When is buying a v8 ever a bad idea?

It depends what you can find. It's pretty much just as expensive to completely restore and rebuilt a vintage block as it is to buy a crate engine though.

>>14144137
pretty much this.

Try to get some decent heads at least. IIRC (I could be totally wrong) late 90's vortec heads fit on old 350s and flow fairly well, do you're research though.

If you're broke, why replace the engine? (unless its needed), you can get decent power from a 305.

But if you need a 350, look at 90's 2500s. My friend had one, engine was the only thing that never messed up cause it was straight up simple. You could probably buy one from a mexican, pull the engine, and sell the rest to recoup some money.

>>14144153
Is it really
This is probably going to be kindof a long term project for me so I will have the time to shop around for cheap parts and discounts

>>14144176
Well I'm not starving on welfare broke, I just can't afford to buy myself a turn key so I figured I might as well buy a cheap 350
I just don't want a 305 because they aren't very good

>>14144314
You know a 305 is literally a 350 with a smaller bore, right? You can probably get your 305 breathing better a lot more cheaply than you can keep a junkyard 350 running. It's in the junkyard for a reason, and it's probably completely shitted up from sitting around.

>>14144158
The problem with the vortec head swap is that you need a vortec-specific intake manifold.

Luckily you can get chinese 4bbl intakes on ebay for around $200... which is possibly more than the entire junkyard engine.

But buying a post-96 vortec 350 and slapping a chinese intake on it is a pretty solid way to update an old small-block-friendly car. You can reuse your old carb, distributor, headers, and accessories... but be aware that you'll need to change the distributor gear for the roller cam in the newer engine.

>>14144389
I've heard getting a 305 to go fast cost more than getting a 350 to go fast

>>14144108
Good luck if you try. There is never a single 350 in my local junkyard. There are people who pull them full time I guess.

>>14144960
Lots of retire mechanics and gearheads will become friends with the junkyard guy and whenever a good car comes in they go rip out the motors and rebuild them and sell them. Thats usually why none are there. 350s are just the worst because they are probably the most popular engine for aftermarket and swaps in the history of cars.

Get a 350 Vortec with roller lifters.
best bang for ur buck.

>>14144108
>junkyard engine
heres the thing about junkyard engines, you really should go through it and, at the very least re-ring and re-bearing it. With that much time invested you might as well fully rebuild it.