OK, so I got my hands on a free freshly rebuilt 327 w/ rebuilt tranny. 4 bolt. I'm not a wizard, so this is my question. Will this 4 bolt 327 bolt up to my 1987 Firebird?

So far I have been told that I would need to buy a new driveshaft.

Any help would be great. If all I have to do is buy the drive shaft and the mounts - cool.

 

The factory never made a 327 4-bolt main. If indeed you have one, either somebody installed 4-bolt caps somehow or another, or someone put a large-journal 327 crank in a 350 block.

But, anyway...

What transmission? If it didn't come from a 3rd gen f-body, it won't have the torque arm mount provision on it. A very good way to resolve that is to get the appropriate crossmember/torque arm from our sponsor Spohn, above. You may also need to get a longer driveshaft, but don't know since don't know what transmission is coming with this engine.

Any particular reason you aren't using the transmission that's in the car now? Other than this one you've just aquired is "rebuilt"?

The engine will bolt into the car --- if...

Or, to say it another way, IF...

Depends upon what heads are on the engine. '67-earlier will lack accessory bolt holes that your '87 has. The flexplate will be different from what you've got now ('82-'85 3rd gen application will fit, however). The dipstick is on the passenger side of your '87, but on the driver's side on the 327 - the '87 exhaust manifold and dipstick tube will get in each other's way (and you won't be able to use any exhaust manifold that the factory put on a 327).

How much of the engine are you getting? Your '87 intake manifold won't fit the earlier engine directly, but can be modified so it will fit.

 

The engine itself will drop right in. And your stock 3rdgen trans + bellhousing should bolt right up to the block.

The only problem may be accessory holes in the heads... does it have any? you need them.

 

I won't lit - and like I said, it's all new to me. I will get more info on wensday when the engine is dropped off here.

We were going to do 305, but I'm getting the 327 free (well, trading my 87 blazer for it). If it will bolt right up to the old tranny and work properly, I may just leave the old one. If the engine itself will drop in fine - then a little modding on top won't be so bad.

The car doesn't have exhaust right now and I plan on putting in the engine first, then building around that.

Thanks for the info, it has given me some good ideas at what I am looking at. I will post more info about the engine when it actually arrives. I hope that it's not a 4bolt and I just heard wrong - the guy mumbles a lot.

oh and as for "how much of the engine" - it's complete except for dress up kit. Valve covers.... blah blah blah

 

4 bolts are stronger if the 327 crank is in a 4 bolt thats fine just means its gonna be stronger

 

Actually, a 4 bolt block is a good thing. That (just incase you don't know) means that the caps that hold the crank to the block have 4 bolts holding it down, not the usual 2 bolts.

It has no effect at all on what will fit onto it and what it will fit into. The outter dimentions of everything is identical to the 305 you already have, so everything on the 305, like the tranny, motor mounts, water pump, clutch/TC, etc etc... will all work on the 327.

 

sorry for any confusion. I have the 2.8L now. I was oricinally going to swap in the 305. But how can I pass up a FREE REBUILT 327 and tranny?

 

I hope you realize that there are a bunch of issues with going from V6 to V8 in a 3rd gen.

305 vs 327 is relatively minor in comparison.

 

what kind of issues are we talking about? I am taking out ALL accessories and stripping the car down to almost nothing. I will be losing the fuel injection and going carb, ripping out ALL wiring that is currently in the car and running new stuff.

Figure I would need the 327 and tranny, new drive shaft, motor mounts, exhaust, maybe new rearend or gearing, new suspension, fuel pump, fuel lines, upgrade breaks, and try to work out something with the speedo(i'm most confused on this) run all new guages for everything else that is important......... and maybe a few other odds and ins.

What all are you thinking?

 

Rip out all the wiring and put in new? Why? It's fairly simple to separate out the computer-unique stuff and just keep what you need (ignition power, alternator, choke, gages, etc.).

Otherwise, most of what you said. Plus:

The engine mounts for the V6 mount in different holes on the front crossmember than for a V8. You can buy new the engine mount halves that bolt to the crossmember, but the engine side has to come from a factory V8 (not totally sure about this, but I believe they are unique to 3rd gens). They aren't available new anywhere.

V6 and V8 transmissions are different, and one can't be used on the other engine type. So, the tranny that's coming with the engine will be helpful, but you'll have to address the other mounting issues I mentioned earlier.

V6 and V8 rear ends were the same thing. V6's actually got more of what are considered "performance" gear ratios.

 

As five7kid stated earlier, make sure you have accessory bolt holes in the heads. If you don't you'll end up like me and have to either buy different heads, get the heads drilled and tapped(won't do that to fuelies), or go with manual steering(ah theres the cheep option). Also, if its an automaticl transmission and the 327 has had any amount of tuning, make sure you have a good stall converter in it before hand. I made the mistake of going cheap and letting that wait for later and now I get to spend a weekend or so dropping the transmission, putting in the TC and then installing a shift kit. On the plus side I know I'll blow the Rustang GTs out of the water once I'm finished up and have the carb tuned. Good luck man.

 

ok, engine is out of a late 60's camaro. like I said, engine and tranny all rebuilt - this includes performance cam, edelbrock 800cfm manual choke (something) carb, heads are Trick flow, B&M shift kit, and he named a whole lot of stuff I missed. Wish he'd quit mumbling.

I'll have it tomarrow. then I can look at it and see. not that i will be able to tell what it has on it just by looking - but if it's good and strong, I am happy.

Oh, and I don't want pwr steering.Like I said, as little as possible - I have even removed the back seat, spare and jack, looking for more weight to lose.