Hello all


I've been working on getting this completed for some time and I've been a huge fan of this generation of 'birds for years.

1983 Firebird with a 1968 Z/28 dz302 Motor; 350 turbo tranny with 3000 stall; full Trans-AM rear-end swap with 4.11 gears.

It's almost done, just need to get a new power steering pump, new battery, new alternator, and some chrome brackets for the "pretty" factor. I have a Holley 550cfm on it to keep it streetable, but you can tell it holds the engine back. I took it down the road twice so far (no power steering is killer), and so far so good.

Stock the dz302 was pushing ~375 to the flywheel and ~290 to the rear wheels and she is a long way home from stock... I hope to get it dyno'd once it's done and I'll post the results.

I don't see many of these engines around and I thought I'd share what most of my friends call the "coffin on wheels" swap.

Thank you for viewing and I appreciate any comments!

 

DZ302 in a 3rd gen???? That engine is worth more than all the rest of the car!

 

Haha, very true. I figure if the car can't handle it in the end or doesn't like the motor too much then I'll get a first gen to drop it in to. I would have done this to begin with, but this 83 body had very low miles on it when I got it and was cheap.

If I could find a first gen in this shape I'd be set! But considering the cost of a rust-free one... yikes.

Have to admit.. no one will see it coming. lol

Though they'll certainly hear it.

 

Not exactly. It was rated as 290 HP by the factory, which was a gross flywheel rating at the time, although much higher dyno numbers were reported by many people.

What made the engine "unique" were the heads, cam, pistons, and intake. The block was a simple 327 ('67) or 350 ('68, '69) block. Modern hydraulic grinds run circles around the factory solid grind. A Performer RPM is a better intake manifold than the factory piece. Using all of those parts with a 3.48" stroke crank (and proper pin height pistons) produces a lot more power (and revs just as high).

I had a clone of that engine back in the 70's. My current 350 easily outruns it, is a lot easier to drive, uses regular grade gasoline, and gets much better fuel economy.

Not trying to rain on your parade, just keeping the record straight.

Post the dyno results when you have them. I assume it will be a chassis dyno, not engine dyno.

 

It is a big step up from stock, but the last guy is right! Still it is pretty cool swap! Most people don't know is that engine inspired the z28! A GM executive caught a ride with an GM engineer one day and was impressed with how quick the engineers camaro was. The engineer told him what he had done to the engine, a 327 destroked by using a 283 crank the hot corvette cam and heads, holley intake on the 4 barrell manifold headers etc. The exec decided to offer it on the camaro as an option package (option z28) and the z28 was born. The first year z28 had the headers in the trunk from the factory!!

 

A friend of mine had this engine in a Camaro (82) and used it as a daily driver with a few passes on Friday nights. It got rear-ended and he ended up selling it for literally next-to-nothing, so I picked it up. I mostly wanted it for historical purposes - not every day you find the engine that led the Camaro to two years of dominance in the Trans Am circuit.

The best I remember the Camaro was running high-9s with a full interior. I'd guess somewhere around 3500lbs with driver. The engine runs just fine on pump gas so far, so it's not to THAT point yet thankfully (gas is expensive enough as is...).

I will most definitely post results as soon as I have them. Money has gotten tighter and it will unfortunately probably be closer to the middle of summer before she's ready, but I certainly can't wait.

 

Are those aluminum heads, or aluminum-painted cast iron heads?

What was the length of the track that your friend's Camaro ran high-9's?

 

They are painted double-hump heads and he was running the Quarter mile.

 

A 302 with double hump heads running high-9's in a 3500 lb 3rd gen on pump gas NA?

 

I'm just stating what I saw, that's all. Yes.

 

I suggest you switch to a 200-4R. Seriously.

 

It is possible. I had a n/a 355 with self-ported Vortecs pushing an '88 IROC with full interior to a best of 10.21 seconds. And I was running a BTO level 2 700R-4, a 3.73:1 gear, a spool, and 235/60R15 drag radials. I did it on pump premium, and keeping it under 6500 rpm.

 

It wasn't like 9.4s or anything either, mind you. I'm talking literally a 9.95 pass (that I witnessed), though he said he could pass faster (doesn't everyone?). Honestly it's more of a 10ish car or so, much like the aforementioned 88 Iroc (which, btw, sounds very nice indeed ).

 

thank you for the compliment.