Anyone know any good independents in the Northern Illinois area who knows 350 engines and older Corvettes. Probably carb rebuilding, maybe engine rebuild.
Thanks.

 

what exactly are you lookin to have done? i do some work on the side and charge alot less than the 75-100 per hour most shops do!!
I dont acctually rebuild engines but i can swap them out,change carbs,dist etc....
here is a before and after of my 68
before

 

After

 

i have probably done about 40 engine swaps in the past 15 years.
heres one i put in my 71 chevelle, got the motor (long block with heads) and did all the rest myself . Let me know if i can help?
I do live out in the sticks though about an hour south west of down town chicago.

 

pics look good blknblu68.i'm nw of chicago which puts us a few hours away, I think. not sure if i want to swap out the engine yet, but i've been told a new carb and manifold would solve the hard starting issues.the local vette shop is used to charging 60 grand and up for works of art, which is okay for some but notmy beater...I mean driver. But definitely i'd consider having you do some side work if you were a bit closer.Thx.

 

hi dar322 Iam not near Northern Illinois, Iam in Woodbridge Va. I not good on Carburators.
But far as Engine rebuilding, If you can pull a motor,with the proper instruction you can
Rebuild it yourself .I take my motors apart, down to the bare block,and then take the block and heads to a machine shop.There they will hot tank your block and install new freeze plugs.
At this timeyou have the options to increase you horse power/compression upby selectinga over size bore.I thinkacomon bore is 30 over.am saying30 over byt I dont know what you already have
but in any case anew over haul is a good thing.
The machine shop willbreake down you Heads and hot tank them and check for bad valves,in any
case the will grind and reseat them..I have themto install the rings on the pistons,and let them order
the Rings and bearings,and a Engine Gasket kit.you see the machine shop will Turn your Crankshaf
which will give you a good as new Crankshaft.an the know how many thousands of an inch that they
have set their Crankshaft Turning machine to get the Crankshaft all even.so they know what size Main
and Rod bearings to Order.
pick up your Motor parts from the machine Shop.get an Engine Stand,Piston ring compressor,a can or
tupe of High tempeture Lube,and a bag on clean rags,and a Qt of motor Oil.
mount your Block on the Engine Stand,and turn it upside down,Install the main bearings,and Rod
bearings.make sure they are installed correctly,there is a hole in the bearings,make sure you
look through the hole.and it is not blocked off by the Engine block its kind of hard to get the thing wrong
because they have a little knouch in them where they fit intoasmall cut out in the Block.
After you install all the bearings.Coat the part that the crankshaft lay in with the High tempture Lube
that you pick up.
Install the Main and rod bearings into all the Caps,and coat them with the High tempture Luve
and set them aside.
Now pick up your Crank Shaft,and lay it in the block,
Pick up your Main Beraing Caps and Bolts and put them in their positions in the block
Install all of you Cap bolts,but dont tighten them down just put the in and lightly down
at this time tighten them about hand tight.
Now go to your manual or get a Chilton book and find out the Torque Sepcifications
forthe year 350 motorthat you have.I have a Chilton book that go's up to year
1977 to 1984 it calls for 80lbs.To do this you need to pick up a Torque Tool
Now you cant just start Tighting down any bolt you must start in the middle of the block
and move out to ward the ends.Note: you must Torque down in Three or Four Stages
If you are Tighting down to 80lbs on the first stage Torque down to 20lbs then go to 40lbs
then go to 60lbs then go to 80lbs.just rember tofollow the sequence every time you Torque down
After you have installed the Crank Shaft
Flip the motor over stright up.
Coat the walls of you motor with oil.and pickup number one Piston,and your Ring Compressor
and a wood handle Hammer,and Coat the walls of the Ring compressor with motor oil
turn the piston in the right direction,usually ther is a knoch or a mark on the
piston,to identifi the derection it is to be facing.To get this right notice the direction the piston is facing
before you took them out.
Compress the Rings on your piston withe the ring Compressor untill the Rings are all compress inside
the grooves of your pistons.Take the wood part of your Hammer and Tap on the top of your piston
untill the piston starts going down into the block rember that the rings must be compress enought to
fit inside the block.Now at this time you want to keep looking at the piston rod and the Crank Shaft
and make sure the rod is going into place around the crankshaft and the two bolts that are on the piston
is not hiting the CrankShaft and not damaging it.When the piston is around the CrankShaft install the
Cap on it and tighten it enought so that it stay in place when you install the next piston.
Then go to the next piston and follow the same direction as the first,untill all piston are installed
Now Flip the motor upside down and torgue them down to Spect,about 45lbs
Well this is enough to keep you going for a while and its getting late here in woodbridge
Hit me back at Gmaj7@msn.com and let me know how you are coming.and get the rest
of the Rebuilding Info

 

I did my own much as Hester described and I would strongly recommend that if you plan to do it yourself, that you buy at least one book on SBC rebuilding. Details on checking machine shop work such as measuring bearing clearances and bore size are important. Good luck. It's not hard, just take your time and keep notes.