[Novajay]

I'm going to look at a Goodwrench 350 today. The guy is asking $250 for the engine which includes a manifold and carb but no distributor or accessories. The current owner doesn't know how many miles on the block b/c he bought it with a car. It's been out of the car for 5 months and stored inside. Basically, he knows little about the history other than to say it "ran great" before he pulled it. (I don't know him.) I didn't think to ask if he has video.

Since I'm relatively new to this part of our hobby, what are things that I should look for? Are the Goodwrench blocks known for manufacturing weaknesses (cracks or defects in certain locations)? What are typical things to look for, such as freeze plug issues, etc.? What are things I should ask?

Your help would be really appreciated.

 

[veno]

Other than the obvious... Like oil in the water or water in the oil...... a setting engine is always a gamble... Pull a valve cover... and look to see how much varnish, crust, scale, etc.. a clear light brown varnish is good, darker is ok and black means neglect... crust, and scale are still neglect.. but even with those a fore mentioned conditions.... the engine could still "RUN ok"

you cant check compression, tune, or oil pressure.... so buy the engine with the mind set of a total rebuild could be in the near future..... 250. for a engine 90 to 95% complete is not a bad deal.. not great.. but not bad..

 

[The Big Al]

250.00 is cheep! Almost hard to believe cheep!

Note: Goodwrench engine is a GM engine. There will be no casting issues.

Al

 

[Rroxon7]

I bought my 327 for $100.00...The first thing I did was pull the plugs..Next bought a new timing chain...once I had the cover off I removed the cam gear..took off the chain and tried to turn the crank over...I ended up using a 24" pipe wrench on the crank gear to turn it over....Rust came out of the #4 and #8 cyl....Proved there was a blown head gasket...From there on it was a complete rebuild....Heads ..Block...bored 30 over because of rust pitting...piston's rings, bearings..and the list goes on and on....I'm a first time builder also...I found it rather interesting and a great leaning experiance building a SBC for the first time.....The rewards will be worth the money spent....I went from a rusted out piece of scrap to a very nice, clean 327....Now I'd like to save them all.....

By rroxon7, shot with FinePix J10 at 2009-03-16.