Washed my block once I was sure I was ready to start assembly. Installed my TA 1559 cam bearings, then oiled 'em up with Lucas assy. lube, DAMN that stuff is THICK! Now for the real test, inserted my cam, AHHHH, beautiful! It fit and rotated as it should On my previous '78 block, I had to ream the bearings because the cam bearing bores were knurled from the factory which really pinched/closed the ID somewhat. I believe the tooling and casting molds were getting sloppy in the later years of the 350, the '78 block had porosity in the oil passage to the #5 main which I sealed with JB weld, and the main caps fit loosely in the register of the block, whereas the original '71 block they fit snuggly. Looking back, I cant remember WHY I changed blocks Washed the crank in laquer thinner then blew out the passages, I HATE using water on iron. I bought 5 gals of thinner and poured it into a plastic 5 gal. bucket. Laquer thinner does an awesome job with any oils that are holding dirt, plus theres no flash rusting
Looking good Mark That's A good idea with the lacquer thinner.I have used it to clean gasket surface when I was out of brake cleaner,worked very good.It looks like your making progress on your build,looking forward to it.
