screwed ????

[agawam]

Did you ever buy something from somebody that turned out to be not at all what it was claimed ? sure you did everyone gets jambed up once at least, well today it was my turn again, yes again. In your car circle theres a bunch of people ,who have their own project, and they are always talking about what they have or doing, so everybody has an idea of who's got what and how they're building it. So here's what happened, this guy has been doing a 77 camaro, brand new 383, dart heads, 4 spd tranny,a project that sits mostly, just being worked on in spare time, you know one that hasn't seen the road for years, well the car itself is not nice but the driveline is all new, we kept telling him he should really get another body for what he was doing, now I have heard the thing run, sounded real good and the engine has virtually no miles on it, just a couple of runs up the street, so now his life takes a turn for the worse and he sell the engine to me for a fraction of what he says he has into it, I take him at his word the engine is what it is, after all he's been bragging for several years about it, and for the most part it is brand new, so we pull the engine, first thing I notice it has a 350 balencer on the front, then I pop the valve covers and find chocolate milkshake sitting in the rocker gallery, so we drain the oil and find about 2 an 1/2 gallons of milkshake in the pan, this didnot have any antifreeze in it though, just water,when we drained the cooling system the antifreeze was nice and green no oil or contamination,so I call him and tell him, he says I'm crazy there is nothing wrong with the engine, it runs great he says, but I only paid for half of it, and we argue for a while,and we leave it that I'm not going to pay him the rest but he's going to keep my cash and I'm stuck with the engine,so the 383 turns out to be a 350 or a 383 with the wrong balencer and needs to be redone probably,and my truck, I needed a drop in engine for, will have to sit a while longer, dollar for dollar I didn't do bad but it wasn't what I needed right now. I haven't opened up the rest of it yet to see what kind of damage was done and there is not antifreeze in the oil, maybe its alright but maybe not

[BGriff]

Some folks think they've got something great, but really don't. Perception is reality.
But don't give up yet.
The 3.75 stroke crank might be internally balanced. If it wasn't, it would have shaken the fillings out of your teeth running with a neutral balancer.
The water in the oil could be from a roof leak or maybe he left it out in the rain.
Flip it over, pull the pan and check the bearings and pump.
Re-check the head bolt torque, spin it a little and do a leak-down test.
It might be fine.
Good luck.

[agawam]

Thats what I figured, clean the pump, check the berings,the water seems like just plain water and he did drive it but only a couple hundred yards max, I work nights for the next 4 so I realy won't get to it till next week,I really didn't do bad, I only paid 200 for what I got, with the new dart heads(SS) and holley intake,I know the pistons are new and cam kit also so even if its a 350 I'm not hurt, just a time issue I wanted to get the truck back on the road next week, it's just a delay and the dissapoitment left me feeling screwed, it will all work out

[agawam]

update: well it turns out to be a 350 .030 with cast dish pistons, dart SS heads @76cc crank cut ,020r .040m nothing special engine, so I will put some stock heads and stock cam with a 2bbl intake and 2GC rochester and run it in my truck,going to put the holley intake and dart heads on the shelf,stuff the cam and lifters in my 283, the guy I got it from says he paid some garage 2800 to build him a 383...I say always do it yourself so you know what you have

[BGriff]

Funny....but doesn't sound like you got hurt at $200.

[JoePorting]

You should probably pay him the rest of the money. On ebay, those heads are worth $500, manifold $100, bare block with machine work $300, rotating assembly $200, cam and lifters $100, oil pan and pump $200.

[af2]

You should probably pay him the rest of the money. On ebay, those heads are worth $500, manifold $100, bare block with machine work $300, rotating assembly $200, cam and lifters $100, oil pan and pump $200.

X2

[Dodge Freak]

X3

[CHT]

It may just be condensation from only having short runs and as we all know when you get a tempchange water is the result, Pour a bud into a dry glass whadaya get? Water, put a hot cup of coffee on the table whadaya get? Water.

[rallye bob]

It may just be condensation from only having short runs and as we all know when you get a tempchange water is the result, Pour a bud into a dry glass whadaya get? Water, put a hot cup of coffee on the table whadaya get? Water.

A gallon of condensation???