350 with a 295 head? anyone have experence with one

[Gearhead1956]

Originally Posted by Rooster59

Then you are in a good position to forge ahead rebuilding the 350. My buddy and I have a 350 sitting in my pole barn. He is waiting to get it rebuilt locally and swap it into his 94 Marathon. We will keep it stock except for a shorter belt. Right now he has worn out 20" tires that will be replaced with 22" this spring too. The 295 will get sold after the swap to help finance the rebuild. Neither he nor I are up to rebuilding one ourselves.

Its really not rocket science.

new rods, pistons, rings, valves, valve seals,

Hone the cylinder, hand polish the crank, lap valves by hand. my engine had a rod to crank knock.

just need a hone and inch lb torque wrench.

I did mic the cam and crank and cylinders. and replaced all 5 bearings.

The rebuilders reuse some parts and some should state repaired engine not rebuilt! for $600 if no parts are broken in your core! They will charge for broken rods, That tells me they do not normally replace them. Thats what I hear.

For $450 you can do a real rebuild your self!! and you know what you have

[Gearhead1956]

Well I went and bought the engine, it runs but smokes, the owner had a video of it running before he pulled it.

He took me for a ride in his big block cart this engine came from, man it did have plenty of power. It was the work horse model that had a larger rear clutch that helped. It was to loud to run in a neighbor hood,

Think it was a good deal, 1998 350 engine, clutch, carb, muffler, air box, starter, frame mounts, skid plate and coil for $200

Now to find the time to rebuild it.

[Cartmaster]

Thats a pretty good deal right there. If it is as hard to get hold of a 350 over there as it is over here in the UK then that's a winner.

Regarding the comments about reliability and longevity of a 350 with 295 head, the one in my video is still going strong and used for ferrying stuff around the monster truck racing scene with Slingshot, a British race team that i built it for over ten years ago.

I might suggest the reliability is down to a very careful blueprint rebuild, but hey maybe i was just lucky! mind you the other two i built for monster truck teams and display teams are also still fine. I still have one myself but don't get to use it much and my sons is still a strong runner too.

[Gearhead1956]

Thanks Cartmaster.

You know of any tricks of the trade on these engines??

Simple little engine. my 295 I built last year had 180 lbs compression when done. Seems that's a little more then most I see here after a shade tree rebuild.

I tried a little porting on the head and exhaust manifold, polished the crank and cam to a mirror finish. That had to be good for .000005 more hp!

On this engine, I am thinking I may go 50 over, think that makes it a 375. I could do a 5 angle valve job. Wish I knew of some one that has had the 295 and 350 head on a flow bench to see the difference, if any. Still thinking about milling the head.
I need to see if there is a way to open up the exhaust with out it being very loud!

I know I AM NUTS! but its just for fun and a lot cheaper then playing with a V-8

[Cartmaster]

Personally, I would not bother reprofiling the valves. These engines have a history of eating inlet valves and i reccomend keeping a wide valve contact area with the valve seat. It would make the valves last longer before climbing up into the seat. Also do not go to far polishing the inlet ports. A rough surface mixes the fuel better. Basically the best way for more git up and go with these engines is better compression and better airflow. Somewhere on this forum, maybe in ezgo tech, is a mod for the standard exhaust that is not much louder but gives better flow. The cart in my video had open headers, but I changed to the modded standard exhaust and you could definitely feel more grunt. Hope this helps you decide which way to go, and the most important bit is a perfect rebuild, particularly going +.50.

[Rooster59]

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/showthread.php?t=13188

[Gearhead1956]

Originally Posted by Rooster59

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/showthread.php?t=13188

Thanks Rooster.

That was my 1st thought to get rid of that small tube.

Think I may cut the end off the muffler and see whats going on inside?

[Rooster59]

I am a firm believer sometimes you are better off not knowing! LOL

On my buddy's 295 Marathon truck we will use a 1.5" hole saw and weld on a 2" pipe stub. Then an extension out to the rear under the bed. If it is a little too loud we can add a motorcycle baffle like I did for my VC625 tailpipe.

[Gearhead1956]

Originally Posted by Cartmaster

Personally, I would not bother reprofiling the valves. These engines have a history of eating inlet valves and i reccomend keeping a wide valve contact area with the valve seat. It would make the valves last longer before climbing up into the seat. Also do not go to far polishing the inlet ports. A rough surface mixes the fuel better. Basically the best way for more git up and go with these engines is better compression and better airflow. Somewhere on this forum, maybe in ezgo tech, is a mod for the standard exhaust that is not much louder but gives better flow. The cart in my video had open headers, but I changed to the modded standard exhaust and you could definitely feel more grunt. Hope this helps you decide which way to go, and the most important bit is a perfect rebuild, particularly going +.50.

Your right about the 5 angle valve job. too bad, I have a buddy that does racing heads for a living and my cost is usually breakfast at the Waffle House, LOL

Strange its the intake valve on these engines, most other engines I have messed with its the exhaust that has issues!

Don't follow you on the perfect rebuild part. What are you talking about? other then the torque on the rods, head bolts there isn't much one could screw up.
When I tore down my 295 I took 2 rod bolts off by hand!! Think that's why it was knocking! LMAF Took some doing to save that crank!

[Cartmaster]

I was talking about any regrinding, rebores, valve guide wear, Sizing ring gaps, end floats ECT . All the specs are in the rebuild book available in the tech section. This process is known in the UK as blueprinting. Or put simply everything is built to specification.