I'm considering a swap, pulling the SBC400 from my 82 k10 and putting it into an 82 camaro. I've found the camaro locally, i might buy it, guy already pulled motor and transmission. I haven't heard back from him what was originally in it yet. the concerns floating in my head so far are:
1 Motor mounts: will the K10 mounts bolt to the camaro?
2 Transmission: will any TH350, TH400, or 7004r4 be able to bolt up to the crossmember? I seem to remember reading that some crossmembers will need modified for non-thirdgen transmissions.
3 drive shaft: how should I go about getting a driveshaft that fits to length? I know it will depend on what transmission i end up getting. good to find a JY one or buy a new possibly custom one?
4 Speedometer hookup: were they all mechanical back then? I'll worry about re-gearing later, can reference gps for accuracy.
5 Torque converter: Will a TC that's on a th350 now mate to a th400 or 7004r? i might just go for another th350 if i cant reuse the converter i have now.
6 Exhaust: I doubt the headers on the truck will fit into the camaro. if they don't, I guess I'll try to find stock manifolds and piping for dirt cheap.
7 Accessories: will all the accessories and brackets from the truck fit into the engine bay of the camaro?

I'll probably pull the electric fuel pump out if it's so equipped, run line to mechanical pump on my motor, run switched wire to the dist, hook up starter and cooling / heat lines, i should be good to go. Anyone have thoughts I'm missing?

the 400 has stock heads with .030" milled off, stock thickness gaskets, an edelbrock intake, and a quadrajet on top.

Tools I have access to include cherry picker, the usual wrenches, sockets, torque wrench, flux core wire feed welder (MIG if i buy a bottle and spool of wire) oxy-acetylene and if i ask real nicely I can get some time on a Bridgeport, and a friend can bend on a 200 ton brake press. So I think I should be able to do about anything I may need.

thanks for any input / thoughts / suggestions.

 

Oh man that Camaro will fly with that engine. Here's what I can help ya with: 1) not sure on the motor mounts, I would assume they are the same on the engine side... you may want to purchase new just for the sake of not doing it later on anyway. 2) the tranny should fit no prob, the only thing i would make sure to check is the tailshaft, there are different lengths (4 inch 6 inch and 9 inch I believe) if you find a tranny with the right tailshaft it will save you the trouble of customizing a driveshaft. 3)Speedo cable should screw right in, they don't get all electronic and whatnot til they hit the back of the gauge cluster. 4)I learned this the hard way, the torque converter must always stay with the tranny it came from. They even differ from year to year, but the good thing is your local scrap yard will most likely give you the TC still attached to the tranny. It and the tranny will bolt up to the SBC400 just fine as long as the tranny you get is not newer than 1992. 5) I suggest shorty style headers and find someplace nice to put the mufflers, there's not much room under an '82 Camaro. Not like my wife's '70. 6) All the accessories should fit fine, if you are really worried (and haven't already done it) rip out the stock fan and shroud and install a nice electric one. You gotta make sure that 400 stays nice and cool. Good luck and post lots of pics.

 

the reason i'm considering stock manifolds right now is basically caus i'm broke. I'm gonna have to scrap the truck to buy the car, and hope i can find someone to buy the tires that are on the truck. I've got the receipt for the tires where i paid $485, and they're on American Racing 15x10" rims, hoping i can get like $350 for them, in damn-near-new condition. between the truck itself and the tires I should be able to get enough to buy the car and a tranny.

on the motor mounts, worst case scenario is I have a friend cut new frame side mounts out of 1/4 or 3/8" plate and bend them up, I'll add bolt holes and be good to go. If I hadnt been laid off, i'd cut and bend them myself.

on the tailshaft, does anyone know what the stock length would be? that is, assuming that all of the I4, V6 and V8 tailshafts ended up in the same place, or were there different length shafts in different cars?

hopefully i'll be able to go look at the car today, I really wanna find somethin t put the 400 in caus i dont think the truck will be on the road again, it'll leave too many parts on the road (like the bed)

 

to better answer some of these questions, we'd need to know what came in the camaro originally. swapping necessities will vary upon that (mounts, crossmember, etc), as if it was a v6 or manual transmission, you'll need to get a few more parts.

 

thanks dan, i'm still waitin to find that out. also gotta go look at the car to see if it's even worth it, but if i compare it to the k-10 it'd be hard to be as bad as the truck is lol.

edit: last email (and the first) i got from him was at like 4:30, so i might have to wait til llater to hear from him. after i finish up the housework im gonna start prepping the truck for the pull, then i have to drive to shelby to pick up the cherry picker, for which i'll have to borrow a truck. I only have 2 "spare" rims / tires, so i have to figure what im gonna set the truck on when i take the rims and tires off, i sure as hell cant let them go being included in the scrap price.

edit 2: one of the reasons i'm hoping to re-use my mounts from the truck, is im not sure what motor was in it originally, and dont know if mounts will come with the car. If i have to fab mounts, if any welding is required i'll probably tack the pieces together and have someone who welds for 10 hours a day do the structural welding on them, as opposed to me trying to make sturdy welds with the fluxcore. I'll measure the thickness of the mounts on the truck, by memory they seem to be like 3/16 steel. If i fab something, i'll go for major overkill, just caus I can. I guess a major factor in re-using truck mounts will be the frame rail spacing. or subframe, whatever its called on the f bodies. guess i'll figure that out if/when the time comes.

 

the cockbat sold it already. so im lookin for another roller.

 

Bummer, that would have been a nasty swap. Keep looking, you'll come across a good third gen somewhere. Best of luck.