TBI replacement engine

Working on a 90k mile 92 RMW with a rod knocking. I believe the intake gasket let go like they do and coolant emulsified with the oil. For the sake of time any money I'm looking at replacing the entire engine or long block with a good used one. Found a 350 listed as early 90's. The accessory drive is all different. I think it's a truck motor. I believe the RM engine was a roller cam version. Can anyone help me figure out how to identify this engine and tell me if it'll work?

You're probably right. It looks like a truck engine. Having said that, I do not believe you will have any issues swapping over your current accessory drives, crank pulley and water pump pulley. All the correct mounting holes should be there for all of your brackets.

The pictured engine is non-AC so that may be throwing you off.

I could be wrong, but I think all of the 90s small blocks were roller engines. As long as it was a TBI I think you're good.

Bill

Hoosierdaddy,check this sight out for solid info,on bringing some life to the tbi's. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks guys. The seller finally sent casting number 14093638 It says it could be roller or not. I guess that doesn't really matter much for my purposes.

The site tells you which ones were rollers...

The engine has a V belt FEAD, and may not be a 90s engine. All of the LO3/5 engines had serpentine drive belts to the best of my knowledge. It did have AC, because the bracket on the driver's side does not have the compressor on it, and it does have a drive belt pulley for another accessory. It also looks like it has the center bolt valve covers. I do not know if any non roller engines had the center bolt valve covers.

They made the LO3/5 TBI engines back in the late 80s, so if it is a 90s 350, it is almost guaranteed to be a roller engine. I am not sure it is a 90s engine. That does not mean it is not a roller engine.

How much are you paying for it?

Looks like an 87-88 TBI engine out of a square body truck.

Center bolt covers are definitely on 87 and up. The 14093638 casting number is 87-95 2 bolt or 4 bolt mains, roller or flat cam, 1 piece main seal. From what I can gather car engines were roller cams and trucks were flat. Supposedly all these blocks are cast with provisions for rollers, but some 93 truck blocks and all 94-5truck blocks do not have the provisions machined for the hardware. I read something about some of these motors having a stepped bore on the lifter bores and won't build oil pressure if you add rollers. Don't know if that's true.

The seller was asking $800 including ECM and fuel pump. Said he'd take $500. He supposedly got from a friend to put in a boat and is unsure what the application was. For what it's worth I read that a single stud on the throttle body and air cleaner meant it is early on in the 87-95 time frame. I think v belts probably mean the same.

Since the RM engine is "only" 90k my first inclination is to tear it down and just repair the bottom end, depending on what I found. The $500 not spent on another engine would make a good dent in that. My second thought was to find a runnable engine and install. Then I could take a bit more time to completely build a really strong TBI engine based on a known roller block.

The other number near the casting number is C117 which may mean cast on March 11, 1987.

You could even get a Vortec engine, and adapt an aftermarket or Vortec intake for the TBI. You would get better heads, and everything except for the intake from the LO5 will bolt up. You can even bore out the hole for the distributor, and use the original distributor from the LO5. If you get a "burned" chip, you can use a bigger cam, bigger TBI, and headers. It will be a roller engine as well.

The Vortec short block will allow you to bolt up the rest of the LO5, if you want to use the original heads.

It is even possible to adapt an aftermarket manifold to use two TBIs with the correct chip in the computer.

Not all 87+ 350's were rollers. Some were. Some were not. Some have provisions to make it a roller, and again some did not. Your 100% best bet to get a TBI 350 roller would be to get one from an 89-93 TBI B body. The 89 and 90 9C1's were TBI and had roller engines.

Wow $800 for an old TBI engine...that's nuts. I've bought complete 99+ Silverados for less than that.

I can get a long block from the local PNP yard for about $350, and I get $75 back when I take the old one back. It does not matter what mileage is on it. I should have bought one a few years back that had 35K on it.

You're right about that but here's things that are for sale and then there's things that get sold. It's been on CL for a couple weeks. I called about it last week and asked a few questions. He called yesterday and said he dropped the price to five hundred because he wants it gone asap. If I decide to buy it I'll still offer less and see where it goes.

The self service yards here are very difficult to find good engines. There's guys that hang out at the lots everyday and wait for the prime candidates and buy them on speculation.