Okay guys, this the the part where I really look towards you engine guru's for some advice.

I decided last week that my goal for this spring/summer is going to be to buy and drop a GM 350 crate motor into my 92 RS. This is what I am leaning towards...

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...57#largerimage

What adivce could you give an engine newb like myself about this swap? What parts do you personally recomend? What should I watch out for when I do this? Keep in mind that I am going from TBI to carb... so that should be relatively easy right?

Carb?
Manifold(s)?
Motor Mounts?

I really value your opinions on this guys. Thanks!

 

If you buy the march 2004 edition of car craft they took this motor and did some cam swaps, carb swaps, etc...turned out to be a great starter motor for a daily driver/street machine.

 

You'll need a Vortec type intake manifold. A regular old-stle one might not even cover the intake ports because they're moved so far from where they used to be.

I'd suggest a Performer RPM and a 750 manual secondary Holley.

You'll need a fuel pressure regulator; people seem to get good results out of the Mallory 4309. Set it to about 5 psi.

Motor mounts will not change from what you've got... just take them off your 305 and stick them on this motor.

 

How about my fuel pump.. that should still be alright correct?

Are there any additional parts that I might need that I haven't mentioned?

 

how about a balancer, flex plate, plug wires, plugs, wire looms, distributor, coil, cap, crank pulley, air filter. Just a few things i can name off the top of my head.

 

Balancer - Need to find out what that is.
Flex Plate - Also need to find out what that is
Plug Wires - I have these.
Plugs - Not an issue.
Wire Looms - I don't know what these are.
Distributor - I can still use my old one right?
Coil - Is brand new
Crank Pulley - Or this?
Air Filter - New Open air element.

 

Balencer. Goes on the front of the engine to balance it. Just ask the people who you bought the engine from. You can get a balaencer and flexplate, from them people. If you are running a manufal tho, u need a flywheel, not a flewplate. wire looms. Make it nice to hang your spark plug wires from touching the valve covers and junk. Crank pulley, i dont know if they fit off the old 305, but i have a feeling they will. distributor will work fine, just make sure you will have the right advance built into it. AS for the holly 750 machanical secondary, i would not recomend that carburator for the street. A very much more street friendly is either a edelbrock 600 or a holley 3310 750 vacumn. Those 2 are much more street friendly, but the edelbrock will probly just bolt on and go, the holley, you may have to tune a little bit. Hope that helps, but that is just my .02

 

Now, on a small tangent.

Once I pull the motor and such out, is there anything that I should worry about before i try to clean the bay. I'd like to spray/power spray it, but I need to know if there is anything I should keep an eye on.

 

make sure you get the correct spark plugs for a 350. a friend of mine put that exact engine in and ran it for 3-4 months with 305 plugs in it and wondered why he was still running 14's. theres 4 or 5 more threads on a 350 plug.

personally if your gonna go with GM base 350 crate, i would spend $1100 more and get the delux version from jegs. it comes with most of the stuff you have questions about. aluminum vortec style intake, holley carb, new HEI distributor, water pump, balancer, and a flexplate. it even has plugs and an oil filter. $3349.99 part number 809-12496968 from jegs.

get a nice set of headers, wires and looms, fuel pump and some line. break the engine out of the crate, check a few torque specs, oil it, prime it, mount it, ground it, fuel it, spark it, hook it to the trans, put your accessories on, fire it, 2000 RPM 20 minutes, change the oil, and your done, no messing around. just go easy on it for a few hundred miles, then go out and do a hole shot. not quite that simple but in theory...

 

carb wise, if you want decent gas mileage get an edelbrock, if you don't mind getting 8-9 miles to the gallon, go with a Barry Grant Demon.

 

I would say stick with the one you chose only because it gives you options in the long run...you can put a vortec intake on it but if you are reaching for performance you could put an edelbrock vortec style intake on it rather than a GM Aluminum Vortec manifold. If you aren't going for that then just get the delux HO 350 cuz then you dont have to worry about all that stuff...if you go to the GM Goodwrench performance parts crate engine website:

http://www.gmgoodwrench.com/gmgoodwr...on=ce&cat=9274

you can get specific tech info on the differences between the base and delux model. Personally..id go with the ZZ4 (if i had the cash) but i too am going with the base HO because its what i can afford now and i get the option of adding better parts in the future.

Dave M.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
84 Z28 305 soon to be 350 HO
89 RS 2.8L with many mods --> daily driver

 

Why reuse the old motor mounts when they don't cost much? I'd suggest putting new mounts in there, because what a hassle to change if they go bad, which will be a lot sooner than a new set. It's just a corner I would not cut. IMO

 

Is there anything else that is computer controlled that would be affected if I pulled out the computer.

I assumed nothing... but what about spedo and such?

P.S. I plan on getting new motor mounts as well.

 

Torque converter lock up is controlled by the computer, you need to buy a switch from TCI/B&M/Painless, etc to keep lock up.

If you have a few extra bucks, www.sdpc2000.com has demon carbs pretuned for your motor. Get an edelbrock vortec intake. You will need the mallory 3 port carb bypass regulator as TBI puts off about 12psi and carbs will flood with that much pressure.

 

..After reading your post, it almost makes me wonder if this is a better deal..

http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...3395&pid=90933

Sorry, I know that I am asking a lot of questions.. but I want to make sure that I do this right and not blow my money.

Opinions? Anyone?

 

"Technical Notes: These engines are sealed at the intake manifold, cylinder head, front cover, and oil pan with special twist off bolt heads."

That's made for circle track racers. As long as you never need to open the engine for, say, intake manifold change, or getting an oil pan on it that will fit in your chassis, it would be "fine".

You don't have any emissions testing "issues", by chance, do you?

 

Does that mean that the hex head will shear off if you try to unbolt it or what? What is a twist off bolt. I have never heard of that.

 

How hard is it to wire in? As for those twist bolts, I don't know what they are either. Can anyone enlighten me?

What do you think about this motor? Would I be better off getting this instead?

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...57#largerimage

 

if you have the extra money, i would suggest the ZZ4. personally i have the 350HO that you orginally posted, and i am very happy with it. out of the box it is great. But if you on doing anything to it down the road, the ZZ4 is a better bargin.

It comes with a roller cam, performance style heads ( screw in studs, large valve spring seats, larger valve springs...)

and a much more stout rotating assembly.

it costs more but you get more.

 

What kind of times have you gotten with it?

Do I have to get a flywheel with the ZZ4?