327 gonna help me?

[GT6Steve]

The original 350 in my 81 is pretty ropy at the moment and not a boulevard hero when freshened. I've been casually watching for a donor motor to build into a solid daily driver.

Yesterday I was offered a 69 Nova SS 327 for $50.00 Dollars. It's likely got rust in it because I know the idiot that had it just set it in the yard. At least it's the Mojave desert yard.

So is this 327 of any value to me? Will the heads, when rebuilt, be better than my stock 81 heads? Block usable?

Wasn't the 350 just a stroked 327??

Is there any value in this miniscule investment?

 

[Imo Apita]

I learned the hard way that a SBC block is worth the machine work that has been done to it.
Or on the flip side will cost whatever machine work needs to be done.
Bore, hone. square, deck all that sort of good stuff will set you back $700 or so.
Other than that some good info here:
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/tech-general-engine/228690-need-info-327-sbc.html

 

[MYBAD79]

A donor motor for a 'solid daily driver'.... $50 for a 327 - why not.... ???

Take it apart and see if you can get away with a simple clean, re-ring and new bearings... if the heads are not cracked just put new seals on the valve stems and call it good....

If the block requires machine work you lost $50 .... dump it....

Re-ring and bearings with new seals and gaskets is cheap, just some time and labor.

Once you get the 327 running you'll have time to turn that 350 that you've got into a 383

 

[clutchdust]

I think the heads are probably worth the $50, even if the block is FUBAR (of course, provided they're not cracked). The stock heads on an 81 are 882 castings, which are only 1.84" intake valves. Even a 327 is likely to have 1.94" (be nice if we had a casting number to check though).
As for the block, I'm pretty sure that at least certain ones were "small journal" mains. I'm not an authority on the 327 by any stretch but on the "large journal" 327, it shared the same crank as the 350 and the displacement was a bore size difference. Or maybe it was the same bore and the stroke was different, I can't remember. Either way, you can use the 350 crank in the large journal block. If it's the small journal 327, you can fit a 283 crank (can you say "Yenco 302 Camaro"? ). Probably not the ideal engine for a car as heavy as a Corvette, but it would be sweet in something as light as my 240Z (wink, wink).
Just let me know and we can go out there and throw it in the back of the truck and bring it home. Don't know how you're set up but I have pretty much anything we need to pull or drop an engine. Where's this motor?

 

[GT6Steve]

Hey CD,

That's good information. I figured if nothing else the heads could be useful.

It's out here in NLV at a property that was in the wilderness last time I was there, twentyfive years ago. Me and the seller aren't exactly friends so a nuetral friend is doing the deal. I bet his place is surrounded in a sea of cookie cutter homes now.

Where do you live, Henderson? I signed onto Sin City Vettes, maybe we'll meet up soon. Ya know Marvin Maze?

 

[clutchdust]

Sent you a PM.
Yeah, I know Marvin. Used to auto-x with him years back. Is that how you know him? Know Rick and Barb? Alon? It's been a while since I've been to an event. About 10 years ago I dropped the auto-x in favor of open track events so I haven't really seen much of those folks.

 

[GT6Steve]

Yeah, I know them. Almost the exact same story. I left the AutoX crowd just as Alon was getting started to build my Vintage Racer. What a great bunch of folk!