I recently bought a 1979 350 olds and was wondering how everyone felt about its potential of being a good strong engine. I don't know much about the engine other than its casting number came back as a 1979 350, most of the people mentioned that it had windowed mains. I would like to know if the mains are an issue also.

 

If your engine does have window mains, depends on what you're doing. I had a window main 403 with cam, intake, headers running pretty strong, and never had any problems. Recall driving a stock 80' 350 Delta 88 with really tall axle gearing, and thing was a real dog. Think you've got your work cut out for you, getting that thing to breath a little better.

 

what cooling issues, do i need to get a big radiator or what? Is it an issue that the specific motor has problems with? i am not really going to make it super fast or nothing I just want to put it back together, right. Is there any suggestions for me to do.

 

Don't recall mentioning anything about cooling system problems, as should be fine there. I mentioned engine breathing, meaning getting more power from an emissions controlled choked down engine. For the original question, the windowed mains will be fine, unless really going for lots of power and rpm. Only reason they're there, is to trim a few lbs of weight from the block.

 

Oh ok, I misunderstood you, I might be going with a different setup other than the original setup. So i may need more advice later, but thanks for the help thus far.