i have a 84 trans am 305 with carb. we are planning on getting a 350 to put in. we don't have a lot of money to put into it. i've been waiting over a year to get the car going.we are planning on getting an engine from O'reilly b/c it has such a good warranty and better price than anywhere in my area. I believe the guy said it is a 350 from the early 80's for a chevy car. don't remember which one but he said it would work. the only things he said he knew it needed was valve covers, intake, carb, oil pan and acc.'s. he said it should have oil pump on it already. can i reuse my harmonic balancer and distributor on the 350? they both look in very good shape. the balancer looks fairly new on the car. I know the engine had a lot redone when we bought it and I think the dist. was new also. this would help save me money if i can reuse them. if not, what size balancer would i need 6 or 8? i don't know what is stock for the 305 or 350. all my other accessories are new except for steering pump and water pump. i do want to put new ones on. the steering leaks and the water pump is very rusted. I'd like to reuse anything that is good and can be moved over. thanks


also forgot to ask what's the difference in a 2 bolt main and 4 bolt? does it matter which one?

 

I believe i found my answer to the top part but still not sure about the 2 or 4 main bolt.

 

2 and 4 bolt mains are a thing many people will debate . for a street car a 2 bolt is fine . for a hard use race car a 4 bolt would be good . why are 4 bolts hard to find ? because they are used in heavy duty work like trucks , and factory hi-performance cars . anyway 2 bolt mains are o.k. . good luck .

 

great, thanks for the info. I'm still learning as i go. the engine from O'reilly is listed as a 350 from the impala from the early 80's. for headers, would I be able to just find something for a sb chevy 350 or reuse mine or will it have to be specific to that engine from that car? I just want to make sure i don't buy something I don't have to or get the wrong thing. thanks

 

u can use your manifolds, but i would sugest getting at least some hooker shortys, the 2460s are only about 160 for the set, but like i said stocker will work...
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just keep in mind a 305 and 350 are identical outside so anything u have bolted to the 305 will bolt right to the 350....

 

thanks

 

Since you are in the United states especially in TN, small block chevys are extremely easy to find, so I would look for a 400ci sb, and put that in dont pay more than a 1000$ for it find it in an old truck or something. the 400 ci bolts in the same as a 305 350 they are all the same outside. you may need a flywheel to make it compatible with a T5 but that should be it. I have an 83 trans am and had a 400 but i bolted in a 350 that already had the performance parts on it.

 

I would avoid the 2460 Hooker headers - the headers themselves may be fine, but you'd need to have a Y-pipe made for them to be useable. That can get quite expensive in a hurry, and it sounds like you are on kindof a tight budget with this car.

I would suggest using the headers I put on mine - Hedman 68470 (I think thats the correct PN). They are 1-5/8" short tube headers, like the Hookers, and they are fairly cheap and a pretty decent quality part. The nice thing, is that Hedman makes a Y-pipe for this set as well, bought separately of course, and is a pretty good piece as well, and its alot cheaper to buy than having one made would run you.

Just my 0.02... good luck!

 

i cheaped out on my 83 trans am and bought flowtechs they fit good, thats funny im in saskatoon as well, got any good parts or need some ?

 

hooker sells a y pipe for them too but yea its like 200 bucks..

 

I'll check on those. thanks guys. where did you get the flowtech from? I'm trying to find the y-pipe that fits

 

i just went to a local speed shop but you can get em cheaper at summit or jegs, even cheaper used off ebay or wherever.under 200$new 150-50$ used
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make sure you dont mistakenly buy full lenght headers aswell.

 

I wouldn't recommend the Flowtech headers, they aren't a very good quality set. The flanges on those headers are among the thinnest on the market, so they warp really easily which causes exhaust leaks and a really annoying ticking noise. Those headers also have the smallest pipes and collectors around too.

Ebay is a good place to look for a set of headers, and so is the classified section here too. I got my 68470 headers used for something like $60+shipping. Had to get the Y-pipe new, but it was only like $90 at the time anyway. I'd say check for used first.

 

there is a trick you can do for the flowtechs just use two sets of gaskets seals em up nice. But if your not cheap like me and its a decent motor i would spend a bit more to upgrade. Im not spending much on my 350 cause i wanna get a 455 ready to go in it.

 

If you need to have emissions, the Hooker 2055 shorties are good. They come with a y-pipe for about $350 from Summit.

Are you getting a shortblock or long block fro O'Reilly? From your description it sounds like a long-block. I'd get a Edelbrock Performer intake, they run about $160 from Summit. The distributer from your 305 will work fine, but I would get a new Coil, Cap and rotor for it as well as new plug wires (8mm or so), and spark plug. I'm personally partial to the AC Delco's.

The 350 is physically the same size as the 305 so you're Harmonic Balancer, accessories, emissions stuff (If required), and carb and valve covers can all be swapped over.

Hope this helps!

 

it's a long block. he wasn't sure if it has an oil pump put it doesn't have an oil pan. pump not to expensive even if i have to get one. my coil ,rotor etc were replaced before the engine started having problems. all new wires as well but i will certainly put another set of new plugs in again. I'm planning on getting rid of the mog stuff since it doesn't work on the car anyway. thanks

 

Getting rid of it poses another problem if you're car requires an emissions check...I don't know if you're required to get inspected yearly with emissions on or not. If you are, I suggest a way to either get it to work or get friendly with a local inspector.

 

no, we don't have one. where I'm at is kind of like living in Mayberry or being in dukes of hazzard. you don't see a lot of nice cars out here or paved roads. it was hard to find a paved road to live off of when I moved here to teach. I guess i meant to say the smog stuff. I'm keeping a cat and O2 on it with muffler. it was running with no codes that way before with the stuff just disconnected.

 

stay away from the flowtechs they dont even fit right, i had to cut mine and re weld them to get to fit around my firewall, they sucked bad so when i got sick of them i bought my hookers and they put a nice big grin on my face....

 

More like $450, but still a good choice.

 

do I have to have the egr valve on the intake? i believe that's the part on the passenger side intake. I was looking at some intakes and they don't look like they have a place to bolt one up on the intake.

 

If you don't have it hooked up to use it, you'll need to either get an Intake Manifold that doesn't have the option (best choice), or plug it.

 

thanks. I didn't know if it would make a difference or not having it. I'm looking at getting an Edelbrock without the egr

 

If its working properly, EGR will not hurt anything performance wise. It doesn't cause any restrictions or loss of power if it is working correctly. It can help fuel mileage somewhat though, especially on the highway. If its already working correctly, theres no reason it ditch it really. That being said, most performance intakes won't have EGR provisions, and it doesn't affect gas mileage a whole lot, so losing it isn't such a bad thing eitehr.

 

thanks, i wasn't sure since I noticed a lot of intakes didn't seems to have hte holes to bolt it on.

 

The biggest this with the egr is that it will not rob that much power from the engine when its working properly, but it will intruduce unwanted heat into the manifold witch will rob a little power.(so get rid of it if you dont have emission testing were you live) as far as a two or four bolt block goes a two bolt block will do just fine, the main webs in the block are acually thicker in the two bolt block, so save your money and get a two bolt, ( I have built a few 450hp+ small block out of two bolt block and have not had a crank fly out yet!) and the only difference between a 305 and a 350 is the bore diameter. everything else will bolt up, with no problem!
hope this helps!!!!!

 

great, thanks so much for all the help guys.

 

can a 350 fuel injected engine from a 92 camaro be but into my 84 trand am? what would i have to do to make that work or can the fuel injected be turned into the same type i have now with just the carb?

 

You can use the "long block" (block, heads, oil pan, front cover, valve covers, etc.) 350 with all of the things currently bolted to your 305. The only "issues":

1) The center two intake mount bolts on each side of the 350 will be 72 degrees, while all of the bolts on the '84 are at 90 degrees. You can either modify those bolt holes in your original intake manifold, or get an '87-up bolt pattern intake (limited choices).

2) The '84 engine has a two-piece rear main seal, while the '92 will have one-piece rear main seal. This changes the type of flexplate/flywheel you need. The '92 will most likely have a flexplate on it, so you can reuse it.

Converting to fuel injection would be more complicated. Want the details?

 

thanks, i found a 92 camaro for sale for 1500 obo with a 350 the guy put in and it was rebuilt about 10,000 miles ago also the same 700r4 trans I have. he said his was a 305 originally. i'd like to keep carb to keep the cost down. i may look into that.

 

I'm not calling that guy a liar by any means, but be careful with 3rd gens that were originally 305s and the owner claims a 350 was swapped in. You really have to know your stuff to destinguish between them without removing the engine. There have been PLENTY of people that thought they bought a 350 that later found out it was the original 305 still sitting between the fenders. It's also amazing how people confuse the LT1 and TPI engines... fortunately, they are much easier to tell apart.

 

we decided to just rebuild ours. thanks