Only a couple of years ago, few of us low-dollar hot rodders would go to a General Motors dealership to get parts for our cars. Even if we thought the quality of these parts was higher than most aftermarket equivalents, the prices were simply prohibitive for a budget street car. Things are different today. In fact, GM offers many affordable high-performance parts, including a very reasonably priced yet muscular small-block engine, through its GM Performance Parts line. This new engine delivers 300 horsepower for the moderate price of $1995. That’s suggested retail, which normally is a bit steeper than the price most dealerships will actually charge. As an example, Mail Order Autocenter in Dallas, Texas, is a GM Performance Parts outlet and offers this engine for $1675 (plus shipping).
Admittedly, you can find or build a less expensive engine, but the advantage of this engine is that everything is brand new. There are no stripped bolt holes, and all the dowel pins are in place. The engine has not been over-bored, and the crank has not been ground undersize, so this engine can be rebuilt multiple times in coming decades. As far as quality goes, General Motors definitely has the ability to produce excellent products and, at this time, the 300hp 350 is not built on an assembly line. Instead, each engine is hand assembled by Dick Shepard and Gerald Patterson in the Lansing, Michigan, General Motors Powertrain engine plant. Finally, every engine is spin-tested before being crated. And these engines come with a 12-month/12,000-mile warranty to boot.
There are a few things that aren’t included with the engine, however, that will be necessary to plop this Mouse motor into your favorite engine bay. So we went the extra distance and installed one in a mid-’60s musclecar. We then compiled a list of every part we used (see “The Whole Story” chart). Since the idea behind this engine is good quality at an affordable price, the parts used to install the engine follow the same premise. If you’re replacing a V8 with this motor, you will already have most of these parts.
We think this engine is an excellent powerplant for use in street rods and mild street machines, and the power can be pumped up later if you decide you need a little more. As delivered, though, the engine is a great combination of moderate power, dependability and budget pricing.
