ive decided that i will build my 350 on a budget. and ive decided that i will use a rebuilt shorblock as my base and then add the rest of the components my self. now i have only one problem: Where should i buy my shortblock?? from what ive seen GM only sells the ZZ4 shortblock which seems to be out of my budget range and i dont want to void the warranty if it has one. i am willing to spend up to 800 on a shortblock.

i went to kragen and i found out that their shortblocks go for about $650 but i have no idea about what the quality of the shortblock is.

the junkyard seems cheap but i have no idea of which engines can be reused without bottom end rebuild.

the only other option is machine shops but the one i went to quoted me 1500 for the shortblock alone.

any advice out there (especially from you california guys)??

thanks a lot and i would like to add that this is my first engine build and thats why i dont want to buy expensive parts and end up screwing them up by doing some newbie mistake.

Poke, (Name ??)
You are going to be hard pressed to find any type of decent short block for $800, especially if you do not have a core to start with. The "bare bones" machine work alone is around $420 and that does not even include assembly. As hard as it is to do, I would save my pennys until you can afford something decent. Thats a lot better than buying something cheap and having to do it all over again in a year.
Just my opinion,

Slowpoke, you have mail.

Isn't about the best cheap setup, the GM Goodwrench even though it has a terrible compression ratio??

And I'm just talking about just a motor to get somebody started... Not a "race" or "hi=po" one..

pdq67