what do i need or should i know about swapping in a 400 pontiac engine, im wanting to build it to have about 500 ft/lbs tq and about 450 hp i know im gonna have to swap rearends prolly a built 9" and ill prolly go with 3.42 gears (from what ive been told pontiac engines dont like too many rpm's) and i would love to put in a 6 speed to handle the tq the 700 slushbox i dont think will last behind a 400 so is there any special brackets or anything else i need to know to convert it over to a pontiac engine.

 

Ummmm yeah, absolutely every single piece will be different from whatever you've got now. The accessory brackets are completely different, the exhaust is completely totally altogether different, the motot mounts won't work, there is no bell housing I'm aware of to bolt any 6-speed to a BOP block, who knows what you'd have to do about a flywheel, the battery is on the opposite side of the car. Since that kind of engine never came in one of these cars, none of the parts you'd need to make that swap are available in junk form or from GM, although there are aftermarket sources for some of them, and most of the rest can be fabricated. Not one single piece of the engine interchanges with a Chevrolet V8 except for some of the internal parts of the distributor. The Pontiac engine is larger and heavier than a Chevy engine so the front suspension would need a little tuning.

Other than that, it should drop right in.

I would have to advise you, if you are asking that question at the level you just asked it, you aren't ready to tackle something like this just yet.

 

i can get the engine for almost nothing minus the build part of it, i knowi can get the engine in therei can fabricate the mounts if necessary, and the trans shouldnt be too much of a prob , the t56 was just an idea not set in stone, but an adapter plate should work? and i know the p/s and alt. brackets are different i was thinking more along the lines of crossmembers and such. and what exhaust i may run is still up in the air but i really would like to do this swap PURE PONTIAC power would be extremely cool in my opinion. thanx,
thomas

 

Cool but extremely difficult and costly. I was able to snag an Oldsmobile 455 for next to nothing and had it build STRONG for my '86 Firebird. I'm now selling the motor for over $2,500 LESS than what I have in it because it was such a PAIN IN THE BUTT to try and make it work in my car! Yeah, that would have been "extremely cool" also, but cool don't make money appear out of the air, or time for that matter. I HIGHLY recomend not doing this, it's so much cheaper and EASIER for you to swap in a stout SBC. (NO one will think less of you...) Think SMARTER not HARDER....

 

BAHAHA... direct aren't you?

 

Im not sure but i think its been done. Im pretty sure they had some pontiac powered birds built as special promo cars for the last Smokey and the Bandit movie. It featured a third gen T/A with a pontiac 400 in it. Who built it and where you would get info on it is beyond me. But i know its been done. These cars were offered to the public in a limited number. I think 200 or so were produced.

 

Indian Adventures (www.chiefmanyhorses.com) has the mouting brackets and headers for this swap. I started my Poncho 400 into 87 Camaro project 3 years ago and still not getting very far very fast. Will definately want to swap rears, thats what I'm working on. Got my Eton posi unit and looking at Strange catalog for narrowed axles. Going Chevy 12 bolt with 4.56 gears. I got around using the torque arm by going with a ladder bar set up. Waiting to build rear so I can weld in frame and get a rolling chassis. Looking at 530+hp. You can buy a drop in rear 9" or 12 bolt (for a little over $2000). Battery in trunk, Chevy S10 manual steering box. As for a ballpark cost figure. I have over $6000 in parts and the car still has nothing behind drivers seat, no axle, no floor...etc. Be prepared to invest some time and money.

 

I have my two cars side by side with the hoods open and thought "I wonder if that 400 would fit in the 92" ten minutes and two beers later I realized that the task was not worth it. Plus I don't have one of those MONEY trees in the back yard .

 

It is possible to do this swap. Me and my friend took his old rusted 79 TA with a good running pontiac 400 and put the motor in a 86 firebird. It only took us a few weeks. I cant remeber all the details but im pretty sure we had to move the motor mounts. We put the th350 behind it and had to put in remote oil filters and use the stock exhaust manifolds. All in all i didnt think its was to hard of a swap. And the shaker hood scoop off the 79 TA even fit on it almost perfectly.