85 TRANSAM

so i went n bought a good condition motor that was in a old mans garage supposably was a 350 but when i tore it apart the bores were huge n a few oil n coolant holes under the heads looked different n i had a family friend come who owns a racing n machine shop come by n he said its a small block 400. i took the casting number on the block 330817 and looked it up online. n its a 400 with a 2 bolt main....still planning to drop it in my 85 transam. my edelbrock maifold, headers, waterpump, valve covers, and 700r tranny still bolt right up to it

ANYTHING I SHOULD KNOW BOUT THIS MOTOR OR THE SWAP FRM MY **** GARBAGE 305 I HAD IN IT??????

tazextreme3

A 400 will wake that car right up, 400s are torque monsters. There will be a noticeable difference from a 305.
The only thing I can tell you is that if you put non-400 heads on it drill the steam holes in whatever heads will be going on it (the 400 has siamesed bores). The 400 got a bad rap from people running them on the street with aftermarket or other than 400 heads without stream holes drilled so they overheated in stop and go traffic, so drill the steam holes unless your running a track only car. Some say the 817 casting blocks are weak (high alloy 509 castings are the best) but unless your planning 8 second 1/4s that block will be fine.

85 TRANSAM

i got heads for it. when i got the motor it was complete from intake mainfold to oil pan. i had the heads vaccum tested n all the valves hold so ima run those heads. i just put in a new 3.18 rear end hopefully itll hold up then cuz i got a heavy foot lol. when i got the car from a donation yard 2yrs ago i blew the stock rear end then i blew the automatic tranny n now i popped the p.o.s. 305...everything has been replaced with better. n no im not planning on making it a track car its still gona be my most daily driver n toy. i got a 73 ford f250 2wd with a big block 360 in it that im thinkin of making a track truck, the transam is a 85 so i got alota smog stuff to deal with but with the motor all clean n im planning on getting new cat and i have the stock exhaust and intake i can prob pull it off at a smog station just saying its a 305 or get a 350 sticker from pick n pull. i didnt even know it was a 400 till i took the heads off and ran the cast number.....

soultron

iTrader: (2)

You can still put a set of vortec heads (or any better flowing heads) on there if you drill the steam holes. The heads on there aren't the greatest, but fine for a truck or something...