Re: Oh No, Wrong Engine

["Thomas J. Harais" <tjhemh@domain.elided>]

John:

My '76 Terra has a 304A in it. This was a slightly "economized" version of
the original 304 according to what I've read in the SIMTA quarterly
publication. They stopped using stellite valve seats and a few other minor
changes to bring costs down.

Anyway, mine has 170,000+ miles on it and is still going strong. I can't see
where you could go wrong by using the one you have.

Tom H.

P.S. I know you're sense of disappointment about finding a 304 where you
were expecting a 345. When I bought my Terra, the owner told me it was a
345. Then I found the 'build sheet' and it said, "304". I was sure that was
wrong. Years later, I pulled the valve covers to put new gaskets on them and
the heads were clearly stamped "304" in 1" high numbers in the middle. At
first, I was kind of disappointed. Then I realized that I had been very
happy with that engine; it met my needs easily; and it wasn't the same as a
305 Chevy SB vs the 350 Chevy SB.  What the heck!