I have a 1990 Chevy Caprice. It has a 5.0 liter 305 according to the VIN and the block. Unfortunately, It doesn?t say if its a BB or SB. I was wondering if it would be a short block or big block. Finding parts on online auctions is difficult when you don?t know. Also considering upgrading to the 5.7L 350. From what I hear, it should work. The old engine is probably in too poor of condition to be rebuilt. What do you think? The car ran fine until one day I put the pedal to the metal. The sound of breaking metal and slipping timing was followed by silence. I coasted about 3 blocks before I used the parking brake to stop. Before that, it only made a slight ticking noise. I found out later that the ticking was the crankshaft hitting a broken rod. It wasn?t a tapping valve like people suggested. I also found a brownish-black sludge in the cylinder with the broken rod.
It?s old over-heated coolant mixed with carbon buildup. I haven?t taken the entire engine out yet. The pistons, cam, crank, pan, and rods are the only thing attached to the block(besides the tranny). The engine is still in the car. It is actually sitting on the frame. Both mounts? rubber is completely gone. The only things that might be salvageable would be the block(if not cracked), the pistons(if not broken), valve springs and retainers, and the heads(if not cracked). Things wrong with the 305 5.0L: cracked intake manifold, bent rods (due to broken rod), possible cracked head, possibly had a blown head gasket, 1 broke rod (pushed it down about 2 1/2" with finger while other pistons stayed in place), 7 seized pistons(8th was completely broken from crank months before, apparently), stretched timing chain, cam timing off by 90 degrees, shattered cam thrust washer plate(don?t know the actual name. I?ts the bolted on plate behind the cam gear.), found about 4 1/2 quarts of pure coolant and water in oil pan(about 5
1/2 quarts of oil also found in the oil pan.)