We rebuilt the 350 for the ’59 Apache, including:  main and rod bearings; rings; camshaft; lifters; pushrods; oil pump; fuel pump; water pump; harmonic balancer; Edelbrock Performer manifold; Edelbrock 1406 carburetor; small chamber heads; timing chain set; valve covers; oil pan; and new freeze plugs and gaskets.

An important part of the rebuild was knocking out all the water jacket plugs (aka freeze plugs) and using our high pressure washer and compressed air to remove the chunks of rusty metal that are detrimental to cooling efficiency.

After putting it all together, there was no way I was going to stick it back in the truck without testing it first. We happened to have two heavy duty metal tables, one with a metal top that serves as our welding table. The other had a wood top and it became the temporary engine test bed. A little surgery removed the angle iron on which the wood top rested, allowing us to drop an engine into the middle. Here’s what it looked like…