I got my hands on an 81 350 [i know...its a chevy] that originally came from a van. Its sitting in my garage on a stand. It needs a rebuild and I have no idea where to start. Is there any links or anything on basic engine rebuilding?
thanks

 

theres plenty of books out there...go check some out and go from there

 

First clean it really good.

Then go get a book specifically for rebuilding chevy engines.

Then go to personally meet your sears hardware manager, your gonna need some tools.

Then find a good auto parts store, and get in good with them.

Good luck!

 

captain, how do I clean it?

 

Well the engine on my 92' sentra had been leaking oil for a while, combined with road dirt it was pretty nasty.

I used gunk engine foam cleaner. Spray it on let it foam up and drip off. Then I'd spray it down with water, let it dry again and repeat the process. Cleaned up all that oil and dirt pretty durn good.

instead of water you could also use simple green.

 

its ok to get water in the combustion chambers?

 

If your rebuilding the whole the engine, I don't see how water in there could be much of a problem, I mean all the internals are going to come out abd be cleaned or replaced.

But your starting to get over my head with question, I know basic engine rebuild and know I can do it, just never have.

 

Engine rebuild cleaning 101: Gasoline, a wire brush, shop towels, and elbow grease.

 

Forget trying to clean it by hand. Tear it down to bare block and send it to a machine shop to be hot tanked, it's not too expensive and you probably need to have the block bored anyways, they can do all that in one trip. No offense but building your first engine by yourself isn't an easy thing to do if you want it to be reliable, i would really recommend finding someone to help you.

-Jon

 

I've cleaned a couple by hand and I would advise the same. It's worth it.

 

so if i decide to do it by hand, just use some gas and a wire brush?

 

gasoline will clean off rust and everything else. I use it on my bike chain when it gets rusty after a ride.