Cheap overhaul?

[superdave]

Knowing my own personality I don't think I could do that much work and not do the rings, bearings, timing chain and a valve job. Deglaze the cylinders, clean everything up, have the crank journals checked for wear and fit new bearings accordingly, new oil pump. It's not that much more money and you will feel better about the work you did.

That's all the work I'm planning on doing. I just can't see pulling the engine to do all the gaskets and take care of the oil leaks without doing the rest

 

[jgranby]

you need to study what you can do with a cam in a vortex heads

 

[superdave]

you need to study what you can do with a cam in a vortex heads

I'm aware of the limitations. I'm going to use the Chevy 395 cam that comes in the Ramjet 350s and the HT383s.

 

[89GMCJOHN]

Been there ...guilty of this line of thinking too....trust me its going to turn into a full machining and rebuild for ya lol.... Im running the 395 ... its a pretty good torque improvement over the stock cam mine had ..Im running it with freshened stock 305 tbi heads at 10:1 for a little more push.

 

[Gramps]

The one that’s been in my garage for the last year was a simple engine swap and rockers/cab corners. Here we are at exactly 1 year since I started and it turned into a “since I’m in there” and “might aswell do this now too” event. On the bright side we pulled an honest 300hp out of a tbi 350 on stock injection.

Famous last words “since I’m in there”.........

 

[upper_tanker]

I, like you, went in to my 97 2 door project only wanting to put in a new cam and the required springs.

I, also like you, knew that I also have a, "while I'm there" issue.

I only wanted to spend under $1k.

I ended up spending about $3300.

The machine shop guy (VERY reputable around me), said because of the cam lift, he wouldn't guarantee the machine work to the heads due to the stock ones not having enough meat. So, I traded mine to a guy plus $300 cash for some stock AR heads that the machine shop guy approved.

Then, I pulled the cam to find worn cam bearings. From here, I removed the block and decided since it had 150k on it, I'd just give him the whole block to do what he needed to it. Ended up getting the crank turned 0.010" and the block bored 0.020". I also went with the pistons he recommended to keep me around 9.5 compression.

I also decided since the stock injectors were garbage, I'd put the new mpfi injectors in ($250). Also a new timing chain, oil pump & pan, comp cam full roller rockers and guide plates. Because the rockers were different, I had to get longer pushrods, so I got hardened comp pushrods.

WHILE I WAS THERE, I decided to get an MSD billet distributor and MSD cap, rotor, wires, and coil. The cap ended up being OTB failure, which pissed me off but that's a whole other story.

Since my manifolds were off, I got a set of OBX longtube stainless headers off of ebay that needed some modifying but they work.

Keep in mind, if you're changing a cam, you'll also want to get a tune. Blackbear did mine, and I couldn't be happer. I have the 91 octane tune.



In the end, I wish I'd have went to the machine shop guy for my cam recommendation. I ended up buying the cam, valvesprings, keepers, timing chain from Comp, and the only thing that we "made" work was the cam, even though I told the tech support guy what I had and wanted. I wasn't happy about spending this much money, but I'm almost glad I did. I have a pretty much brand new engine, and I KNOW exactly what was done to it and the condition of everything. I don't beat the **** out of it all the time, but I'm not afraid of anything breaking when I do get on it whenever I want/need to.

Sorry for the novel, but I've been in the situation you're in. If it were me, I'd save the money up and just LS swap it. If I could go back in time, I'd do that. LS engines come stock with more power than the 350 vortec, respond better to mods, and almost always get better fuel mileage (if that concerns you).

 

[superdave]

I, like you, went in to my 97 2 door project only wanting to put in a new cam and the required springs.

I, also like you, knew that I also have a, "while I'm there" issue.

I only wanted to spend under $1k.

I ended up spending about $3300.

The machine shop guy (VERY reputable around me), said because of the cam lift, he wouldn't guarantee the machine work to the heads due to the stock ones not having enough meat. So, I traded mine to a guy plus $300 cash for some stock AR heads that the machine shop guy approved.

Then, I pulled the cam to find worn cam bearings. From here, I removed the block and decided since it had 150k on it, I'd just give him the whole block to do what he needed to it. Ended up getting the crank turned 0.010" and the block bored 0.020". I also went with the pistons he recommended to keep me around 9.5 compression.

I also decided since the stock injectors were garbage, I'd put the new mpfi injectors in ($250). Also a new timing chain, oil pump & pan, comp cam full roller rockers and guide plates. Because the rockers were different, I had to get longer pushrods, so I got hardened comp pushrods.

WHILE I WAS THERE, I decided to get an MSD billet distributor and MSD cap, rotor, wires, and coil. The cap ended up being OTB failure, which pissed me off but that's a whole other story.

Since my manifolds were off, I got a set of OBX longtube stainless headers off of ebay that needed some modifying but they work.

Keep in mind, if you're changing a cam, you'll also want to get a tune. Blackbear did mine, and I couldn't be happer. I have the 91 octane tune.



In the end, I wish I'd have went to the machine shop guy for my cam recommendation. I ended up buying the cam, valvesprings, keepers, timing chain from Comp, and the only thing that we "made" work was the cam, even though I told the tech support guy what I had and wanted. I wasn't happy about spending this much money, but I'm almost glad I did. I have a pretty much brand new engine, and I KNOW exactly what was done to it and the condition of everything. I don't beat the **** out of it all the time, but I'm not afraid of anything breaking when I do get on it whenever I want/need to.

Sorry for the novel, but I've been in the situation you're in. If it were me, I'd save the money up and just LS swap it. If I could go back in time, I'd do that. LS engines come stock with more power than the 350 vortec, respond better to mods, and almost always get better fuel mileage (if that concerns you).

The 395 cam will work with the stock innards. I already have Thorley tri-y headers, so I won't have to chase that rabbit down the hole. I have a Blackbear tune with lifetime updates, so that isn't an issue. Yeah, I could get in deeper with machining, but I'll see what happens.

 

[upper_tanker]

The 395 cam will work with the stock innards. I already have Thorley tri-y headers, so I won't have to chase that rabbit down the hole. I have a Blackbear tune with lifetime updates, so that isn't an issue. Yeah, I could get in deeper with machining, but I'll see what happens.

I went with the comp 08-501-8 cam that the wankers at comp suggested. I'm sure most of my problems could have been avoided if I'd have just told the machine shop guy to pick me out a cam and I'd send that one back. I definitely feel like a lot of the things that I spent money on were because of the cam. I have been checking out the Howard's rattler cam, but not in detail enough to swap one of those in. They sound cool, but I haven't looked at the specs yet. I'll tell you though, I'll never contact CC's tech support again. I'll also do my best to never buy a cam from them either. The whole experience really left a bad taste in my mouth, especially since I'm stuck with a stupid $100 composite distributor gear that they told me to buy (that I didn't use).

 

[skylark]

While I'm here...
I bought a classic mini.
On the way home the rear main started leaking. The engine and tranny run on the same 5 quarts of oil.
While I'm here... Weber carb
While I'm here... Pertronix electronic ignition
While I'm here... Header
While I'm here... paint the engine
While I'm here...paint the engine bay
While I'm here...disc brakes
Disc brakes means 12" wheels.
12" wheels don't come in a style that I like.
13" wheels come in a style that I like but the wrong pattern and they aren't chrome.
Adapters for the wheels means that I need fender flares.
3 sets of fender flares that I hated turned into building steel ground effects out of trailer fenders.
While I'm here...I may as well paint the entire damn car!
While I'm here...I should ditch the rubber cone suspension and do coil springs and sway bars.
While I'm here...I've dumped so much money into this that I may as well do a custom built 5 speed out of England
While I'm here... Screw this, I'm getting a 1275 from a Cooper S
While I'm here... Cam
While I'm here... Radiator with a Lotus HD core
While I'm still waiting on the tranny, I might as well do the interior
While I'm here...Corbeau seats

You get the picture... While I'm here turned into a $35k rotisserie build where literally every nut, bolt and screw was removed.

It's just a rear main seal.....

 

[superdave]

While I'm here...
I bought a classic mini.
On the way home the rear main started leaking. The engine and tranny run on the same 5 quarts of oil.
While I'm here... Weber carb
While I'm here... Pertronix electronic ignition
While I'm here... Header
While I'm here... paint the engine
While I'm here...paint the engine bay
While I'm here...disc brakes
Disc brakes means 12" wheels.
12" wheels don't come in a style that I like.
13" wheels come in a style that I like but the wrong pattern and they aren't chrome.
Adapters for the wheels means that I need fender flares.
3 sets of fender flares that I hated turned into building steel ground effects out of trailer fenders.
While I'm here...I may as well paint the entire damn car!
While I'm here...I should ditch the rubber cone suspension and do coil springs and sway bars.
While I'm here...I've dumped so much money into this that I may as well do a custom built 5 speed out of England
While I'm here... Screw this, I'm getting a 1275 from a Cooper S
While I'm here... Cam
While I'm here... Radiator with a Lotus HD core
While I'm still waiting on the tranny, I might as well do the interior
While I'm here...Corbeau seats

You get the picture... While I'm here turned into a $35k rotisserie build where literally every nut, bolt and screw was removed.

It's just a rear main seal.....

We could be the same person.

Pictures are required, or a link to a build. I have had a few British cars, but never a Mini. I have a friend that had one, and I helped him quite a bit.