hi all, im looking at the possability of ditching my 3.1 V6 and fitting a small block 350, im the uk so i dont need to worry too much about the emissions side of things, i was thinking of an old set up with a big ol holley an elder performer intake and thats about it, all things like egr, air pump, air con, ecm can all go. what do you think, will the 350 mounts go in to my car ?
will the gearbox (5 speed manual) go up to the engine? if not what gearbox to use and if i have to change the box will the new one fit in the same place as the old one, aslo things like what rear end or can i use the one iv got, will i need to change the prop shaft/drive shaft or get one made.
sorry theres so many questions but iv tried to search for the answers but all i could find was stuff about Ls1 swaps and people in the states that have to run with the emissions stuff.
thanks in advance for any answers.
p.s. i want to ditch the v6 because its got loads of bugs and i want to go fir somthing a bit more basic as far as the engine is concerned but i love my car and dont want to just go and buy a v8 bird.
Nick (uk)

 

The transmission on the V6 has a different bell housing shape and bolt pattern-your current 3.1 is from the 60 degree V6 family along with the 2.8 and 3.4 liter engines.

THe bell housing however bolts to the transmission, so you could technically bolt a V8 housing to it, though I doubt they are easy to find in the UK.

Second problem: The V6 trans uses a different input shaft spline. You CAN get a V6 clutch disk and a V8 clutch disk, then find a shop that can put the V6 hub into the V8 disk, I have seen it done by someone on this board.

NOW- will the trans "hold up"? Well, even the V8 versions of the T5 transmission you have were not known for their durabillity, I know a guy who broke two of then behind a four cylinder in an S10. GM never put the 5 speed behind the 350, if you ordered a 350 you got the automatic. But if you don't do drag race clutch dumps and you don't powershift (don't know what you call it over there, but what I mean is leave the accelerator pedal matted, and sidestep the clutch while slamming the gearshift from gear to gear as quickly as possible) the trans will hold up for some time.

As far as the rear axle goes, it is the same axle used in the V8 cars except it has a lower ratio to compensate for the lower torque output of the V6. In fact if you have a 5 speed V6 car you likely have a 3.42 ratio. Many people with V8 cars swap in a rearend or just the gears from a V6 to get the lower gears for better acceleration.

In a nutshell, YES you can retain your 5 speed gearbox and rearend, it just takes some parts swapping to get the engine to bolt up and the clutch to function.

Hope I was able to shed some light on the subject for you!