differences in parts?

[eriks98s10]

I was lookin at this site called www.opgi.com (https://www.opgi.com/GateLM4.asp) that has v8s and such. well i was reading about the crate motors that they sell and noticed that they got a few options 2 choose from. Like for example they have a 350 that comes with your choice of either an air gap or performer intake. im not too sure what that is, i think its the manifold is taller/shorter for different rpm power ranges? am i right? Another option is long or short water pump. Whats the difference between the two, other than one being longer than the other? Like, on what application might you need one over the other? Am i making any sense?

I'm not planning on droppin a v8 in my truck or nothin, but I'm hopin to get a monte carlo soon and want to have an idea of all the engine stuff i want to do to it. I dont know if i should get a crate 350 or build my own. I've only built a motor once when i was in school about 3 years ago, but it was a 4cyl toyota. So i dont have a lot of experience building em. So in a way it kinda leans me toward getting a crate engine cuz i dont wana try to build a motor and then i f**k it up, then i'll be pissed at myself, cuz i spent my money on parts and all that crap and it'd be wasted.. what do u guys think?

[Dimemaster]

The Edelbrock AirGap manifolds have an air gap between the air passages and the bottom of the manifold. This prevents internal engine heat from being conducted to the intake air. Result is a cooler, denser intake charge that provides a noticable power increase throughout the intakes effective RPM range.

Shorter water pumps are shorter than long water pumps, just as you inferred. For standard rotation pumps, short pumps were used from 1955 to 1983, long pumps were used from 1969 to 1987. The exact year any particular model changed over varied, however, all Vettes had short pumps. Most pumps had a 5/8" diameter pilot shaft for the pulleys and fan clutch. Corvettes and a few heavy duty truck engines had 3/4" diameter pilot shafts. These larger shafts were quite necessary under high rpm racing conditions.

Reverse rotation short pumps first appeared on Vettes in 1983 and were phased out when Vette turned to more modern engine families in 1991. All other first gen smallblocks with reverse rotation had long water pumps, with the first appearing in 1987, they lasted throughout the rest of the 1st gens production.

[s10350racer]

and the long water pumps are probably more common since they have all the accessory holes too.

[eriks98s10]

ok thanks guys...

When people say 2 or 4 bolt main. Exactly which bolts are they? Are they the main cap bolts? If so, on each cap there is 4 bolts on a 4 bolt main, correct? and 2 on a 2 bolt main? this is probably a basic question, but like i said, i never really got into building engines, so i dont know a whole lot about details and specifics, and i want to be completely sure. I was told that if i get a 350 with 4 bolt main, then i have to have a tranny to match the 4 bolt main motor. but if its inside the engine then what does it matter how many bolts the main caps have? sorry this is kind of a gray area for me..lol..... Again, thanks guys.. i appreciate your responses and comments...

[s10350racer]

since your new to the scene i suggest buying a couple of books. maybe some basic literature like they would have at a tech school to start with to get a foundation and understanding. i also highly reccomend the sa design books from cartech. they are very useful and easy to understand. i consider them bibles along with my jags that run conversion book and summit, jegs, and lmc catalogs. as for the main bolts you are correct. they are referring to the caps that support the main bearings. on performance and heavy duty applications they used four bolts to hold them together such as on taxis, cop cars, corvettes, and big trucks. two bolts were used on other applications. if you have a two bolt, dont worry, you can get splayed main caps that essentially turn it into a four bolt and is even stronger then the factory four bolt. i dont know who told you about the transmission, but they couldnt be more wrong and id be careful on listening to any other advice he gives you... hope this helps.

[Dimemaster]

Again, erik, your inferences are correct. It's bolts per main cap. However, it makes no difference how many bolts on the main caps when it comes to picking out transmissions. The bolt holes for the bell housing are the same on all first gen small blocks. However, there are different fly wheels and flex plates because of differences such as method of engine balancing and such, but this depends on the crankshaft used, not the number of bolts in each main cap.

[eriks98s10]

thanks for the info... I'll think of some more Q's for you guys later. thanks again..