Loose/broken harmonic balancer - and more

[HotRodPC]

Here's the casting numbers:

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That's a 1980 350 4 bolt main, 4bbl for a C20 or C30 engine made in Flint, MI.

 

[HotRodPC]

I have yet to chase down those casting numbers; they're not super easy to get to on this truck, and knowing that it's got to come out regardless has dampened my motivation for the immediate time being!

Hey - how much would you allow yourself to remove and replace this engine? A weekend? I imagine I'll stab seals on both ends of the tranny since it's been sitting for so long. Could I get it out in a long Saturday (maybe with the help of a good buddy!)? Polish up the tranny, make sure the replacement engine is dialed in, then reverse the process?

Gotta recall - I've never done this on my own. Ever.

So - what would you allow? Whatever you say, I'll triple it! hahaha! Just curious what sort of time you'd be thinking.....

It may just be that this one has to go live somewhere else. I have too many irons in the fire, and to add an engine swap may be the straw for this ol' girl......and I'm embarrassed to even utter such words in a place as great as this.

I'm not going to brag cuz I was experienced, and much younger then, and it was a non AC, no PS, no PB, so all those things make it easier to swap, but I'd swap an engine myself in less than 3 hours. Pull it, drop one in, hook it all up and it's running again, and that included the headers and all. Soooo, you should easily be able to do it in a weekend.

Me and buddies used to swap our engines for a weekend just to see how his would run in my truck, or vise versa. There were times I even loaned a buddy my engine to beat someone that was talking ****. So we swapped engnies on a Sat morning, done by Sat afternoon at the street races Sat night, wipped that ass, then Sunday morning swapped them back. Those were the days.

 

[cptmoney]

Now that's what I like hearing! Hahaha!

Swapping power plants just to shut someone up! Haha. Now those were the days.....

I've got a replacement small block sitting on a stand; I was saving it for something special - but hey....what's more special than a square body?! It's a bone-stock 400ci sbc with around 35K miles. What would you do to it before stabbing it in place?

Head gaskets? Front/rear main seals? Valve cover gaskets? It's been close to 2 years since it was it was pulled from another square body, but it's been stored on a stand indoors ever since. Maybe spice her up with a light RV cam?

 

[HotRodPC]

No need to take the head gaskets off for sure. If it is was stored inside, I'd say most everything should be ok with it. If you did do a cam swap, then by default you'd have new intake, valve cover and timing cover gaskets. Just because I always do when I'm putting in a new used engine, poke at the freeze plugs real good make sure they're not rusting through, especially the ones in the back of the block since they require pulling the transmission to replace. If it were a transmisson with all the rubber O rings you might have a problem after sitting 2 years, but not so much with an egine. Most of the gaskets are flat paper or compressed gaskets.

 

[cptmoney]

Thanks HotRod - I was hoping it wouldn't need too much.

On another note....I was about to contort myself into the angriest position possible to chase down the following pics of the existing engine's casting numbers. Can anyone confirm that is in fact NOT the original '77 small block that would have come with the truck? I'm already quite sure that it's not OEM equipment, but just to satisfy my own curiosities.....

Here's the thing: if it's all original, then I'll feel obligated to try and salvage it to keep it as close to original as possible. That means a month of shop work and whatnot before anything exciting happens. But if it's already been butchered, then the door is wide open! Drop in the 400 that I already have waiting to go and get 'wheeling!

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Let me know your thoughts....

 

[cptmoney]

What do you think that is? "1480207"? The third and fourth digits are super hard to discern, even for me! And my face was right on them!

 

[cptmoney]

I'm thinking that it may be a "14010207"

That third digit it super hard to discern - but I believe that it could be a "0". The fourth digit may really be a "10" instead of a "0"; it's a bit thick for just a single digit.

 

[74 Shortbed]

Well, it sure looks like it but I looked in every chart I could find and the only casting number I find with the last 3 digits "207" is this???

14010207 80-85 350 car & Truck 2 & 4-Bolt Passenger stick