Thought I'd share my project to fix my damn unreliable Vortec 350 in my truck ('97 C2500 HD, work truck/tow vehicle). Just picked up this guy here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Edelbrock-Pe...1803b7&vxp=mtr

I have a machineshop right here in town just a couple miles from my house, I'll just drop it off with them to fix whatever on it, shouldn't be espensive at all. Also bought a set of LS truck coils (the good ones, with the heatsinks on them) this morning. Going to scrounge the junkyards for injectors, fuel rails, etc. Going to pull the motor at some point in the next couple months once I get some more aprts assembled. I figured since this thing leaks oil from every orifice known to man, and has about an inch of hard sludge in the lifter valley, tearing it down wasn't such a bad option.

This is intended to be super budget friendly. I'm betting I can do ALL of this for under $1200, maybe even under a grand if I'm good at scouring the yards and ebay/CL for parts. For a tow vehicle, the Vortec 350 makes great torque on the bottom end. Very little reason to try to rev very high. I was planning to 6.0 or 8.1l swap this truck, but this seems like it'll be half the final price in the end. Plus, this will give me a chance to completely go thru & re-work/re-route the engine harness. Once it's torn down, it'll get a good inspection. I'll take the block, heads, and pistons to the machineshop for cleaning and measurement. As long as everything measures up well, it'll get thrown back together. If the bearings are still good and not worn, they'll get re-used as well. I'm back and forth on re-using the rings. I've seen it done with success on other vehicles (BMW's, mostly) but I'm not so familiar with this oldChevy stuff. Might just install new rings with a light hone to make sure I get a good conpression seal anyways just incase. Still undecided on the cam, need to pick something small, but better than stock for low-end torque, I've read good things about a cam GM put in one of their 383 crate motors, but still more research to do there. For crank trigger, EFIConnection makes a 24x reluctor wheel for the front of the SBC crank. Vortec timing cover already has a crank sensor in it, so it just needs to be swapped out for the appropriate sensor. Their kit is inexpensive, and also comes with a nice aluminum cap for the distributor (still need to retain the distributor itself, as it drives the oil pump, and stillre tains the 1x cam sensor installed in it).

http://www.eficonnection.com/eficonn...uretedSBC.aspx


I'll y to keep this thread updated, but most of the swap will be documented here: http://www.lsmotorswap.com/sbc-bbc-d...n.html#post214