol you had me sweating I was getting ready to curse the machine shop out. And you took for ever to reply back, lol. I did notice that when I compared my block to my buddies which is not chamfered. Thanks for looking. I can tell now you are going to be a big help on this build.
 
#101 ·
I am taking my parts to the machine shop this week to get a balanced done. Here are the parts that I was told by a known good machine shop to bring in for the balance. Let me know if this sounds right.

Harmonic balancer plus bolt
Front crank timing gear plus both keys
Crankshaft
Flywheel plus bolt
Rods
Pistons
1 rod bearing
1 ring bearing
 
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