Winter 2020 (Now Spring 2023) 350 Fresh-Up Project

So far, so good. I finally changed the break-in oil. I wanted to change it sooner but weather took a turn last year and it fell off my radar. The nice weather this weak was what I needed. I took it out to warm up the oil and changed it. I used 5W30 Driven oil I've had for a bit but it is high zinc and gives great oil pressure.

I cut the filter open and the magnet I always stick on my filters had a little crud attached. About what I'd expect for a new engine/cam/lifter break-in. No sparkles in the filter media and the oil looked clean after a check ride.

So far, I've taken it to 5,000 RPM but no speed shifting due to the clutch needing 500 miles of break-in before abuse.

 

I can't remember what all you did in your fresh up. Don't really want to skim 20 pages lol.

 

TL;DNR
91K tired 350, torn down, found worn cam, lifters and rocker arms. 2 years in machine shop jail, decked block 0.020, went back standard everything and was balanced. True 9:1 compression ratio. Installed TA212 cam, Stage 1 intake and Hooker headers. Runs like a top.

 

I regret using the 284 cam. My build still needs work to perform like I really want it to.

What transmission and rear gear?
Are you running the original 91k bottom end?
Are you spinning tires nicely?

 

It was an original 350 4-speed with 3.08 gears and M21 close ratio. That really sucked. It felt like I was taking off in 2nd gear. I was also skipping gears because the drop just wasn't good feeling.

Now, I have an M23Z (2.98:1 first gear vs the M21 2.2:1 first gear) that makes the 3.08 gears launch like 4.11 gears and still get 1:1 4th gear with 3.08. It has a near perfect drop between the gears. I don't feel the need to skip gears anymore.

The crank was standard and only polished, new ARP rod bolts and resized rods. Bores where nice and only honed. I put new bearings including TA hardened-back-grooved cam bearings. New rings used a set of shaved heads with smaller chambers.

Yes, it spins tires, even the big 275-60-15s I put on it after the rebuild. Before it fell on its nose at 4,500 RPM. It would pull farther but very slowly. Now it wraps up to 5,000 RPM quickly. I'll eventually push it harder with more miles, maybe 5,200-5,500 but that's my hard redline.

Sorry about your cam. I actually bought a lot of parts a member was selling and it came with a TA 290 cam. I debated using it but decided to go with the TA212 since my wife wanted to be able to drive it.