Improve 8 Cylinder Engine

Q: Does it pay to swap my 4 or 6 cylinder engine for an 8 cylinder?

A: First of all, you have to decide if you are going to keep the computer system. It’s a bigger hassle if you do. Your best bet is to go to a junkyard or find someone who is parting out a V8 Camaro/Firebird, and pull as many parts as possible off the same car. You will need brackets (i.e. alternator, AC, smog pump, and power steering pump – save the bolts too), AC hoses, and Pulleys. You will also need new rubber motor mounts (about $20 at local parts store) and the engine side brackets that these mounts bolt to. Make sure you get the engine side motor mount brackets from a Camaro or Firebird as they are a little shallower and are needed to get the engine to sit low enough in the bay. The holes for the motor mounts are already in your crossmember. You will also need to get the engine fan and fan shroud (junkyard or new – your choice). You will need to buy a starter, water pump, and probably a power steering pump (get thses from a junkyard as they’re almost always still good). You’ll need a V8 HEI distributor. An ACCEL rebuilt HEI works great and costs less than $150.00. And of course plugs and wires. Assuming an automatic tranny, you will need a new tranny since the bellhousing bolt pattern is different on the V8 car from the 4 and 6 cylinders. A Turbo 350 will bolt right in with B&M’s $75.00 conversion kit. It just lets you hook up the torque arm, but you’ll lose overdrive. Take a polaroid camera to the junkyard, and you should be able to figure all this stuff out. Finally, you will probably have to change the front coil springs. I know this sounds like a ton of work (especially since it doesn’t even include what you have to buy to assemble the engine), but this swap is really a piece of cake – everything drops in like it was supposed to be there. At the very least, assemble all the components you’ll need (build the motor on an engine stand over a few months with all accessories and brackets), and have someone drop it in for you. A shop would charge you an arm and a leg if they had to scrounge all this stuff up themselves. For further info, send an e-mail to Chris (cblandin0@aol.com).