I have an 89 camaro rs and Im going from 305 TBI to 305 TBI, I want to keep it as simple as possible. I want to clean it up the best I can and unclutter the engine bay and get rid of all of the smog/emissions stuff.

I rebuilt a 305 then swapped all of the factory TBI stuff over to my rebuilt engine. I just need some advice on what I need to keep/hook up to make sure my TBI runs right. I plan on using an older style of exhaust manifolds or headers and a high flow cat and getting rid of the air tube on the cat...etc.

Also, do I need to support the tranny when I pull the engine out? I ask this because, I need to roll the car in/out of my small garage while I clean the engine bay and swap the new one in.

Here is some pictures of my project and my rebuilt engine.

 

nevermind, think i found my answers. Does the tranny have to be supported though?

 

Yes.

 

i used the scissors jack out of my oldsmobile alero with a piece of plywood on it so I could keep my 3 ton jack freed up.

 

Alright... I went to bolt the stock flexplate on and it didnt fit on the crank of my older engine(the hole in the center of the flexplate was about 2" and I need about 2 1/2"). The engine that is going in is an 80-84 block. I just want to make sure I buy the right everything for my swap. Can I just get a flexplate from a 80-84 305 and everything will bolt up to my 700R4 just fine?

 

Make that an '82-'85 f-body 305, and the answer is "yes".

 

Well... before I got your answer, I went to Advanced Auto Parts and got one. At home the part # I looked up was 04326. At the store, they gave me 04328 and said it should be the same, and that was the only one they had in stock. It was bigger than my stock flexplate, but I took it home and it fit my crank, and it lined up with the holes for the torque converter. The flexplate had 2 sets of converter holes drilled. Anyways, should everything work ok? is that part # (04328) right? Just want to make sure everthing is right before I drop this in. Thanks.

 

What's its diameter, 14" or 12-3/4"? Can't tell by the description I got by Googling it.

If it's 14", your starter won't work.

 

Looking up the application, looks like you should get the 04326.

Message I get when I searched for 04328 after putting in the application, "No, this part does not fit your 1985 Chevrolet Camaro."

 

Yeah, I did the same thing. I'm guessing the only difference would be the starter I would use for it. So, I might as well use the flexplate that I can use my existing starter with. Thanks guys... hopefully I got this all wrapped up and can get this engine in over the next couple days... i'll post pictures.

 

Heres a sneak peak at my engine in. What a relief. I'll post more after I get everthing hooked back up and running.

 

Need a little help, this engine has sat for quite some time now... anyways... went to turn the crankshaft today so I could bolt my torque converter to flexplate and it wouldnt turn. I've pulled all of the spark plugs and I've sprayed a bunch of penetrating oil in it and it still wont turn. Engine has sat with no oil in it for about a couple years too. I really hope this isnt f'ed up. Anymore ideas?

 

I read something about bolts for the flexplate being too long, but I used the same bolts, so thats not an issue.

I also read something about the torque converter not being in all the way? Anyone know how I could tell or if this can be fixed with the engine/tranny already bolted up? Any help would be appreciated. I'm kinda stuck here because it could be a number of things I guess.

 

Hey delo93, this week i will also be swapping my engine and want to know when you swapped your engine out how difficult was it pulling just the engine out of the car. My friend thinks it'll be easier to also unbolt the tranny and pull them both at the same time. I know it comes down to preference but just wanted to see how it went for you

 

I'm in the middle of a swap and had the exact same problem you did today. I couldn't get the motor to turn to line up the TQ to flex plate bolts.

I'm swapping a GM crate 350 into a former 305 84 Trans Am. Both blocks are pre 86, 2 piece rear seal. I'm using the stock 700r4 transmission and flex plate.

Here's what I did. Motor would not turn with a breaker on the crank pulley. Turns out that I did not have the TQ seated all the way into the trans. This is critical! Pulled trans off and reseated TQ. I got 3 clicks and it's in a lot further than before. Bolted Tranny back on and engine turns over easy now.

With the TQ pushed all the way back into the tranny I had a 1/4" gap between the TQ mounting surface and the flexplate mounting surface.

Check your flexplate and make sure its on the right way. Make sure the snout of the TQ is clean and the corresponding hole in the flexplate is free of rust, paint or dirt. lube these areas with trans fluid.

 

Grizzly, to answer your question, I just did a swap today and pulled the tranny out with the motor. In retrospect I think it would have been easier to just leave the tranny alone.
Here are the additional steps you will not have to deal with if you leave the tranny in place:

1) Remove and reinstall drive shaft. This was real easy though.

2) Remove and reinstall shifter linkage. You will also have to readjust this once everything is back together.

3) remove and reinstall speedometer cable.

4) Support rear of car on jack stands so rear axle hangs free. Other wise the torque arm will smack up into the tunnel once the tranny is removed.

5) Remove and reinstall center exhaust hanger. Get the idea? lots of lying on your back under the car, unless you have a lift.

6) If you pull the tranny with the motor, you will be removing a much larger piece from the car. You will have to angle the engine and tranny to clear the fire wall, radiator support and other parts. It will be heavy and awkward. You will have to muscle it around quite a bit. It goes something like this...lift motor, push down on tranny, pull motor back and lift some more.

7) When everything goes back in you will have to realign the torque arm into the the tranny while aligning the 2 motor mounts at the same time. This was really awful.

8) You will lose almost all your tranny fluid, unless you have that tail shaft cap thing. I've heard even that doesn't work too well. So get ready to buy close to 10 quarts at around $3.5 a quart. Might as well change your tranny filter and pan gasket too. An additional step.

9) Remove and reinstall tranny cooler lines to the radiator. Don't break em or you will find yourself messing around with brake fittings and what not.

Use a load leveler and then you can pretty much lift the motor straight up and out if you leave the tranny behind. With the leveler, it should be pretty easy to get the motor to line back up with the tranny when you are dropping it back in.

 

Thanks oamhmad, that was a very detailed description. I figured it be more of a hassle to take out both instead of just the engine. Its my first swap and ill be doing it on my own and want it to go as smoothly as possible. I just don't want to run into the same trouble with the torque converter as you two had and have to take out the tranny anyway.

 

oamhmad, thanks for the help, I was worried about that... thats probably it! I'm guessing I cant reseat the tc with unbolting the tranny.

Griz, definitely pull just the engine, just make sure you support the tranny. It was fairly easy, but you are going to need someone else to help guide the old engine out and the new one in.

 

Yea my friend has the leveler so it should make it pretty easy. And to support the tranny after I pull the engine can't I just slap the tranny mount back on until the new one goes in. I wanna clean the engine bay and im gonna be moving the car around my yard. I feel like it'll be better than just putting a scissor jack and a block of wood to support the tranny. And deli when you did the swap did you keep the old torque converter or put in a new one?

 

I kept the old tc... and you have to keep the tranny supported... I ran into the same problem because my car was in pieces, but it didnt take me long to degrease the whole engine bay and get it painted; like a couple days... I just covered the car with a couple tarps overnight in case it rained.

 

Im throwing a new Tc in the car with a 2400 stall speed and I heard its a little tricky to adjust when the trannys in the car. And that's what I was trying to say delo, when you were moving it around what you use to keep the tranny supported, that's why im thinking of throng the mount back on for the time being

 

i wasnt moving the car around at all... i just did everything, cleaned, painted, and new engine in, then I moved it back in the garage.

 

Sorry for the confusion lol now it makes sense.

 

What are the steps to do this with as little hassle as possible? Can I just support the tranny, unbolt it, then somehow slide it back a little so I can readjust the tc?

 

I'm assuming at this point you have both engine and tranny back in the car. You need to re-seat the TQ in the tranny. You have 3 options to access it.

1) Lift the engine back out leaving the tranny in place.

2) Drop the tranny out the bottom of the car leaving the motor in place.

3) Remove both tranny and motor out of the car as one piece.

Take your pick between 2 and 3 depending upon if you have the drive shaft in place, tranny mount hooked up and shift linkage installed.

I know it's a lot of work and sucks but it's the only way to re seat the TQ properly. You need full access to the front of the TQ. You do not want to mess this step up unless you don't mind blowing up the TQ and or oil pump.

Do some research on re-seating a TQ. There are some measurements you can make to make sure it's done right. Do some searches in this forum as well as the Drive-train forum.

Here are some Youtube videos that show how it's done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFFIPyv2C_4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_nr4WQDpvw

Good Luck!

 

Not really. The tranny mount has a single downward pointing bolt that goes through the cross member. You can't just use it to support the tranny or else you'll butcher that one bolt up. Just use a block of wood under the tail shaft and another one or two under the pan.

 

Has anyone not had to take out the granny after resetting the torque converter. It seems like this is a issue and would save time just doing both in one shot. And thanks oamhmad for the videos they were very informative. As long as you take your time it doesn't seem to be that difficult of a task.

 

Why are you dragging Granny into this???

 

Lmao stupid auto correct on my droid changes tranny to granny

 

Aight guys, thanks for the help, i'll let u know how it goes

 

Well, pulled the engine back, reset the tc, bolted everything back up... now the issue I have is my starter bolts are too long for the new starter... so now I gotta mess with that, and it looks like the headers are gonna be a tight fit

 

Glad everything worked out. The only thing I have left is the bellhousing to engine bolts and I've having a little trouble getting the top ones out. Starting to look like the trannys coming out with the engine. Maybe I just didn't arch the engine back far enough but im just getting overwhelmed with it lol

 

You need to move the wiring harness out of the way, makes it a lot easier to get to them with a wrench... u still have to take ur time... took me 15 min to take mine back out... same time to put them back in

 

Yea I think that's the problem is im rushing cause I wanna get it done. Ill get the harness out of the way when I get home. And then its just those two lower bolts on each side that are left after the top comes out right?

 

Yeah, the ones on the drivers side are a pain... did u remove ur y-pipe? U will need to do that

 

Yea the y pipe is out of the car. That was one of the first things to take out. The only other problem I had was getting the flexplate to Tc bolts off, the heads were stripped. Nothing a grinder couldn't fix lol

 

Make sure your replacements are starter bolts. They are knurled on the shank to properly locate the starter.


They often are. Did you end up using a 153-tooth flexplate?

 

You really have me questioning myself now, i forget already, its been a while, I will have to check because I need to make sure I bought the right starter... I still havent resolved my starter bolt issue yet either... also, tried fitting my drivers side header in tonight and it just was not gonna go in... the steering shaft was in the way... can anyone describe to me the easiest way to disconnect it/move it out of the way so I can get that header in?

 

If you don't remember taking the flexplate back to the parts store, you probably have the 14" version.

I was going through my "bucket of bolts" last week (it's a literal bucket) and found about half a dozen starter bolts of various lengths.

You should be able to get starter bolts from most any parts store. If nothing else, they are available in those "HELP" packages.

 

Not sure, Ill check... as far as my headers, i'm gonna try unbolting the engine mounts and jacking the engine up... hopefully i'll get enough clearance to get them bolted in

 

Typical header install instructions say to unbolt the engine mount and raise the engine to get the header in.

 

yeah, i'm definitely gonna give that a try first before i go yanking the steering shaft out! I took the one bolt out in the steering shaft, but didnt know where to go from there... so i'm hoping that lifting the engine up a bit works.

 

Headers are in!!! I took out the engine mount bolts and jacked the engine up a bit and they slid right in. Also spent a couple hours hooking most of the stuff on the engine back up... still have a lot to do but I'm getting there.

 

I went to crank the engine for the first time and oil was squirting from this thing in the picture... does anyone know what it is and how i fix this problem?

 

Thats where the oil pressure sending unit goes on the older F-bodies.... I guess 89 they switched over to the one above the oil filter.

You'll need to install a plug in that hole.

 

ok... problem solved, I got the plug from my old 89 engine I can put there. I'm guessing I'm gonna have to take the sending unit off my 89 engine as well... not really sure what it looks like, but hopefully i can figure it out.

 

Its a little can on a stick above the oil filter on the side of the block. Your oil pressure reading on the gauge will be zero if you dont plug that up.

 

thanks for the picture... i found it and took it off my old engine (thank god i didnt scrap it yet). Im gonna wait to put it on though because i'm not sure if there is a hole for it on my new engine, and i just filled it up with oil... i'll change it after the initial startup on my engine.

 

you need to go ahead and do it. You need to know what your oil pressure is on a newly built engine anyway.

That hole may have a plug, or it may just be open. So you need to be sure. If it has a plug it may be kind of a pain in the *** to get it out, though.

Do you mind sharing what the casting numbers are on your cylinder heads?

 

the old engine... i have no problem doing that when i get a chance... got the engine fired up today, sounded really good... now i gotta get the exhaust all hooked up, top off the tranny fluid, and i should be good. I'll post pics in a couple days.