I am going to tackle my first budget engine rebuild and need some advice.

I am not going to be throwing a lot of power at this thing, pretty much going stock. (famous last words, LOL) Although I am going to get an much HP out of it as I can without major machine work or big money parts. Maybe longer rods, better breathing and headers.

What budget brands have proved to be the most reliable?
Where is a good place to get them?

Summit carries everything but they seems to have become the Wal-Mart of performance parts.


Input?

A stock re-ring rebuild with Vortec heads and a cam in the .425-.460" range will yield excellent street manners and is very cost effective. Headers and decent quiet exhaust a must too.
You'll need to get the felpro 1094 head gaskets to keep your quench in check, the blue rebuilder gaskets aren't for your application. You don't need anything more than the stock oil pump or the $20 timing set. Get the Summit Vortec dual plane intake, rebuild the Q-jet.

Your total budget will determine what "budget" rebuild you can do. I have gotten away with a ring/bearing/gasket kit without machine work, but depending on how bad things are you could have problems with that.

Northern Auto Parts, they're online, has about the cheapest kit available for a 350 rebuild, and you can upgrade to some performance parts relatively cheaply.

Still depends on what your budget is, and what you want the motor to do.

A good set of flattop pistons will help I bought some speedpro aluminum pistons from advanced for about 11 or 12 bucks a peice.It cost about five bucks a peice to get them switched out.A stock gasket set and a descent cam. I used a federal mogule cam and lifters for about 100 bucks. Im runninga 420 442 lift 212 duration with 112lsa. Jegs has a good deal on cams just dont put a bigger cam in that your heads will handle.If you find a good deal on some double hump heads that would help alot.

One of biggest's cost decisions is going to weather to stick with stock heads or step up to vortec heads with 2.02 intake valves or a set of aluminums. Jegs has a pretty nice set for not to much. I good build with stock heads will get you about 300hp. While a good build with aliminum heads will get you about 400hp.

http://northernautoparts.com/ProductDetail.cfm?ProductId=148

Dosent get much cheaper than these guys.^

Paying attention to detail can get you some extra HP. Engine balancing, deck heights, cam timing, minor clean up in the bowl areas in the heads, carb tuning, all minor low cost details that can help improve performance.

Edelbrock performer kit:
Stock heads: take yours in and have them checked or buy a set off the shelf for $600 plus core. Stock pushrods, rockers. Don't overrev or overheat this motor.
Camshaft: I like the old style RV cams. Very cheap and sound good. .447 lift and 290 duration. Last one I did was from Michigan. Don't know if they are still around or not.
Intake: Edelbrock performer RPM or edelbrock performer.
Carb: Edelbrock performer 600 cfm electric choke. Easy to tune out of the box. Inexpensive.
Pistons: Flattops
Have the motor balanced and short block assembled by machine shop.

Need a good rear end gear to use the cam. Possibly a torque converter.

I used to shop all of this stuff on line. I have found it is a lot better to pay someone a little extra for their experience and knowledge at a machine shop. Also, you are supporting your local economy. My machine shop is on speed dial.

Cylinder heads are always your best power adder. Spend at least 1/3 and maybe even 1/2 your budget on the best heads you can afford. On the cheap, Vortecs are had to beat.

Don't over-cam. Peak HP is for racing engines that work in a very limited RPM range. For a street-driven combo the best cam is almost always the cam that's one notch smaller than what you think you need. If you're working against a stock torque converter and tall "highway" gearing, nothing over 220* @ .050, preferrably down in the 210* range. That's mild but still almost 20* more duration than the stock cam!

Forget long rods. Lots of money and other headaches for little or no power increase. Proper machining and careful, clean assembly of the stock parts will pay dividends way beyond high buck bottom end parts.

Match the heads, cam and compression ratio and you're 80% of the way to a strong and well balanced street performance combination.

I used to run bottom 14s (on street tires) with near-stock 350 smogger motors. Flattop pistons replacing the stock dished units, mild "RV" flat tappet hydraulic cam, entry-level dual plane aluminum intake, cheap set of headers and duals was all it took (plus tuning it, obviously). If Vortec heads had existed back in those days I would definitely have used them and probably run well into the 13s. That would have been almost a 3 second improvement over the stock smogger engine. BIG seat-of-the-pants improvement. And I drove them all over the place for thousands of miles, too.

Budget and application are the main criteria before you start picking out parts. What are yours?

all great advice. as for budget, there isn't a "set" budget. I am going to take my time and address one area at a time. I was considering using the stock heads. (stop laughing) This will be an "around town, fun car" definitely NOT a race car.....at least not yet. New heads might be out of budget, but nothing is set in stone.

http://northernautoparts.com/ProductDetail.cfm?ProductId=148

Dosent get much cheaper than these guys.^

$189? That I can do. and it will leave money for heads. NICE!!

Take a look at THESE (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-151124/) Summit Vortec heads. They come assembled with valve springs, the valve guides have been machined down to except .520" valve lift cams, they come with screw in studs. However, you have to run a Vortec type intake with them.

Take a look at THESE (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-151124/) Summit Vortec heads. They come assembled with valve springs, the valve guides have been machined down to except .520" valve lift cams, they come with screw in studs. However, you have to run a Vortec type intake with them.

These vortec's are by far the best bang for the buck, even with a stock cam. In fact, you'd do well to use the Voodoo cam a notch smaller than NYH1's signature. Lunati Part Number: 60101, Voodoo 256/262 cam. It'll run well with just about any stock or mildly modified drivetrain and still be fun.

OP: Read Damon's post.
Then read it again. It's spot-on.

are the summit pieces any good? I have heard that the "store brands" can be poor quality and /or build. I know summit has a decent reputation.

$189? That I can do. and it will leave money for heads. NICE!!

Upgrade for the flattop pistons, and add a 268 grind cam, and you can push the 300hp mark with the rest being stock. I would be sure to rebuild your carb too, assuming a Q-jet, and it would perform nicely.

I have a similar set up, stocker 1.92 intake valve heads, believe it was a 883 casting, so flow is good, 4bbl alum intake with Q, and that basic performance kit from Northern, and I love the performance as a daily driver.

If you decide to put in flat top pistons, do your self a favor and spend
and extra 20$ and get the speed pro hyper. pistons not the cheap cast
pistons. The cast pistons have a shorter 1.54" pin height verses 1.56"
stock height. I have the cast pistons in my truck, didn't now about the
pin height thing until I had them in the engine. Piston to deck height
was .037(and my block was decked) so even with a .015 gasket I still have a crappy .052 deck cl.