Very quick question
Does anyone know the best place to find a turn the key used Chevy 350 Small Block? I am looking at doing a completely new rear engine setup with my vehicle so need all the ancillaries as well. I’ve had a look on eBay over the past few weeks and haven’t found anything particularly suitable (in running order and complete).
Even though the Engine was developed in U.S I am surprised to see that there aren’t many around in the U.K (being how many were made)
The only company in the U.K I’ve come across is: http://www.britishamericanengines.co.uk ... prices.asp and even though the engines are refurbished is quite a lot more than I as willing and planning to spend.
Because of this I am begging to think the cheapest option might be to look for a complete vehicle. As along with the Chevy 350 and ancillaries I also need a Th350 auto box.
Just wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction
Tom
Chevy 350
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Hi Tom. Have a look on the Hotrod sites, NSRA is a good one or RodsnSods. Ive been looking for a 350/350 for sometime now and they getr snapped up straight away. The prices on that web link are actually very good for a turn key engine with alloy heads i think. You should expect to pay from £600+ for a cut out 350/350.
I do erratically, often with bits falling off.
try http://www.realsteel.co.uk/ in the menu you will see used engines. There was also a few others came up with a google.
Just a bit of an intro to why I am looking for one (if your questioning)
I’ve got a Mercedes 404 Unimog.
It currently has a standard 2.2 L straight 6 which although is a very sweet engine it simply doesn’t give enough output for the vehicle its in (being that it creates 80bhp and My 404 weighs 2.7).
I am planning on enter off road competitions (winch challenges) in the U.K in a few years but first need to modify the vehicle to suit the events.
As you will have read from the first post I am looking at replacing the engine with a Chevy 350. The current engine bay in a 404 was basically built around the 2.2L and due to this it is extremely difficult to find a suitable replacement.
As a result I am planning on doing a rear engine conversion (as I have many inches of unused chassis behind the cab). My setup will be as follows:
I have got most of the other components in mind and ‘in the book’ although I am currently struggling to find a cheap Chevy 350 and th350 box. I am not looking for anything special just needs to be in good conditions.
Also I feel that a may need to get a company to create some custom engine mounts. So if anyone know of any custom fabrication companies it would be great.
Tom
I’ve got a Mercedes 404 Unimog.
It currently has a standard 2.2 L straight 6 which although is a very sweet engine it simply doesn’t give enough output for the vehicle its in (being that it creates 80bhp and My 404 weighs 2.7).
I am planning on enter off road competitions (winch challenges) in the U.K in a few years but first need to modify the vehicle to suit the events.
As you will have read from the first post I am looking at replacing the engine with a Chevy 350. The current engine bay in a 404 was basically built around the 2.2L and due to this it is extremely difficult to find a suitable replacement.
As a result I am planning on doing a rear engine conversion (as I have many inches of unused chassis behind the cab). My setup will be as follows:
I have got most of the other components in mind and ‘in the book’ although I am currently struggling to find a cheap Chevy 350 and th350 box. I am not looking for anything special just needs to be in good conditions.
Also I feel that a may need to get a company to create some custom engine mounts. So if anyone know of any custom fabrication companies it would be great.
Tom
Last edited by Tom.H on Sat May 16, 2009 11:08 am, edited 3 times in total.
Hi
It really depends on what you mean by cheep, a quick ebay search will pull up a number of creat 350s from the UK with 300 to 350 bhp depending on exact spec, all for about £2.3 to £2.7k, this to me for the power is pretty cheep, you will need to add ancileries and carb/ fuel injection but you will have a new lump and good all day bhp. Find an engine for rebuild, hone the bores re ring the original pistons get a new valve train and for £800 to £1200 you could have an effectivly new standard unit to with similar bhp. pick a less popular size, a 307 or a 327 and you might get a goody for £350 that runs, new bearings a hone and new rings and you are in for another £150 to £200, cam etc another £150 with lifters if you buy from the USA. It depends what you want.
Personally for your aplication I would find a 2 bolt main 4 inch bore base engine preferably one you just have to hone, 327 is a good start because every one wants 4 bolt 350s, get a 3.75 crank (cast) from the states with a set of Hyperutetic flat top pistons and a set of aftermarket ally vortec heads, add a mild ish spec cam (roller hydraulic if you have the later 327 block that will take one) and you will have a stonking motor that will pull from nothing and realistically cost you less than £2500 if you build it yourself. (you can get a kit including rods off e-bay to this spec for less than $1000 including shells etc)
Mike
It really depends on what you mean by cheep, a quick ebay search will pull up a number of creat 350s from the UK with 300 to 350 bhp depending on exact spec, all for about £2.3 to £2.7k, this to me for the power is pretty cheep, you will need to add ancileries and carb/ fuel injection but you will have a new lump and good all day bhp. Find an engine for rebuild, hone the bores re ring the original pistons get a new valve train and for £800 to £1200 you could have an effectivly new standard unit to with similar bhp. pick a less popular size, a 307 or a 327 and you might get a goody for £350 that runs, new bearings a hone and new rings and you are in for another £150 to £200, cam etc another £150 with lifters if you buy from the USA. It depends what you want.
Personally for your aplication I would find a 2 bolt main 4 inch bore base engine preferably one you just have to hone, 327 is a good start because every one wants 4 bolt 350s, get a 3.75 crank (cast) from the states with a set of Hyperutetic flat top pistons and a set of aftermarket ally vortec heads, add a mild ish spec cam (roller hydraulic if you have the later 327 block that will take one) and you will have a stonking motor that will pull from nothing and realistically cost you less than £2500 if you build it yourself. (you can get a kit including rods off e-bay to this spec for less than $1000 including shells etc)
Mike
poppet valves rule!
As an example of a 3.75" crank kit http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SB-Chevy ... ccessories
I bought my 383 kit from this lot, mine was an all forged set up but the same idea, they do take the wee wee as far as postage goes though, there are many others offering very similar kits. I would look for a 2 bolt main 4" bore block first and start from there. The small block chevy is a very easy engine to rebuild.
Mike
I bought my 383 kit from this lot, mine was an all forged set up but the same idea, they do take the wee wee as far as postage goes though, there are many others offering very similar kits. I would look for a 2 bolt main 4" bore block first and start from there. The small block chevy is a very easy engine to rebuild.
Mike
poppet valves rule!
Thanks for the reply
I had a chat to real steel and he seemed to suggest that there is a high demand for 350’s. As I have already suggested on this board he aggress that the cheapest option would probably be to locate a complete vehicle with the correct block and box in.
It seems that most Chevy cars are quite sort after and as a result cheap ones are not really available. because of this I had a quick look at the Ford V8’s and what’s available (As I am yet to create mounts for the engine and box on the chassis so there is no real problem changing my mind at this stage.)
Although Ford V8’s are still quite hard to come across I did have some success. I found quite a few Ford Econoline available for very decent prices (A few under 1K).
As they are not seen as highly as Chevys less have been looked after and many of them have failed there Mot’s or have bad body work (although still have good engine and boxes, it seems)
Example being: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1980-Ford-Econoli ... 3:1|294:50
I feel that this may be one of the cheapest alternatives …. Although I am yet to do any proper research into both the engine and box
Are they known to have any problems?
Tom
I had a chat to real steel and he seemed to suggest that there is a high demand for 350’s. As I have already suggested on this board he aggress that the cheapest option would probably be to locate a complete vehicle with the correct block and box in.
It seems that most Chevy cars are quite sort after and as a result cheap ones are not really available. because of this I had a quick look at the Ford V8’s and what’s available (As I am yet to create mounts for the engine and box on the chassis so there is no real problem changing my mind at this stage.)
Although Ford V8’s are still quite hard to come across I did have some success. I found quite a few Ford Econoline available for very decent prices (A few under 1K).
As they are not seen as highly as Chevys less have been looked after and many of them have failed there Mot’s or have bad body work (although still have good engine and boxes, it seems)
Example being: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1980-Ford-Econoli ... 3:1|294:50
I feel that this may be one of the cheapest alternatives …. Although I am yet to do any proper research into both the engine and box
Are they known to have any problems?
Tom
Hi
a good way to go, the 302 ford makes good power, standard heads are better than the Chevy, (chevy vortec heads are a as good but ar less common), the standard motor is a little keener to rev but produces a little less low down. It is very tunable and is as easy to get parts for. it weighs quite a bit less aswell which is definatly a good thing. With a decent manifold and carb and headers it will make 250 bhp easily. Put it on fuel injection (ford manifold and megasquirt) it will make a little more and put up with being at funny angles. all the tuning bits you can get for a chevy you can get versions of for a 302 (heads, pistons rods long throw cranks). it costs about 10% more for the tuning stuff but is made up for by the lower initial cost. if you buy the whole thing then the 9" rear end can be sold on for a few hundread quid which makes things a bit cheeper too. the 302 is a flat tappet cam engine but the block is about the strongest ford block. The 5.0L block comes with a roller cam and an EFI manifold but the block has a reputation of cracking at higher outputs (over about 450 bhp) having said that in the states there are 5.0l engines being drag raced on turbos that make close to a 800bhp and the blocks stay together.
Mike
a good way to go, the 302 ford makes good power, standard heads are better than the Chevy, (chevy vortec heads are a as good but ar less common), the standard motor is a little keener to rev but produces a little less low down. It is very tunable and is as easy to get parts for. it weighs quite a bit less aswell which is definatly a good thing. With a decent manifold and carb and headers it will make 250 bhp easily. Put it on fuel injection (ford manifold and megasquirt) it will make a little more and put up with being at funny angles. all the tuning bits you can get for a chevy you can get versions of for a 302 (heads, pistons rods long throw cranks). it costs about 10% more for the tuning stuff but is made up for by the lower initial cost. if you buy the whole thing then the 9" rear end can be sold on for a few hundread quid which makes things a bit cheeper too. the 302 is a flat tappet cam engine but the block is about the strongest ford block. The 5.0L block comes with a roller cam and an EFI manifold but the block has a reputation of cracking at higher outputs (over about 450 bhp) having said that in the states there are 5.0l engines being drag raced on turbos that make close to a 800bhp and the blocks stay together.
Mike
poppet valves rule!
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ian.stewart
- Forum Contributor
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- Location: Far Far south, any further south and my feet are wet
The obvious advantage with the ford over the chevy is its over 100lbs lighter, plenty of tuning parts availabe at a reasonable prices,
The thing that would make your Unimog climb walls would be a detroit v8 diesel, generally cheap to buy, strong as you could wish for, or even a late eurodiesel, I think VW do a v8 diesel and certainly do a V10 diesel with over 600ft lbs of torque. certainly later diesels with common rail/turbo tech make sense. but you may need to circumnavigate some electronics
The thing that would make your Unimog climb walls would be a detroit v8 diesel, generally cheap to buy, strong as you could wish for, or even a late eurodiesel, I think VW do a v8 diesel and certainly do a V10 diesel with over 600ft lbs of torque. certainly later diesels with common rail/turbo tech make sense. but you may need to circumnavigate some electronics
THE SMOKING GNU
12.604 with an old boiler of a RV8 and no gas
WHY are there so many IANS on this site???????
12.604 with an old boiler of a RV8 and no gas
WHY are there so many IANS on this site???????
Thanks for the reply
Overall a diesel would probably be more suitable but I in general dislike them (a lot).
Although lots of torque is desirable a few people have questioned how well the rest of the mog’s drive train will hold up. As over engineered as mog are I don’t want to be sending stupid amounts of power and torque through it.
I previously did some calculations using a Chevy 350 and Th350 auto (as an example). I worked out that if I was to put both gearboxes in 1st; the manual box would be receiving 958 ft•lb and outputting a scary 12382 ft•lb. Even thought these seem like huge figures this is only happing at 2mph (with the engine at 4500 rpm with 44” tyres on)
I am begging to feel quite confident about the Ford blocks. It seems that there our plenty of Ford Econoline around and many of them in running order for less that £1k.
The 351 CID Windsor V8 seems to be a bit harder to come across. Saying this I feel that the 302 CID Windsor will be just as suitable (as really don’t want to be sending any more than 300bhp through the mog)
From the websites I’ve come across it seems a pretty standard 302 will produce around 220 hp 300 lb•ft (407 N•m). I don’t really want to look at modifying the engine, yet (My main concentration will be fitting it, I’ll use it a bit and then decided if it needs a bit more poke)
I am currently struggling to find what auto boxes were used in the Ford Econoline. It seems that both a 4 speed and 3 speed were availed.
Could anyone tell me the model number/names of these auto box’s (so I can research in their ratios?)
Also am I right that the outputs shafts of the Ford Econoline boxes are made to accept props. As you can see from my diagram my setup has the output of the gearbox going through a prop and then to a U box (just need some confirmation before I start placing bids
)
Overall a diesel would probably be more suitable but I in general dislike them (a lot).
Although lots of torque is desirable a few people have questioned how well the rest of the mog’s drive train will hold up. As over engineered as mog are I don’t want to be sending stupid amounts of power and torque through it.
I previously did some calculations using a Chevy 350 and Th350 auto (as an example). I worked out that if I was to put both gearboxes in 1st; the manual box would be receiving 958 ft•lb and outputting a scary 12382 ft•lb. Even thought these seem like huge figures this is only happing at 2mph (with the engine at 4500 rpm with 44” tyres on)
I am begging to feel quite confident about the Ford blocks. It seems that there our plenty of Ford Econoline around and many of them in running order for less that £1k.
The 351 CID Windsor V8 seems to be a bit harder to come across. Saying this I feel that the 302 CID Windsor will be just as suitable (as really don’t want to be sending any more than 300bhp through the mog)
From the websites I’ve come across it seems a pretty standard 302 will produce around 220 hp 300 lb•ft (407 N•m). I don’t really want to look at modifying the engine, yet (My main concentration will be fitting it, I’ll use it a bit and then decided if it needs a bit more poke)
I am currently struggling to find what auto boxes were used in the Ford Econoline. It seems that both a 4 speed and 3 speed were availed.
Could anyone tell me the model number/names of these auto box’s (so I can research in their ratios?)
Also am I right that the outputs shafts of the Ford Econoline boxes are made to accept props. As you can see from my diagram my setup has the output of the gearbox going through a prop and then to a U box (just need some confirmation before I start placing bids
) 
Try this guy http://www.americanv8engines.co.uk/ I know a few people who have bought cut-out engines from him. Guy's name is Adrian.
Big Tone
www.cobratone.co.uk
www.cobratone.co.uk
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kev_the_mole
- Forum Contributor
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Tom,
also try Eurodragster http://www.eurodragster.com/classifieds ... category=9
This is current:
Date: 5/17/2009 12:05:10 PM Ref: 00091784
small block chevy engine + autobox
Complete small block chevy engine and autogearbox. Cant be bothered with ebay. Come from running car, was for cobra project but wanna go SBF now.
£500
Contact: Adrian
Country: uk
Tel: 07512338744
Also I have a 'rebuilder' if you really get stuck.
Cheers,
Ian
also try Eurodragster http://www.eurodragster.com/classifieds ... category=9
This is current:
Date: 5/17/2009 12:05:10 PM Ref: 00091784
small block chevy engine + autobox
Complete small block chevy engine and autogearbox. Cant be bothered with ebay. Come from running car, was for cobra project but wanna go SBF now.
£500
Contact: Adrian
Country: uk
Tel: 07512338744
Also I have a 'rebuilder' if you really get stuck.
Cheers,
Ian
It's an engine Jim.....but not as we know it
