76 up 350 blocks have slightly higher deck hieght so compression will be alittle lower and oil pickup is better but i would still drill out oil passages from sump and into block if you can
I always use a 73-80 block because any head will fit with out the scallop isue. The 72-68 head will work on this block. Dan
68, 69 and 70 blocks are thicker and potentially stronger, but harder to find in good running condition withoout overbore from a previous re-build. Idealy one would find a virgin 70 engine with 55,000 miles with no valvenoise, smoke and nice and evenly worn bearings upon teardown inspection. I prefer to rebuild "good running" 350s rather than ones that "need" a rebuild. 70-80 is the better oiling system BTW. My Buick 350 Turbo engine came to me running amazing so it was perfect for my build because many others that I have had been rebuilt or needed work. I really like to have an engine rebuilt with the original parts and only replace what I need to. This way the engine goes back together really nice and you know there will be no mismatch of parts. This engine that made 398 hp with the old TRW forgings, and stock rods was just rebuilt and re-ballanced with the Custom diamond forged pistons on the custom rods. Hopefully Marks 350 girdle comes allong pretty quick, a few of us would love the security since we have so many $ in out bottom ends and are boosting to about Double the stock HP and TQ.
:gp: Great. Good to know. IBMOSES traded me a virgin '70. Thanks Bert. My biggest worry is the stock crank. I am all for a girdle and/or billet main caps. I think Sonny had a girdle on the bottom of his.
Bill M had no problems witht he stock cranks up over 850 hp but decided on a custom crank when pushing for the 1000+ hp numbers. no girlde was used on his engine but for prolonged use with HUGE boost a girdle would be very nice to have. At this point there are about 10 of us that want a girlde which makes it an expensive operation because of the low numbers. The main caps will be milled flat on the top and the girldle will tye all the mains together with the oil pan mounting surface. The rear main will require a precission spacer to make up for the lower depth of the rear main bolts. Studs will be used and the girdle will be bolted on top the mains and then allign honed bofore assembly. This is not going to be a bolt on item but when you already have $6000 in the bottom end of an engine then why not a few more?? Yes, Sonny had a girdle on his 350 and I am hoping he will sell us the template for his, so we dont have to do as much trial and error.
