malcom2073

Hello, I recently bought a 87 IROC-Z, taking my old nova off the road to do so. I am looking to put the nova's engine into the Camaro, however I have a few questions concerning this swap.

I have searched the forum, and found that it is possible to do a roller cam conversion in my 350 engine (it is a flat tappet type), would this be suggested? Or should I just stick with flat tappet cams. Basically I'm curious as to the power gain of roller, vs the potential damage to the engine (by the lifters hopping out with a high lift cam), and cost/effort to convert it.

Also, I have a set of "double hump" heads, port/polished with 64cc chambers currently on the car. Is it possible to use the TPI intake on these heads (just re-drilling the center two bolt holes on the intake), or are the ports in different locations, and I should just get new heads?

I am also curious about the torque converter lockup. Is it possible to put that on an external switch, without having any ECU codes thrown whenever it is disabled? I want to be able to swtich between automaticly controlled, and disabled (The damn thing is locking when I'm at the track)

I apologize if any of this has been covered in previous posts, my searches found alot of information, but these are the questions that still remain. Thanks

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

The biggest question is whether or not your camel humps have the accessory bolt holes on the ends. If not, find later heads.

Your TPI base won't bolt directly to the older heads. The center two intake mount holes on each side of your '87 base are at 72 degrees vs. 90 degrees for all of the bolts on your old heads. The holes in the base can be elongated so the bolts will go in.

You should only consider retrofit roller lifters in that older block. You aren't going to be pushing them out of the hole - not sure where that came from. But, I wouldn't bother with roller lifters on a TPI engine.

Yes, it's all been covered before.

malcom2073

Unfortunatly, they do not have accessory holes as my other car had no AC so I did not need them. I just bought the heads not long ago too, guess I'll have to find someone to buy them, then get new heads.

Thanks for your answers, I'll probably just stick with flat tappet for now.

luvmy64

I had a set of those heads on a 350 once, and all i had to do was drill and tap a new hole in the passenger side head. Did it right in my garage. One thing to be careful of, though, is not to drill into the water jacket behind it. Its not that bad.

malcom2073

I talked to a couple machine shops about the heads, they're way too ported for mild application and they'd really kill my vacume pressure at idle/right on the throttle.(Which was exactly what was happening on the carbed engine, I could never figure out why). I've decided I'm either going for a set of patriot performance, or getting a set of the aluminum L98 corvette heads since they're cheap, and a set of retrofit roller lifters with a roller cam and full roller rockers. Figure I might as well be roller the whole way