my 1987 Silverado - R10 - 350 - Throttle Body Injection (TBI) - 700R4 - daily rolling toolbox for almost 10 yrs is getting a fresh motor. The donor is an 88 suburban that got a crate motor 6 years ago. the old motor's been sitting at my wife's-father's-half-sister's-daughter's husband's shop (KD) since that swap. when the motor got pulled it was running fine and we know some of the history on it. Durring storage it took some water - apparrently down the distributor - but appears to be ok. the crank has some water stains so it's getting turned 10/10 (0.010 in. off main and rod ?bearing surface? - and will use oversize bearings). the block's getting bored 0.030 in. over standard. we dropped off the block, crank, and heads Friday. the machine shop will install the new cam bearings and prees the new pistons onto the rods and completely redo the heads. i believe i do have the larger valves. matster rebuild kit will include: gaskets, rods and mains, probably cast pistons, chrome rings, lifters, new cam, ...? i'm not trying for a racer and wouldn't mind getting 20 yrs out of the new motor, but i do pull a trailler sometimes. i think having never had a new motor in the truck i'll be happy with the horsepower, but... any extra i can get will be good too. I'd been told to get an RV cam but the machinist told KD that my computer couldn't handle it. i know that GM dropped the lift on the cams .035 from .2600 on 86 models to .2565 on 87 models and kept them there on later trucks. i haven't found any specs on durration of factory cams yet. my question is: do i want / need to use a stock cam? if not, what lift and durration will be best? i'd prefer not to have to change the computer at this time. Thanks for any help!
Nice Truck ! I'm too old to know about computers , the early MAP controlled FI systems I know , would easily handle the 3/4 T cam but *not* a Hot Rod one as the variations in intake manifold pressure would upset it . Pardon my ignorance but : what's an " R 10 " ?? . TIA ,
R 10 is how my truck is listed with many of my local parts houses, it means 1/2 ton pickup. the R 20 is the 3/4. My truck is a 1987 R/V-series R10 1/2 ton 4x2 Silverado. Do you know what was the difference in specs on the 3/4 T cam? was that in a 350? I don't want a hot rod cam. if i can improve efficiency or horsepower by using a non stock cam then i'm interested.
spec charts? in searching the forum for cam specs i stumbled on this link posted in 2004 by Zip. http://www.chuckschevytruckpages.com/enginespecs.html http://www.chuckschevytruckpages.com/enginespecs.html claims to be info direct from GM factory service manual (which i still don't have). can anyone verify the horsepower specs? it says my 1987 stock Throtle Body Injection model should have 210 hp and 300 ftlbs torque. that would be 35-50 more hp and 25-40 more torque (depending on which model from 86) than the stock 350 in an '86 with a carburator.
Model Designation Your 4X2 pickup is a " C " series , K's are 4X4 . The 3/4 ton cam is a slightly more powerful grind than that of a 1/2 ton one .
Re: Model designation i've always had some confusion bout that. I bought a Haynes manual the day after i bought the truck. all it says about the VIN plate is that it's important. The 8th digit in the VIN is K. somebody told me that's the engine designation?? C is the 3rd digit. http://www.chuckschevytruckpages.com/models.html says the designation for the fourwheel drive was changed to V for 87. i've seen a breakout of the VIN b4...somewhere...i'll look online. Thanks.
GM changed the C/K designations to R/V for '87 - '91 (old body style). I'm not sure whether it had anything to do with converting to tbi or just in preparation for the newer body style that came out in '88. For '81 and newer trucks: The first digit indicates where it was made (1 - US, 2 Canada) The first 2 letters in the vin identify the brand (GC - Chevy, GT- GMC) The next letter is GVWR/Brakes The fourth letter identifies whether it is 2wd (C or R) or 4wd (K or V). 8th digit is the engine code, K is 350 w/tbi LMC has a VIN breakdown in the front of their catalogs.
Thanks. The block, crank, and heads are done. Probably p/u Tue or Wed. The machine shop is ordering the rebuild kit. Kit = Gaskets, bearings, .030 over cast pistons, chrome molly rings, stock cam, lifters, pushrods, high volume oil pump, oil pump pickup, new distributer shaft... am i forgeting anything?
