I was graciously given a 350 which, at the time it was pulled out of a 62' vette, was putting out around 400HP (nothing wrong with the motor, a 600HP turbo LT1 motor now takes it place)

So i've got this free 350 (carbed of course) complete, everything i need. i talked to the guy who is giving me the motor (we;'re doing all the work in his garage) and sometime over the next few weeks i'm gonna be porting the heads out. once that's done, we're gonna crank it and do a compression test, if everything's straight it's ready to go in....so basically 1 weekend is all it's gonna take to do the swap. i figured doing it in june/july, but we've already finished work on his 62' vette (pulled the engine and tune it better) so he said something about the 350 today and im guessing he wants to get working on it soon

so ive got a hi-po 350 replacing my docile little 305...sweet, now the problems begin

torque racking the frame
torque blowing my 87' 700r4
torque destroying my rear

so i spend 80$ and have my buddy weld in SFCs for me, done and done, not an issue

the tranny and rear worry me though, right now the tranny is STRONG, shifts great, no problems, my car only has 75k on it, it's an 87' iroc-z (100% stock except for a 93' LT1 cam(yep, came out of that turbo motor ).....will i make it 2 months with that tranny/rear? i've talked to my friend, and he said that the rear is fine, use it till it breaks, is that gonna be sooner or later? same with the tranny....ill be going to the track for SURE as soon as the motor goes in, and i might "meet" a mustang or **** rocket here or there, but overall i won't be driving it hard.


my fear is that i go to the track after the motor is put in, and on my first run my tranny falls to pieces.....bleh, horsepower is cool and all, but i dont' want to fear blowing my car to pieces every time i blip the pedal. basically i want to hear someone who has done a simliar swap tell me that their stock rear/tranny held up for a while before they could put in a better rear/tranny. cause i need a daily driver, i can't do the swap, and have no car for a month while i get a new tranny or rear, at the same time im not a moron, my friend has offered me a free 350 and the use of his garage to do the swap, i can't say no. needless to say im nervous about this...money isn't a huge issue, if i have to spend 1k and get a hi-performance tranny then be it, but id rather know ahead of time if my tranny is going to blow in 1 week, or 1 month so i can prepare

if im using street tires, no drag radials or slicks woudl that help my cause? because it's torque you're putting to the GROUND not at the flywheel that destroys the rear/tranny right?

 

hey man thats sweet. wish my motor was free!!

anyways don't worry about you rearend at all worry about that tranny. i did a swap from my 305 with a 700r4 and stock rear and it ran fine. of course now i have a raptor 700r4 trans with a corvette servo and a higher stall. that is all i would do to that tranny. you might want to get a transgo shift improver kit and a higher stall but that should be it. here's my little beast.

 

it's nice working at an engineering firm, he's 33 with a nice 4 car garage...im just the lowly senior high school kid who does monkey work AKA CADMONKEY...went there to work on my iroc and hes like, "we should put that thing in your car(as we are ripping my 305 down to do a cam swap), it's yours if you want it"....well duh....of COURSE ill take it....2 months after working there i became a car addict.....HP is addictive

So 330HP didn't blow your tranny? He tells me that the 350 was built to put out 400HP, I'll be happy if I can put 300HP to the wheels, that should get me 13.5....I have money, I have like 2k I was GOING to spend on a motor buildup, but now i have a motor and my money.

I figure I can go buy a rebuilt 700R4 with all the good upgrades (bigger clutch pack, vette servo etc) for like 800$ if I trade my old core in.




thnx for the info....