Hey all,

I am going to be swaping to a 350 soon, and was checking out the board on some of the opinions. I wanted to go with a 4 bolt main because I had heard that it was a stronger setup, however a 4 bolt main 350 is proving very difficult to find. It could be, of course, that the local scrap is just too lazy to look on such a nice day.

I am hoping to build the new motor up to a little over 300hp horsepower, carb'd, and was wondering if I really needed a 4 bolt main to do this or if a 'normal' 2 bolt would work just fine. The engine won't be seeing over 400hp, after all. I might be adding NOs after awhile, but that is really dependant on how far I can get with more basic mods (and if it can be done safely with a carb'd engine, or at all).

My other question was regarding the legality of the swap. I am in Florida, and can't find a whole lot about the current emissions laws. It is an 1984, and I know that the old laws would not apply to it because it is almost eligible for a specialty tag. I am going from the '84 2.8L to hopefully a 5.7, but want to keep it all carb'd.

Any input or answers is very much appreciated.

 

a two bolt is fine. many states don't require emissions inspections over 25yrs old.

 

In Colorado as of last September, it's '75 model year and older. Everything else needs to be inspected and tested.

Good news is before that, it was 25 years old and older you could get "collector plates" that are exempt from inspection/testing. And, they grandfathered you if you already have collector plates on a '76-newer vehicle and don't let them expire.

Not that this has anything to do with Florida, but that's what has happened here.

 

Thank you both for your quick responses!

Being as there were millions of 350s made, I am hopping I can still find a 4 bolt but it is good to know a 2 bolt will work.

I haven't been able to find a website that gives up to date regulations. All the ones I pulled from google are down or have 401errors.

 

yeah, a 2 bolt main will be fine. Im pushing 435hp with one.

From what I found, Florida requires the vehicle to be 30 years old to qualify for "antique plates".
However, that doesnt mean that you cant get your car inspected. Antique plates usually allow the vehicle to not need inspections, county stickers, yearly registration. But most of the time their use must be restricted. I.E. you cant daily drive them.

I didnt check, but in some states, VA for example, as long as the emissions for the engine or car (whichever is newer) must remain intact. In your case you would need the emissions from the 84 car. At the least keep a cat converter. Hope this helps some

 

Federal emissions regulations/laws require you to maintain the emissions of the chassis or engine, whichever is later. Basically, you can't swap in an older engine than the chassis.

 

I take it thaT means the fuel system also? I.e. carb/efi/tbi? Also coulc you provide a link to the site you are referencing so I can look at emision laws that are not 3 years old? Lol

Edit: after a few days of sifting around, I finally found a FL site that has the more up-tp-date information on emissions. You were correct that it is for the chassis, which frees my hands up a bit when it comes to the engine swap coming up.

I appreciate all the info and suggesgtions, you guys rock!

 

the one thing you have to remember on that is that when you say engine, it means the emissions equipment for that engine. You can still install a 70s model engine as long as it has all of the engine emissions that came in the 80s model car.

 

NO YOU CANNOT!

It means the engine, starting with the casting #. Has to be from an emissions-certified passenger car of the same year as the chassis or later.

That also means a Vortec engine is not legal in a passenger car in any of the 50 United States (or 57, however many states there are now).

Understand there is a lot of difference between what is legal and what you can get away with.

 

You mean to say that is is illegal to have a vortec engine in a camaro?

 

Yes.

 

Thats crazy. I have never heard that, interesting.

 

Never heard anything like that. Not saying you are wrong, but I would like to see a link to that information.

That would also mean that any LS swap would be illegal. There are a lot of companies out there making stuff for illegal activities then. You would think that might throw some red flags up.

 

Here is one decent link;

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Arch.../msg00355.html

"The most common engine replacement involves replacing a gasoline engine in a light-duty vehicle with another gasoline engine. Another type of engine switching which commonly occurs, however, involves diesel powered vehicles where the diesel engine is removed and replaced with a gasoline engine.

Applying the above policy, such a replacement is legal only if the resulting engine-chassis configuration is equivalent to a certified configuration of the same model year or newer as the chassis. If the vehicle chassis in question has been certified with gasoline, as well as diesel engines(as is common), such a conversion could be done legally"

If Im wrong, then Im wrong. But I have yet to see anything showing otherwise. With all due respect five7kid

 

Unlike the LS engines, no Vortec engine has ever been certified for use in a passenger car.

 

that does make sense then. Either way, the government has a lot bigger things they need to worry about these days then us hot rodders. Emissions is one thing, very understandable to keep this planet clean, but getting so picky as to what you can and cant do (as long as its clean environmentally) is alittle crazy.

 

Is the engine I swapped in my camaro illegal than? Its a 86+ 1pc rms block, with 906 vortec heads...

 

It technically is not because: a) the block is older than the chassis; and b) Vortec heads were never certified for passenger car use.

 

Thats crazy.

Learn something new everyday, I guess.

 

I didn't see anyone mention that you can modify a 2 bolt main and add splayed caps (adding 2 per main -at an angle) which is supposed to be stronger.

I wasn't going to touch the emissions thing, but I had the idea of swapping a 5.3 LS based engine thinking that it might be easier to bring within emissions specifications. So I guess that's out now?

 

To the best of my knowledge, the 5.3 was never emissions certified for a passenger car.

My son is thinking about one for his '96 S10. Weighs about 200 pounds more than my '82 Camaro.