I'm thinking of rebuilding my 350 in my 85 blazer because its burning a lot of oil, and has started to missfire even with brand new plugs, and wires. my question is can it be rebuild still in my truck. I'm planning to replace the rings and the bearings. should I go ahead and change the pistons and the rods to? and I guessing that some of the valves are burnt so I guess I need to replace those and all the parts that go with them, (push rods, rockers, springs,). will the cylinder walls still be good enough that replacing all this stuff will take care of the problem? any thoughts on this would be great. thanks in advance.

 

You should try to see what is causing it to burn oil. The easiest repair would be to replace the valve seals and see if that fixes the problem. You can assess the condition of the rings with a compression check.

If you want to go through the entire rebuild, you may want to look at a top end kit if you heads are in need of some serious rework. You can get the newer vortec cylinder heads (GMPP # 12558060 - $300 each from PacePerformance) and a new vortec style intake fairly economically. Get a boost and new heads at the same time.

As far as whether the block will need machining, that depends on how the cylinders measure out. At the very least the ridge will have to be removed at the top of the cylinders. You should not have to replace the pistons/rods unless you bore out the cylinders.

 

ok so I'm guessing that I'm going to have to take the engine out so the ridge can be removed. also the engine was not the stock one, and I just found out by looking up the casting number and the VIN on the block that it was for a L48 1977 corvette and it has the 010 block, but I can't seem to find a place that tells me what 010 means. anybody know?

 

010 was typically the 4-bolt main block, but that got muddied in the mid-70's when it came to passenger cars. If it truly was from a 77 Corvette, it is likely the 4-bolt main block.

And to do the rebuild properly, I would definitely recommend you pull the engine completely.

 

And if you are going to remove it, I'd just go ahead and do a complete tear down and rebuild. Spend the few extra dollars now rather than later.