My Budget Chevy 350 Build

I have been planning my budget 350 build for a while and I just finally got the ball rolling when I received my parts back from the machine shop. I decided I would list my budget build and show some prices for everything so far.

• Block - 010, 020 High Nickel Content, 2 bolt main, cleaned, standard bore and ready to build
• Crank - standard, that was recently ground to .010"-.010" under
• Pistons - New flat tops
• Rods - stock rods
• Heads - 14102191 Swirl Port TBI heads (don't judge, these cost $25.00 in great shape)
• Intake Manifold - Early 70's non-egr cast iron 4 bbl.
• Carburetor - Edelbrock 600cfm vacuum secondary
• Distributor - Factory HEI
• Camshaft - New stock truck cam

My intent was to rebuild an a 350 engine, not just throw some crap together and hope it runs. My main goal was low price and mild performance and I am sure I will get that with my current build. I have spent a total of $500 so far for all of the above items. My major costs are behind me. I will still need things like gaskets and valve stem seals but so far I believe this is a great price so far.

350 Chevy Parts back from the Machine Shop

I spent the summer doing family things and teaching myself to build computers. This didn't leave me much time to work on my Blazer but in the early fall I was able to drop off my engine internals at the local automotive machine shop. Here is a list of what I had done:

• Clean cylinder heads
• Clean intake manifold
• Clean valve covers
• Grind stock crank to .010" - .010" under.
• Install new flap top 350 pistons on the connecting rods

Everything looked great especially the heads. They looked beautiful and they even tough up my valve seats for me. Take a look at my before and after picture of my cylinders heads and they look good.

350 Head Before Cleaning

350 Head after Cleaning

Camaro Wheels on my Blazer S10

I just got some nice 16" aluminum Camaro wheels for my Blazer S10. I really like the look of the wide low profile tire on the S10's. I will need to do a small drop to get the height where I like it but so far these look great. The tires are worth a damn but replacements can be had for about $80 each brand new. I believe these are the mid to late 1990's Camaro wheels.

1984 S10 Blazer with 1994 Camaro Wheels

S10 Blazer with 1994 Camaro Wheels

Kitec Plumbing in Our House

I am sad to say that my house has kitec plumbing in it. We have owned our new home for over seven years and have experience two leaks so far. Fortunately for us, we were home both time the leaks occurred so we were able to limit the damage to our home. Kitec for those that don't know is a plumbing product whose fittings begin to fail and cause leaks in your home. I believe there was a lawsuit that was settled but it provides no relief for homeowners. This sucks for a lot of homeowners out there that have kitec plumbing and cannot afford a re-plumb at the moment. From my research and from my own experience I have read that the piping is still good in most cases but it is the fittings that corrode by leaching zinc. I am working on a solution to this problem for myself and I will share what I find with everybody in my next post.

Craftsman Cordless 4.0v Lithium Ion Screwdriver, 1 Year Review

It has been almost one year since I posted my first review of the new Craftsman Cordless Screwdriver that I purchased and have been using. It is the 4.0v Lithium Ion Screwdriver, model #315.113980. It is now time to let you all know how it has been performing. First off I want to say that I am in no way being compensated by Sears or Craftsman for this article. First things first here are some pictures of what my drill looks like after one year.

4.0V Craftsman Cordless-1

4.0V Li-Ion Craftsman Drill

As you can see this little drill has some wear on the handle which means I used this drill a lot! The only time I used my bigger Craftsman cordless drills was when I needed a ton of torque or the 1/2" chuck. I probably used this drill 80% of the time instead of my larger drills. This drill packs a powerful punch in a small package and I love using it. It works great inside of a PC case as well as out in the yard driving screws into the fence. I used this cordless screwdriver as often as possible during the rebuild of our 1989 Skamper pop up camper, http://frugal-travels.blogspot.com/. This drill was great for installing the small cabinets back into the pop up where the full size drills didn't have the room. I do call my cordless screwdriver a drill because it offers two speeds 200rpm and 600rpm. 600 RPM is a little slow for some drilling jobs but it got the job done when I didn't want to go find a different drill. I really pushed the torque limits of this little drill as well. I have probably driven screws that were way too tough for it but the Li-Ion power pack pushes through slowly but surely. I actually thought one time that I broke it but it just popped out of gear into a neutral position until I pushed it back into gear. I am not sure if this was by design but I have not yet broken the gear box. The battery still holds one heck of a charge still. I often misplace the charger because I may not charge the drill for a month under light use. When pushing the drill hard the charge will last for one to two days which is unheard of with a Ni-Cad drill. I highly recommend this drill-driver to all people, you will not be disappointed.

Great Deal on New Camshaft for my 350 Chevy Rebuild

I just received a brand new stock camshaft for my 350 Chevy small block rebuild. It is a stock non roller camshaft for the late 80's Chevy V8 truck. I got it on super special for about $27.00 delivered from Titan Engines off of eBay. I believe this was the last one at that price I got but they have a lot of other great deals. I now have my new cam bearings, my cam bearing installation tool and and my new camshaft. Now I can set my cam bearings in place and test fit the cam before I move on to the next stage of my rebuild. I am following the build process that David Vizard uses in his book "How to Rebuild your Small-Block Chevy".

New 350 Chevy Stock Camshaft

350 Chevy Small Block, Cam Bearing Tool

I had a friend of mine, who happens to be a great machinist, make me a cam bearing installation tool for my Chevy 350 small block. He made me the working end of it and I will provide the longer ram part of it and the centering part. This was money well spent because it saves on the transport time for me having to take my engine to the machine shop just for installation and removal of bearings. Here is the picture.

Brass Cam Bearing Installation Tool for 350 Chevy