Given: The 396 is coming out of the '57 to make room for a stroked LQ4/4L80E combo. I'll take my time on this, probably won't finish until 2011, possibly even 2012, depending upon what else I do (floor pan and support brace rust repair, 6-point, 12-bolt, etc.). Well, several years ago, back when Berlinetta #1 still had a 305, I mused about a bigger engine going into the '57, and the 396 should find a new home in the Camaro. Now, is that really necessary? No. The current plans for the current 350 should make it a fine runner. And, if I want to upgrade from there, an LQ4 would do nicely, especially since it's a DD. But, take that 396, bore to 4.250", nice aftermarket aluminum heads, a healthy hydraulic cam, a bit of a cowl hood. . .

i like it! wander away man. i cant wait to assemble mine the rest of the way. plus i got a job finally so i can stop trying to build a hot rod with unemployment checks!

396 in your camaro that would be a screaming machine. My dad had a 396 in his chevelle. It would move. I would say if you have the ambitions to do it. DO IT. because when all said and done you will look back and be glad you did it.

Of course, now that you have a job, you won't have time to work on the car. . .

Well, with a 4.250" bore, it wouldn't be a 396 anymore. . .

Did I mention running the CC q-jet on it?

LOL. sounds like a sweet thang. If you do this think you could post up some pics on the course of doing this swap? If there was any modification you had to do?

haha, good point, good thing its sales commission and part time to start. its still better than 150 a week! plus winter is coming and i know ppl in the nw just love to wait till snow falls for winter tires. besides, with my insomnia, i get another 6 hours a day :P

i dont know if all bbc's had the same stroke, but you should be knocking on 402-427 area with a 4.25 bore right? those q-jets are nice when they are built right, should work great!

im in a similar process berlin, but i wont have pics up till next year most likely. supposedly its fairly bolt in, but you have to be careful about valve covers, a/c and windshield wiper motors. also, truck oil pans dont work (trust me on that) and tall deck blocks are a pain so ive heard.

the engine mounts are the same, headers are a pain, especially when you want bigger tubes. theres alot too it, but not much more than a standard swap, other than the fact that noone makes a bunch of bolt on parts for a bbc in a thirdgen.

427 - very nice

I'm looking forward to the 454 I'm putting into my '83 in the spring... only problem I have thus far is finding a dual plane manifold that will fit under the stock hood.... not easy lol.

Be careful with that wandering mind stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You could end up with a garage full of projects like mine!!!!

i dont know if there is a dual plane that will fit under a stock hood, at least not with out some brace trimming. u might try a stock iron piece, but thats one step forward and two back. i got my 2.5" cowl 'glass hood with the car, so i just ran with it. if you happen to find one that works, shout it out. mean time, im going with an air gap.

It wouldn't be quite a 427. Be close though

You mean because a 427 has a 4.250" bore and 3.76" stroke, and this would only have a 4.250" bore and 3.76" stroke?

yep, what he said

A Corvette '71-'74 LS5 intake is iron, but is so low that the bottom of the plenum is actually lower than the bottoms of the large oval intake ports

I'd have it bored to 4.185" then sonic tested before going the rest of the way. Sonic testing gets more accurate the less iron it has to go through.

My block casting was used for both 396's and 2-bolt main 427's. Cylinder wall thickness shouldn't be a problem.

The 502 swap into the 86 TA was straight forward enough.
The only difficulty was finding a suitable windshield wiper motor that could be clocked to clear the ds valve cover. That and building a suitable exhaust ( w/ dual cats ) to mate to the Super Comps. Ground clearence was an issue. So much so that the lowering springs had to come out and stock height springs installed. Manhole covers are hard on the bell housing!

What kind of quarter mile times do you guess you'll be looking at with the camaro?

Good Luck, DacMan

I think I actually DID find exactly what I was looking for in a BBC intake. Its aluminum, oval port, square-bore, dual plane. Its a GMPP intake manifold, the one that came with the "Anniversary 427" crate engine my boss got for his '69 Corvette a few months ago.

He's using the same air cleaner and carb that I am (L88 air cleaner, 4150 Holley), and it clears the L88 hood on his Corvette by 0.5"-1.0"

I don't remember the P/N for the manifold now, but I did find that manifold on the GMPP site during my lunch break, and its a bit shorter than an Edelbrock Performer intake for a BBC, but its not a 'pancake' intake by any means, like the LS5/LS6 intakes.

He's planning to go to EFI on the Corvette over the winter, so if he does, I may have to borrow that manifold in the spring when my 454 goes in, and see how it fits. The big drop (a full 2") from the L88 air cleaner sure helps though.

I *think* I found it, incase anyones interested... GM# 12363406 is the manifold I think I was looking at.

FiveSeven,I really wish you'd do this.I've been associated with this site off and on for 5 or so years.I can remember many times over the years that you have expressed interest in doing this swap.The CC quadrajet,that part I am completely dumb to,as far as making it work properly on a 427.You know what the engine would be capable of.I'm not sure how your MPG would be affected,can't help but think the right combo with an OD trans would be acceptable.
Yes,the headers suck,but not as bad as everyone makes them out to,if you have the basic grinder,die grinder,things of that nature to clearance things.
Handling,I personally think this is by far THE MOST EXAGGERATED part of the swap.If handling was going to change drastically,it would have with mine.I went from an aluminum headed small block,with aluminum water pump,to an all iron bigblock,with minimal handling differences.On a street car,I'd hunt up a st of stock IROC front springs,for a TPI 350 car.I understand this to be the heaviest combination of engine ever put in these cars from the factory.It might not end up a corner carver,but I'm sure it would display acceptable handling for a daily driven car.
I'm going to finish this long-winded post wit............DO IT MAN!!!!!!!!!

I would think it wouldn't be hard to make the CC Qjet work on the big block if it was bored to 4.25".

The early '90s 454 trucks (same 4.25" bore as the 427) had a TBI system, so you could use the knock sensor for that in the 427. You'd have to add an O2 sensor bung to whatever headers or manifolds you used, but thats not a big deal. None of the other sensors are displacement-specific, so as long as theres a hole for them to fit into they should be fine. The distributor is interchangeable between SBC and BBC, so thats already a non-issue. All you'd really have to do is just set up the carb with the right metering rods, etc.. and it should work pretty well on the BBC.

Well, the LQ4 is starting to make more sense again. . .