"Ran when pulled"

318willrun said
Tearing it down and rebuilding is always the BEST route. However, I believe the guy, that it ran good when pulled. the notches on the pistons are going in the right direction for the assembly of the motor. I sticking with my guess, that those are all factory pistons. But if you are going to add boost, then I would certainly do the bottom end. I would also do it with a forged crank..... from a 273, or late 60's 318 truck motor (easiest places to find a forged crank without breaking the bank).

This motor/tranny was supposed to be a temporary fix to get me back on the road and give me a chance to get all of the other stuff done first (wiring, suspension, rear end). I have another 318 block and a 904 core that I was going to build down the road and then transfer over the top end from this one before adding any boost. Part of this project was to play around with parts so I could learn the things I always wanted to and let my boys tinker with it too, I have embraced that this will always be a work in progress :D Living in Canada I will only get to drive this car 6-7months out of the year so I need something to do through the winter

If I everything looks ok with this bottom end, I still would like to drop it in with the top end refreshed and see if I cant get a summer of cruising out of it at least. The boost is long term goal, just thought that if I have to build a bottom end now then I better do it properly and plan accordingly