So at the risk of getting reamed by all the hard core enthusiasts, I am gonna share my low budget attempt to get my 350 going again.

I acquired a ‘68 Cutlass with a ‘68 350 block and #5 heads. It sat in and out of storages from a friend who bought it from a coworker, who then sold it to my brother, who then just gave it to me to build with my sons. So last year, we went outside and I got the thing started. I bought a freshened up Quadrajet from a local carb builder, I added an HEI dizzy, new plugs, wires, etc…. Used a gas can as a fuel tank and fired it up…. Had a few vacuum leaks and capped those off and she was idling nice and had decent throttle response. The plan was to pull it all out of the car and clean it all up to paint it Olds gold and put it back in with the Headman headers and dual exhaust. Weeeellll, my kids were messing around with it and took the whole front end off to clean and paint the frame and firewall and ended up leaving it sit with the car cover on it. Well the car cover blew off and there the thing sat exposed to the elements for a few months! Bad bad bad! I know!

Well, this is where we’re at…. I bought a used, but supposedly running 72 350 with #7A heads…. That turned out to be trashed! So now I have two motors that need to be completely rebuilt…. A ‘68 350 w/ #5 heads and a’72 350 w/#7A heads…So being that the 68 was running last year, I have decided to give it my best shot at disassembling it and cleaning it all up and then re-ringing the pistons, and new mains and rod bearings…. I will need to dingleberry hone or 3 stone hone the cylinders to clean them up a little (or maybe more than a little) But I decided to share my process as I have been inspired by several of y’all’s posts and sharing of information on this forum. So please take it easy on me, I am just trying to get it running again and doing it with my sons so they can start learning about old muscle cars and their awesome internal combustion engines…. A little background on me…. I am an old street racer, I am a die hard Chevy man, but I appreciate and respect all makes of old street rods, hot rods, rat rods, etc…. I have built 10 second street cars, I’ve built me a supercharged F150 (basically a homemade Ford Lightning) I’ve rebuilt transmissions, etc. Suffice to say I am a hard core DIY wrench and usually opt to do things myself, except machine work, etc…. So here goes nothing…

 

Here is what the inside of the 350 look’s like after pulling the heads… This is after vacuuming out the water and crud that was in some of them!

 

I bought some Rustoleum Rust Removal Gel Spray and hit the cylinders and lifter valley with it for about 30 minutes and then sprayed it down with a water sprayer and used the shop vac to try and collect as much of the water as I could from going into the block. No particular reason, I’ll be draining the oil before I pull it and put it on the stand for the budget freshen up… Not too bad for a first attempt and 30 minutes…

 

The results from the quick first attempt at the rust removal….

 

Since this is a learning expedition, look up electrolysis rust removal. It's very inexpensive, gives good results and is said to be non-toxic.

 

Following , i want to see how you do with it

 

That's a good start. I'm sure it's a great project for you and your sons.

 

That looks like a nice learning project!

I have also just torn an other 350 apart. Mine will also be a quick hone, new piston rings, new bearings and seals build.
The last 350 I did with the same basic low buck rebuild, is now in my racecar, received a turbocharger that provides 12 psi of boost (also a low buck deal) and runs like a champ. (I did need to upgrade the valve springs at that boost level)
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ermany-169794/

With the engine looking like this, I would advice to take the block out of the car and put it on an engine stand.
Take the waterpump and timing chain cover of, if the engine has never been opened the timing chain will need replacement.
The lifters will probebly will be stuck, if you can take the Cam out, give it a try, if not leave it in for now.
Flip the engine over and remove the oilpan, take the pistons out and the crankshaft (the rear seal needs to come out anyway (replace the rope one with the ford seal Fel-Pro BS6141).
Now you have better acces to the cam and the lifters. Remove the cam and when removed push the lifters from the valley towards where the cam used to be, this was you do not damage the lifter bores.
Remove the oil galley plugs from the engine, pas attention, in the front is one with a tiny hole for the oiling of the timing chain (usuealy blocked).
In the rear at the distributer is also a plug behind a engine block plug (like a small freezeplug), this one also has a tiny hole for oiling the distributer gear and is alo often blocked due to oil crust. That is why hese timing gears can wear out quickly. Save both of them and clean them for reuse.
Also knock out ll the freeze plugs from the side of the block, they will be rusted out from the inside.
Now the engine is realy disasembled and can be cleaned thourghly, take riffle brushes to clean all the oiling passages.

I live in Germany and here I bring my engine blocks to a chemical stripper where they also clean chassis or car bodies. This removes also all the rust inside the cooling passages, theye guys have a lot of experience doing this that is why I trust them.
If you hone the cylinders please use a 3 stone, I prefer them over the dingle ball as you can better see the wear of the bores and if more honing is needed.

Also disassemble the heads and clean them as well, the valves will be crusty but this can be handled with a wire brush.
Also replace the freeze plugs in the heads (had them leaking once as well, were only 48years old )

The rest of all the parts is just cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, boring stuff but will give you the best results.
Inside of the pushrods ar always full of crust as the lubricate the vavle train.

Rebuild the enige with the best care you can take, I woud advice a cam with new lifters (while you're in there) and a good timing chain set.
The valves and heads van be ground in by hand with some paste if they are in a usable condition.
Piston rings, file to fitt.

Crank beaing surfaces can be polished with a 1500-2000 grit sandpaper, WD -40 and a shoe string wrpped around, just for cleaning, Not to remove material.
Oil pump, please use a new one, not worth the risk of reusing the old one.

Depending on the cam you are using please pay attention that your pushrods will not become to short. Measure the base circles of the cam and compare to the old one, keep also in mind the the new headgaskets will be a lot thicker.
Do the math and this is alo how much you can shave the cylinder heads with out any problems of needing longer pushrods. That is how I did it on my engine, needed to take off 0.051" to get everything working in harmony again.

All in all a fun build! Good luck.

 

Oven cleaner. It's not just what you can see, obviously, either. Even after baking, there was still crusty oil inside the two lifter galleries as well as the oil filter adapter passage on a recent one I did. Lots of oven cleaner. Then a pressure washer. Then brake parts cleaner. Then a dial bore gauge to determine how outta round the cylinders are and if you can reuse the stock pistons if they're any good.