ive been looking into doing a swap for a while now, and i found a guy who has a motor out a 69 corvette, complete, and rebuilt with 8000 miles on it, and a 400turbo trany rebuilt with zero miles. its the full engine. right now i have a 2.8 and a 700r4. i just wanted some advice on the matter before i get into the deal with him further. is this swap possible? somewhat by the books, or harder than normal. he said 1200 takes full engine and trany. sounds great huh haha.

 

There will be some "issues".

If the heads are stock, they do not have hardened exhaust valves or seats. With unleaded fuel and hard use, you'll lose valve sealing.

If the heads are stock, they will not have accessory holes on the ends for mounting 3rd gen type accessories. If the engine includes alternator, power steering pump, and brackets, then that won't be too much of a problem.

The TH400 is a "unique" length. You'll need a swap cross member for it, or be prepared for some fabrication.

The vast majority of Vette engines were nothing special. Don't pay a premium for it just because it was in a Vette. Do you know what size it is?

 

its got all accessories, water pump alternator, all that. its just rebuilt. new cam steel crank, and hydraulic lifters, heads are stock i think, but do have hardened valves. it came out of a vette first obviously, then the last car he had it in was a 57 bel-aire, race car. i ran all the casting numbers block and heads they all checked out. its a 350, says GM32 on the block and GM34 on the heads, idk if thats signifficant haha. idk if om gonna take the trany off him yet, i still gotta upgrade my suspension, rear end radiator. so ill look into a trany once thats all done

 

thanks for replying by the way

 

also, looking into the casting numbers further, im getting confused there seems to be more blocks than one that use this number. the number is 3970010, and the heads are 3973487X. on the front passenger side of the block its v0229tdy, i think i got that right. can anyone help me confirm?

 

Look here

http://www.chevy-camaro.com/chevy-ca...es.asp?group=6

And here

http://www.mortec.com/castnum.htm

Doesn't sound like a true Vette motor to me, but that really doesn't matter.

Looks like they are late LT-1 heads, which should be pretty decent. and those heads should have accessory bolt holes

 

the 3970010 is usually a four bolt main 350. its the same casting # i'm using in my 383 stroker build. i believe the 3970010 casting # was also available as a 327 in the early years. i'm not positive but i think i remember reading this somewhere.

 

ive read a few things saying its a 350. the casting number says vette, but the suffix says van/bus and other stuff. its no big deal, but the guy is advertising it as a 69 vette motor so idk you know

 

I would avoid it.

 

The block could be a '69, but the heads definitely are not. They were '71 & '72 heads, flowed well for factory heads of the time, but the big chambers really hurt compression. The good news is they do have the accessory bolt holes, the bad news is they didn't have hardened exhaust valves & seats.

It may be an okay engine, but absolutely do not pay a "Corvette" price for it.

 

im not taking the trany at this point, i gotta prepare my camaro for the engine, so he said 650 for the complete engine. i think that sounds ok

 

Be sure to read the V6 to V8 swap sticky.

For one thing, your V6 tranny won't work on the V8.

 

haha yeah i know, i bet this motor would rip my trany apart. i plan on looking for one once the motor is ready and the car is ready. it wont go in for a few months at least..

 

It would never have a chance to be ripped apart, because it wouldn't bolt to the V8.

 

oh/ either way i know i gotta pick up a new one. thanks for all the input on the engine too

 

Not all 3970010's are 4 bolt main(not that it matters for a basic street motor)

I have 2 2 bolt main 3970010's in my garage right now. They may or may not be high nickel High tin blocks(High nickel makes the block harder high tin makes the molten metal flow into the mold better) you have to look under the timing cover to be sure, if it is, it will have "010" and or "020" under the cover.

Like I said before, I would avoid the motor, they guy has made claims that it is a "Vette" motor, which it clearly isn't, Suffix codes don't lie. and the heads most likely don't have hardened seats as Five7 said.

just my 2 cents

-Eric

 

Sounds like the guy is tryin to sell you something that isn't worth it. Clearly he doesn't even know what it is, so who knows what you could be getting in that motor. I'd keep looking if I were you.

 

yeah i think i will. hopefully ill find something soon ive been looking for a while