Ok i have an 83 camaro with a peice **** 2.8l. Well imagine that i blew the motor!! So i also i have a 85 berlinetta and i am going to be building a motor for it .... ( car body exe in bad shape) And it has a mid 80's caprice motor in it also swaped from a 2.8. My car is carburated and i hear that swaping a 305 into an 83 is easier?? i have the whole car for parts, but i did a search and i couldnt find a step by step walk through. i want to do this in a day no more than two? can it be done what do i need to do? IM swapping motor and tranny. i have a 3 speed now do i have to change my shifter because of linkage right? PLease help im supposed to be doing this the week after christmas and i need all my stuff togeather thanks for all the help guys!!

 

I think you are going to need more than a couple days. I can't see how you could get it done in 2.

 

i mean techinacally it should only take a few hours but im giving it a couple days for shizts and giggles. i need the other questins answerd more thought got any anwers to them??

 

you gotta put different motor mounts, and rerun the brake line that goes on the k-member *you'll see what i mean when you pull the motor*. if your running a computer controlled motor, you will have to reroute the computer crap. if not then you have to distinguish the stuff you need and what you don't need. a motor swap in a third gen is the same for all years. the linkage deal for the tranny, i am assuming you have a th350. yeah, it would be easiest if you had an aftermarket shifter made for that tranny, but, then again, it can be done without, especially by you, since your mister "v6-v8 swap in a few hours" boy. it took me 50-60 hours to get mine done....i've built a few cars too

 

The 305 and 350 blocks are the same externally.

There's nothing about either displacement that's easier or harder to put in a car; and there's nothing about the 83 model car that's any easier or harder to swap than any other year.

 

my car is carb. and i am putting in a carb. 305in it but keep in mind im pulling it directly out of another camaro that had the swap done. from 2.8 to 305. i have all the parts i need to switch it out what is the re run of the brake line you are talking about?? a little less critisizm and a little more advice would be helpful ! thanks for the help keep it coming if you could.

 

It might happen in two days...if you have three other helpers who know exactly what has to be done.
I spent three full days on my V6-V8 swap from the time I drove the car into the garage, until I was able to drive it back out. And this was after five months of planning it out, and going over every single step of what all had to be done.
Motor mounts, front springs, fuel lines, re-route the front brake line, radiator, driveshaft, power steering pump, modifying the wiring harness to fit and work, the shifter issue, drilling and tapping the frame rails for the different crossmember mounts - these are all things that have to be done....

Pete

 

In reality, just moving the front motor mounts will take a few hours.

As stated, depends upon how factory-like you keep the systems. An emissions-legal swap will take a lot longer than a "get it running" swap.

Nobody mentioned exhaust. It all has to change. Think you can do a complete exhaust removal and install in "only a few hours"?

 

all we are saying is that a v6-v8 swap is NOT a one day job. it took most of us several days. since you are going 2.8 carb to 305 carb, you won't have to fight with the fuel system like i did. that took 2 whole days on it's own.

 

ok i dont have to worry about exaust or fuel system or wiring! i have all the ready to go whats so hard about moving the motor mounts foward. this is at the moment just get it done make it pretty later

 

Hard to say, just posting on the Net....

Go do it, and come back and tell us what was like, and how long it took you.

 

front springs, fuel lines, driveshaft, power steering pump, modifying the wiring harness to fit and work, drilling and tapping the frame rails for the different crossmember mounts ??? please correct me if im wrong..... All crossmember is in thirdgen camaros will bolt up to each other if you fo to the parts store them mount is the same foe the v6 and v8 tranny. as is the crossmember on camaros. I do not have any wiring to re route or redo. also i have a carbed motor with a fuel pump on the side of the block there fore no fuel line tapping or moving. power sterring pump?? the motor im pulling out is complete with all of the above what do i have to do to the power steering pump? Whats wrong with the drive shaft?? no need to change that? The front springs can wait thats not totally neccesary to get the motor in and running.???? Am i right or wrong on this whats the drive shaft thing and about the crossmeber thanks for the help i know im gonna get he** for my two hour coment and shall never live it down but i appreciate the help if you could please keep it coming

 

'82 (and I believe '83) only had shorter TH200C and 4-speed transmissions, so the rear crossmember was farther forward and therefore longer than TH700 & 5-speed trannies used. So, if you put in a later transmission in that (those) year(s), you'll have to drill & get a nut up inside the frame rail (can't be tapped, it's too thin) because there weren't any holes/nuts for the back two bolts that are in the later years.

The driveshaft & torque arm were also longer with the shorter trannies.

 

ok i dont know exactly what tranny i have but i do know it is only a three speed. i have the drive shaft and tourq arm to replace (if need be) the old one but i have to drill holes?? how do i go about doing this i dont understand. How can i be sure or do i just have to try it? Has anyone done this on a 83 3speed 2.8l camaro??? I wanna know if i have to do this or not. and if i do how do i go about doing this? Thanks keep it coming please

 

if you have a 3 speed, you probably have a th350 or a th400. i don't know how to tell the two apart cause i have only seen th350's and mostly 700r4's and powerglides. people do the v8/th350 or th400 swap all the time. however, you will need a kit to make the torque are work or buy a spohn torque arm and crossmember (my suggestion). you need to find out which tranny you got though. if your trying to put the tranny from the v6 behind the v8, it won't work, the bellhousing is too small from the v6 tranny to mate up to the back of the v8.

 

Here is another tranny crossmember factoid. What if your 85 donor car has a 4-speed 700R4 tranny, and not a three speed as you say, which is possible since you haven't identified it (originally an 85 should have a 4-speed auto). Since this car was originally a V6 car it may still have it's original tranny cross member from the original 700R4, which will work with a V8 700R4, but will throw the pinion angle off. Confused? Let me explain. V6 cars had a different crossmember. It consisted of the crossmember with another smaller steel plate mounted on top with 2 rubber bushings between the 2 plates. The V8 cars did not have this second peice of steel on their crossmembers, and instead they were just flat. One can conclude from this that the V6 700R4 sits slightly higher in the tunnel than the V8 tranny would. Using the wrong mount after swapping in a V8 pushes the tranny tail shaft up slightly thereby throwing off the pinion angle slightly.

My point in all of this is that obviously you have a lot of reseach left to do. Keep asking questions, and hopefully you will get most of your answers. But if you are still determined to do this over a weekend I think you are going to be disappointed. If gone through thirdgen engine swaps 4 times now between my cars and friends, and never have we gotten it done in a weekend. Being your first time don't be surprised if it takes 2 months worth of weekends. Don't let this discourage you though. Just keep in mind you may need to find alternate transportation for a while.

 

ok the 83 v6 has a three speed tranny unless one of the gears is not on the selctor. aS far as the 85 that has had the swapp done the tranny is out of an i belive 84 conersion van th700 was what is used but there were no holes drilled in the 85 for the swap?? so wont every thing convert over?? thanks for the help im gonna put every thing i have into this night and day i need to get the motor at least in there i live here in largo florida and we arent alowed to do anything other than change our oil in my neighbor hood so if i get coaught its 44 bucks a day i have tree helpers and two experianced helpers so hopefully i will be ok and if you guys keep the help coming i would greatly appreiciate it. LOL by the way i just baught a 81 civic mmy temoprary transportation lol 34 miles to the gallon for 150 bucks