Replacing 305 in 1986 K10

[Canyon Copper]

Hello everyone:

I'm a newbie to this board, but not new to Chevy trucks. The truck you see pictured below I bought new in 1986 and I still drive it today. It has 175,000 miles on the clock and still runs pretty good, but the little 305 is finally showing its age and oil fouls the number eight cylinder.



I have done rebuild work before, and it is time-consuming, can be expensive, and you have no one to blame but yourself if the motor doesn't run. I could go with a machine shop rebuild, but those usually aren't cheap either.

From what I've read so far it sounds like the best option is to buy one of the GM 350 crate motors. The motor I'm thinking about is this one here (NAL-10067353) that generates 260 horse and 300 ft/lbs of torque. Torque is what I need to move the 2.73 gears that came with my truck.




As I did my reading, I learned that my truck is the ba$tard child of the Chevy V-8 world. This is because 1985 and earlier V-8's have a two-piece rear main seal, are carbureted, and have perimeter bolt valve covers. The 1987 and up engines have a one piece rear main seal, center bolt valve covers, and are fuel injected. My 1986 is a one-piece rear main, but it is carbureted and has the perimeter bolt valve covers.

This truck is a four speed.

So here are my questions:

What changes do I need to make in order to run the motor shown above in my truck? Is it as simple as swapping the flywheel to one that fits the two-piece rear main seal and everything will bolt up?

I assume the stock exhaust and all the front dress will just transfer over from the original motor to the crate motor -- is that correct?.

Will the EGR bolt up to the e-brock or Summit aluminum EGR manifolds as claimed?

Thanks guys for any advice you care to offer.