A guy I've known for some years was telling me a couple days ago his daughters were friends with some people who had a 1986 Chevy cargo van setting in their yard they wanted to get rid of.

The owners told this guy the van was always well cared for. Oil changes every 3,000 miles and all. They thought the exhaust had fallen off the van but in actuallity a brake line had broke and that's why they stopped driving the van at 76,000 miles.

He bought this van from them for $200, took it home, pulled off every thing that he thought he could use or sell and scrapped the rest.

I thought about how nice it'd be to have a decent engine for my '86 Monte. Not that the one that's in there is bad. It just has lots of miles on it.

The engine out of the van is a 305 like my car has but the friend has no idea if it's a regular 305 or 305 H O which if I had my choice is what I'd rather have.

I know a LOT of 1980s Monte owners say to pull that stock 305 as fas a possible and stick in a nice 350.

So that's my dilema.

I was offered this van's 305 for $250 today. And it would keep my '86 Monte all 1986 which is what I'd prefer.

Think it's a good deal? Cause I mean how hard is it to stick in a 350, dress it like the original 305 and lie to anyone who asks what's in there.

 

well rj d00d it sounds like a good price but the only thing u have to go off is second party thoughts, for all you know the engine could fall apart 500 miles down the road. i say screw the 305 350 FTW beyond any shadow of a doupt. more power, better reliability, and a all around perfect engine IMO so yeah dump the 305 and put that $$ towards a nice 350

my .02

 

I'm with Chris, man. You don't know what the engine is really like until you tear it apart.
Of course you could buy the engine and try to sell it to someone else for $300.

Seriously... if you're gonna do an engine swap anyway, save up for the 350. And don't even try to hide it. "Yeah it's a 350! You got a problem with that? Yeah...didn't think so!" lol

 

Ditto.. Your performance options are much more better with the 350.

 

This is just my opionon:
If you want to keep it all 1986 then rebuild your 305 when it's time and keep the car numbers matching. (ifit is numbers matching now)The van motor is probabley not a HO motor. if you want more power then build a 350 the way you want it. or crate motor all kinds of options if youhave the money.

 

ok here is my thoughts on this..

the 305 was actually not a bad motor for someone not looking to build it for drag racing or running real hard and beating it up.
Also the 350 and the 305 are the same size and will fit in the car with no mods for the mounts etc...
But to make the 350 look like a 305 is actually not to hard to do most peep's dont know a 350 from a 305 or 307 or even a sm.blk.400

So i would not worry about that.

but if you want to make it a 350 do it other wise i would say any of the 305 motors will do fine and you coudl take yours in the car and rebuild it as the org. car . then pull this one back out and throw the new rebuilt one back in to the car.

 

Well, I'm not 100% sure what year the engine in my '86 Monte is? It got replaced by the PO's stupidity. He scrapped the original engine. Than paid someone $850 to install this used engine in the car for them.

(they didn't even bother re-hooking half of what they un-hooked to do the engine swap)

Anything's possible and this van engine could be a boat anchor inside. Only way to get a good idea is to take off some parts and have a look see. Also oil condition can be a clue.

I feel one of the reason's my Montes get little respect is because most Monte owner's and lovers prefer to see a modified car. Not a stock one.

I like the non-stock Montes too, but a dream of mine was to own a nice, original car. Ever since they were new.

 

if you want a org. car or one that looks like it then you have what you want and a damed good looking one. Dont worry what others want they dont own it you do.

But if you want a reliabel motor and want to make sure it is a org. kind of motor then get one from G.M. you can get a dart motor from them and it is a org. replacment motor for the cars and trucks of G.M. you just go to thier parts dept. and bend over and ask them to be gental as they can be for ya. but at least it is a org. style replacment etc.... it would be the same if you blew the one in the new monte. this is what they would put in it to replace it.

If you look at what you can do for pricing on it and also what it will come with compared to the one out of the van that might or might not be worth the money that your paying for it. Besides he paid 200.00 for the whole damed van why should you pay more then this for just the motor?
just my thoughts

 

Well if you are looking to go original, I would just rebuild the one you have now. It may cost more, but you know it will be reliable. You don't want to drop $250, swap the engine out and have it blow or have other issues you don't know about. Hell they might have stopped driving it because a headgasket leaked or bad compression. You just don't know.

 

Good points guys.

The 305 H O in the car now has proven to be a good engine. Other then a few small things I haven't done zip the engine.
Tune-ups.
Oil changes.
Afuel pump cause I didn't want to guess about it.
Anew water pump cause I didn't want to be out on I-71 going to the '03 Monte Nats and have the one on there go out in construction traffic.
Had the Q-jet carb rebuilt in '04.
New thermostats and radiator caps.
Stuff like this.

But it still runs good.

Only reason I'd consider giving my friend Jim the extra $50 is because he went to the trouble of pulling the engine/trans out of the van.