My Project Truck

[FLOutlander]

Greetings,

This post will be kinda long, so bear with me

Back in 1982, my dad bought a brand new Chevy Scottsdale 1/2 ton pick-up. It's 2WD, and came with a 305 V-8 and automatic tranny. I'm not sure if it's a TH350 or TH400.

Since then, the tranny has been rebuilt twice, back to factory specs. No shift kits or anything. The origional 305 was rebuilt once, then was replaced with a 350 that came out of a box van. Not sure what year, but the mechanic told us that this particular 350 had a factory "Towing Cam" in it. Other than that, it's pretty basic. Rochester Carb, stock exhaust manifolds, stock everything.

My dad passed away in 2005, leaving me the truck. He always wanted to restore the truck. Not over-the-top restoration, he never wanted to make it a SHow Truck or anything, but he wanted it to run like new and keep it in the family. He never got a chance to, so I'd like to do it for him now. Here are my plans.

I want to do all the work myself. The mashining I will leave to a reputable shop. But I will be doing all the wrenching. I'd like to rebuild the 350, and make it slightly better than stock. I'm not looking for additional horsepower, but rather reliable factory-like horsepower.

How can I determine what year this 350 is? Also, other than taking it apart, is there a way to see if it's a 4-bolt main or 2-bolt main?

The Rochester Quadrajet has to be replaced. I've personallt rebuilt it twice and it's time to retire. I'd like to move away from the Quadrajet entirely, so what type of carb should I use to replace it that will allow factory specified power output? I think the Quadrajets are something like 750 or even 780cfm. Someone once told me that a Holly or Edelbrock 4-barrel in the 600-650cfm range would be a great replacement. Is this true? Also, what type of carb do I need? I look trough catalogs and see things like vacuum secondaries, mechanical choke, electric choke etc. How do I know which one I will need?

Being an '82, this truck has HEI ignition. About a year ago, I replaced the entire distributor, cap, rotor, and wires with brand new items. Just FYI.

On to the transmission....

As mentioned earlier, I don't know wether it's the TH350 or TH400. How can I find out? This tranny needs to be rebuilt. Is this something I can do myself or will that require some mashining work like an engine does? While I'm in there, I'd like to install a mild shift kit and an auxillary trans-cooler for longevity.

On to the rear axle....

How do I determine what type of gears I have in there? 2.73, 3.23....is there a way to tell? I'd like to install a Posi back there but keep the gears as close to stock as possible. Rear axle seals are shot too so those will be replaced at that time as well.

Other things...

Eventhough this is a 2WD truck, I like to make room for some larger tires. My dad always wanted to lift it a little. Do they make 3-inch body lifts for 2WD trucks? What about 3-4 inch suspension lifts? Just curious.

Aside from all of that, I'd like your opinion on what to do to the engine/tranny to get factory-like power but perhaps some better gas mileage. I'll top things off with a K&N filter, but what else can be done to increase mileage?

Any and all serious help is greatly appritiated. I'm not in a hurry to get this done. It can take a year or two, I don't care. The truck is in a barn, out of the weather.

Kind regards,
Axel

PS: One more thing. Does anyone know what kind of horsepower and torque I should expect at the rear wheels with a stock 350 like mine? Also, when I have the block at the mashine shop, will they bore it larger than stock? If so it will increase the c.i.d. of the engine. Right?