Nice! Always good when it starts right up!

Sweet, I'm ready for the first drive report.

Do you really need to do a break in. Aren't the crate motors run at the factory?

I can come over and do a drive it like you stole it for a break in....

The factory crate engines are new and never run. I did the 20 minutes at 2K to break in the cam.

My question to the brain trust is how many miles should I drive before I change the oil?

I have driven maybe 20 miles. If the weather is decent tomorrow I will put a few more miles on it.

It Smells funny still. Like fresh cooked paint.

I personally think it,s a good idea to change oil and filter first at 500 mi . You got 300000 mi from the 305 so your regular oil change schedule must have been ok

I usually change the filter after break in, then change the oil / filter about 500 miles or so....It's actually bad to drain the break in oil too soon.

it will use oil too at first....

That stench is in my head permanently. Burned gaskets, glue and paint.

Yea the burned paint & gaskets smell fills the garage right now.

I will re-tighten the bolts and check everything tomorrow morning. Then go drive several miles. I was thinking 500 miles before the first oil change.

Its a real good idea to toss on a new filter now after your 20 min breakin time,
then swap out the oil and filter at 500 miles. Filters are cheap

How can I change the filter without changing the oil?

I am figuring on a few hundred miles on the break in oil and filter, then a new filter and fresh regular oil (Swepco) for 1000 miles. After that normal oil changed.

Unscrew it, they are independent operations.

Nice work with your swap. Getting to fire right away is always nice, great feeling.

Yeah, just take the filter off and put a new one on. When you take the filter off of an SBC you don't loose any oil except what's in the filter or maybe another tablespoon or so.

Change the oil and filter now. It should be changed after the initial break-in to get all the assembly lube and fine metal particles out of the engine. Then run 500 miles til the next change.

And yes, you can take the oil filter off a 350 without draining the oil.

I drove my Elky to work today. It is back as a daily driver. :) :D :cool: :) :D

It still has a lot of funny smells. I get the whiff of anti freeze but I am thinking is mostly the initial leak I had at the heater core hoses. They were only snug and not tight. After I tightened up the clamps I did not get any more drips on the passenger side floorboard. I saw one drip on the garage floor and looked around for the source. It was the power steering pump area. I dribbled some fluid as I was filling up the PS pump.

I will get by my transmission shop and have him bless the adjustment on the transmission cable adjustment. I think it is fine but I hear that a 2004R with lockup like mine can be destroyed with an improper adjustment.

I am real happy that it started up in about 3 seconds. It did throw one code up for the O2 sensor during the initial few minutes. That went away after a minute or so. The check engine soon light has been nice and quiet since. :)

I have yet to hammer down, and have no plans to do so until I have the break in finished. About the only power difference I have noticed is on the highway at 70 MPH. If I come up a hill the old engine had to drop out of lockup to have the power to stay at 70. The new engine could pull the hill with no problem.

There were quite a few "while I am in there" small expenses and most of them I really can't call anything but logical.

As I was hooking up the last of the connections like the PCV valve and breather hose I realized the old grommets were still on the old valve covers. I tried to remove them and one had turned to petrified rubber and broke apart, the other one was full of cracks and fairly hard. It would be stupid to try to use them. One more trip to the store and a few bucks later I had the new grommets installed and was ready to start the engine.

If this was the post apocalypse world and there were no extra parts I could have reused my old:

distributer cap & rotor
spark plugs and plug wires
all three fan belts
top and bottom radiator hoses, thermostat and even the anti freeze
several feet of vacuum hoses
air filter & breather filter
oil pressure sender for the oil temp guage
water pressure sender for the water temp gauge
Felpro valve cover gaskets

There were likely a few other items like that but none of it was very expensive and I just can't see not replacing those items when I had to remove them anyway.

The one upgrade I did because I was too tired to clean up the old one was the new Eddelbrock intake. I had to spend some time modifying one bracket and the oil pressure gauge mount to get it to fit. If I had to make the decision again I would spend the time to clean up the old intake.

I will compile a list of expenses later and post that. Overall I know I am under 3 grand for the new engine.

Good work Glen.

Very nice, glad to hear that everything went relatively smoothly.

All newly painted/fresh engines stink for a bit (paint, gasket material, sealant).

But not to be a worry wart - just make sure it's not lean condition. Maybe pull a plug or two from each bank to be sure. My last two crate motors both ran leaner than expected and I needed to fatten 'em up.

I'm probably just being a worry wart...sorry...but it would really suck to burn a piston, etc., on this new install when the last engine went 300K.

angela