I want to mention some of the "while I am in there" stuff. One of the things I had not thought about was the harmonic balancer. You can see the old one is a little oily and the rubber is deterioated. In theory I could reuse this one but that would be flat out stupid. A new one is about 50 bucks.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1321907168.jpg

This is a picture that shows the size difference of the replacement manifolds.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1321907858.jpg

The area behind the text is a piece of the image that is the width of the manifold. This puts it into perspective just how much bigger the replacement manifolds really are than the old 305 manifolds.

Nice job!

angela

I took over 60 photos of the process of disassembly. Hopefully it will help me remember how to get it all back into place.

I started a list of things I wanted to replace that were not REQUIRED but I think would be crazy NOT to replace.

My list included:

The radiator hoses, top and bottom.
One gallon of Anti freeze
3 fan belts
the seal under the distributor
A PCV valve & air cleaner & breather
A oil pressure sender for the oil pressure guage
A thermostat
Spark plugs & spark plug wires
Distributor cap & rotor
and as mentioned already the harmonic balancer

I can't see re-using old antifreze. The radiator hoses and fan belts were OK but they are several years old. It is a pain to replace them so why not do it it now. The oil pressure sender is buried under the distriburor and a major paint to replace. I did that 8 or 10 years ago and it was no fun. Why not replace a 10 year old pressure sender that cost 33 bucks.

You can see the harmonic balancer was pretty much toast so it was a total no brainer to replace it.

I bought some black paint to pretty up some of the parts that go back on the engine. Overall nothing crazy, no massive chrome no crazy upgrades.

lI can feel the grit on my face, and the pain in my hands and knuckles just looking at those pics.

Oh, and it's cold as hell outside too. Give's me the heebejeebes. (plenty of bad memories)

My forehead is also starting to hurt too from banging it against the frame rail getting out from under the car....

rjp

Not to mention the groove around the shaft that can cause an oil leak. I know that many/most timing chain filter kits offer a sleeve to mitigate the groove problem, but why put that nasty old balancer on a NEW engine. Yeah, there will probably be a few things that you will want to replace. I can't wait to hear what your thoughts are regarding the performance of the new engine.

I do have heat in the garage. I work in my t-shirt and jeans. I don't like to be cold.

The grit and dirt suck. To get the starter off was a chore. The thing was covered in oil and grime. It was the dirtiest part of the job.

The new engine will have over double the HP of the of and tired 305. Once everything is sorted and broken it I will have it dynoed just to know the real numbers.

I power wash everything first in the driveway then push the POS into the garage to work....

memories. I'm actually inspired to build a TPI powered 1970 ElCamino looking at your deal.

rjp

How did this topic not come up at the last board meeting? Probably best that it didn't....Richard would probably have tried to convince you that a 928 engine would have swapped right in with little work....

Grady, he has been talking about it for months.....


And Richard and I have firmly been on the LT1 bandwagon, but Glen is being his typical, sensible self.

Grady, the new engine will more than double the power of the old engine. That is more than enough for a daily driver.

I spent some more time in the garage tonight. I think all the parts from the old engine are off. The intake was a pain to get off. There is one bolt that is almost impossible to get to. It is crammed in so tight between two raised parts of the manifold that a open end or box wrench does not have room to fit.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1321934030.jpg

The manifold yielded to my will and here is the engine minus the intake. No sludge to speak of after 300K miles. I am impressed.

Now the fun part will begin. CLEANING lotsa parts. Fun Fun!

I am thinking of cheating and going for one more "While I Am In There" upgrade. The old intake is very dirty. It will take a lot of work to clean out the carbon in the ports. I may break down and just buy a replacement. Only if I can find an exact replacement. for the mounts for the throttle body. I don't want to have to make another throttle cable bracket. Hopefully I can find a good intake that is a bolt on replacement.

Hey if ya get bored and want to practice cleaning parts just drop by tomorrow evening. ;)

The manifold is iron right? Get it tanked.

rjp

Actually the manifold is the factory original OEM manifold and it is aluminum.

Look at the carbon buildup on the ports. :eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1321971113.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1321971202.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1321971309.jpg

Of course the old heads are bretty carboned up as well. Since they go to the scrap yard I don't care.

I have another question for the brain trust.

I bought a new harminic balancer. It is clearly a larger size than the old one. Do any of you see a problem with that? Should I take the new one back and try to get the smaller one?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1321971904.jpg

Here is a photo of the old one on the engine.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1321972749.jpg

It looks like the timing tab would be in the way if it was going back on the old engine. The engine does not have a tab mounted on the timing chain cover.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1321972944.jpg

It has two tabs that mount with two of the bolts from the chain cover.

Does the larger balancer have any real value to a engine that will almost never rev above 3500 RPM?

shouldn't be an issue- other than the timing tab- make sure they line up. looks like you gotta buy a timing tab.

The crate engine came with two different tabs in a plastic baggie sitting in intake valley. I just gotta figure out which one to use. First I have to figure out TDC #1 and make the mark align up there.

Radiator hoses...I've seen blue colored "silicone" ones advertised. I don't know if they're really better, but might be a nice dress-up item.

I'm pretty sure that port is just a pre-heater port. It allows exhaust into the intake to get the intake up to temp. It's an emissions thing. I wouldn't worry too much about it being clogged. Still, I would drop any of those dirty parts off at a machine shop and have them hot tank them. It shouldn't be too expensive and will save you a bunch of elbow grease.

I was thinking that a 350 might actually require a different harmonic balancer than a 305, but I wasn't sure. I don't think it would be a problem. I would use the new one. I suspect that the tab for the 305 is spot welded to the timing chain cover, so I don't think using that one is really an option anyway.