Blue oval guy with bowtie questions

[ClassicFordGuy]

Well I'm not that old(22) so I don't know that much about different engines and what is good and bad, all I have ever owned or rebuilt are fords and the one 7.3 idi in my truck.

I have a good friend who was actualy my chemistry teacher back in high school, he is a car nut like me but up untill recently has never really worked on his own cars. His father over the course of the past couple years handed down a few of his toys, a 97 993 911 porche and a 67 stingray convertible corvette with a 327 and a four speed. I have gotten him into working on his own cars, last night we tackled the 6 hour job of changing the 12 spark plugs in the porche, I now understand why porche charges $700 to do the job.

Anyway my questions pertain to the the corvette. It currently has a good running 327 in it but it is a bit sluggish. We would like to find a good rebuildable engine to build up as our time and his funds permit and swap into the vette once rebuilt. The car is not daily driven, just a fun car, saterday backroad adventures and stuff like that. It is in very good shape and mostly original which is why we don't want to use the original engine. We would like to build a good reliable engine, I would think around 400hp that we won't break driving it like the houligans that we are.

What should we be looking for when shopping for a rebuildable engine? In the brief bit of looking I did I see that the 327 and 350 share the same block. Also there are 2 and 4 bolt mains, small and large journal (is that crank or rod journal?). Are there years that are better than others? Is one engine cheaper to build up than the other? Which engine would you recomend for our purposes 350 or another 327?

Can you guys help me figure out what I should be looking for in a good rebuildable engine?

Thanks,

-Rob

[LC]

If it is not a daily driver why not rebuild the original ??

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by ClassicFordGuy

...a 67 stingray convertible corvette with a 327 and a four speed.

Back when I was a young whippersnapper, I bought a brand new '65 Corvette Stingray coupe with a 327 and a 4-speed. Back then there were three or 4 levels of 327 engine.

Base engine had 250 horses. Next up had 300. And the expensive one with fuel injection had 350. So if you are thinking of 400 horses, that's a lot more than the originals had. Expect drivetrain parts all over the highway if you go for more than 300 horses without upgrading the clutch, tranny, u-joints, differential, axle shafts, and probably wheels.

Most common was the 300-HP version of the 327. All it needed was high-test gasoline and go. The mechanical fuel injection that gave you more than 300 horses was one huge trouble spot, so only the rich guys bought it, and they spent a lot of time in the shop working on the fuel injection. By '67 models, the big-block engines were available, so the drag strippers had those instead of the mechanical nightmare of mechanical fuel injection.

Today, the big-block versions are worth a lot more money than the small block version, everything else being equal. But the big-block version was only for drag stripping or speeding down straight highways. They certainly were not a "sports car" that was good at going around curves and corners. I always wanted a '67 small-block with air conditioning, but by the time I could afford one, they cost too much.

The 350 CID replaced the 327 CID as the small-block engine. The only difference I remember was a bit different bore and stroke. And in the late '60s, Chevy had a nice hot but street driveable small-block engine in the Z-28 Camaro as well as in the Vette. I think it was called the LT-1.

A '67 'Vette small-block convertible in good shape is worth a lot of money on the collector market. But keep it as close to stock as you can. If the 327 you have is the original engine, then hang onto it and install it when you restore the car to sell on the collector market. "Numbers match" is a big selling point for those rich guys. In the meantime, look for a 350 CID LT-1 or whatever they were called in the late '60s/early '70s, and use that as your knockin' around engine.

On edit: I found it using Live.com search engine. It was later than I remembered = the 1970 models:
"The Z28 saw the most radical change -- an all new 350 cid engine know as the LT-1 350. It was rated at 360bhp (it had a rating of 370bhp when installed in Corvettes). This engine proved much more tractable, reliable, and generally outperformed the 302 engine of old. It was also available with an automatic transmission, the first time for the Z28."
Musclecarclub.com - Chevrolet Camaro - History - 2nd Generation

But same caveat as for the 400 horses explained above. If you find one of these rare engines, don't try to use it unless you upgrade the rest of the drivetrain to handle the extra horses.

If it is not a daily driver why not rebuild the original ??

Because if he goes to 400 horses, there is a good chance that he could throw a rod through the block and lose the "numbers matching" value of the stock engine on the collector-car market.

[Pappy19]

Listen to Smokey on this one. If this Corvette is stock and original, then don't touch it except to make it run good. ANY modifications with take thousands off of it's value. If it is not original and not stock, then it doesn't make much difference what you do. Just realize that any mods will not add to it's value but will be a fun driver.

[ClassicFordGuy]

I know that changing anything from stock will hurt the resale value which is exactly why I want to find a different block to build up. I'm just not one of these baret jackson guys who buys a car to park it in a glass case. One day if he wants it back to stock the original engine, wheels and 4 speed will be sitting in the corner ready to bolt back in. But to me cars are meant to be driven and enjoyed, an all orignal car that you have to worry about poping an original engine isn't much fun. He never plans on selling it as I never plan on selling my 69 Cougar Sports special so resale value is not something that is that important to us though if he ever decides to taking it back to original again will be very easy.

Just trying to figure out how to shop for a good block as I don't know much about chevy engines. I think it would be really fun to show him how easy it is to get dirty and build an engine, instal it and drive something that he built and understands how it works. So getting another block seems like the best rout to avoid ruining the original. 400Hp might be a bit much I'm sure it would realy wake it up to have anything over 300hp.

-Rob

[MarkEkberg]

You might be on the right track wanting a donor engine, but just make sure that he will always go back to stock.

I am kinda in his boat. I have a 76 OLDS with 44K on the clock. I am trying to hunt down a complete LS6 at a resonable cost to do a transplant while I store the origional to go back to stock in the future. With a LS6 or even a LT1 swap I am hoping to get a very drivable and reliable car.

I think something like this would be down his lines. Go modern so he can just have fun with the car instead of working on it all the time. When the time comes the donor engine comes out with all the wiring and the old engine goes back in with no signs that it was even in there.

[dcbowe]

I would buy a crate engine and drop it in. you can get a LT4 brand new from GM 375HP will rev to 6300 rpm for just a little over 4 grand. If you want to rebuild one I would try to get a #10 block 4 bolt early 70s late 60s slap some new alum. 202 heads on it, some good internals with a air gap intake you will get some dyno #s over 300 easy, add some nos or a turbo and get over 400.
A 383 small block can produce some big numbers without any add ons and be reliable.
alot of people keep the original motor in the garage and drop a fun motor in the vett to drive.

[RedSmokey]

build a 350 4 bolt, very inexpensive, especially compared to the ford motors. You can actually get a 383 stroker motor pushing about 400hp for about 3-3.5k already build, or build one for cheaper. 383 stroker is the way to go IMHO, thats what i am going to build for my blazer.