Ok Im hoping to do an engine swap this next year and I have been weighing my options I want to switch out my 305 with a carbed 350 that has 300 or more horse power. I was looking at some blueprint engines but I have heard ALOT of bad things about them so I will probably stay away from them I have also looked at some GM performance ones as well and I recently found some on ebay heres some links.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sbc-S...#ht_2176wt_939

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...#ht_6509wt_939


which would be best I want to be able to get the motor and everything I need to install it for no more than 4000 installed including the 800 my mechanic said he would charge to install the engine. Any suggestion about these or any other crate engine options.

 

id keep the car TBI yea it may not be the fastest but lets face it a TBI is 10X more reliable then a carb car i have driven my dads carb 454 suburban, yea its got a **** load of torgue and power but it sucks driving it when its cold out and TBI gets better gas millage

 

A mixture of cheap and mismatched parts. They try to make it sound like they know what they're doing, but I'm not convinced.


Any time a seller puts an Edelbrock carb on a "turn-key" engine, it's time to look elsewhere. Same story here, tries to sound good, but give me a break - "swirl port Vortec heads"?

 

Im not worried about it in cold weather as soon as it snows my car doesn't hit the road til spring I know carbed engines suck in cold weather my first car was an 1980 ford fairmont that took about 20 min to get running every morning during the winter , as for gas milage its a weekend / summer car that dosent get driven more than 8000 miles a year. Thanks for the input though. Does anybody know of a good crate engine in my price range

 

So, you have $3200 to spend to get an engine and all the parts required to your mechanic.

Tall order.

http://sdparts.com/details/gm-perfor...parts/19210007

That would need intake, carb, distributor, gaskets, fuel pressure regulator. Those pieces would run you about $700. Plus freight.

http://sdparts.com/category/gm-perfo...economy-engine

Not quite 300 HP. But, would fit within your budget.

 

Thanks, I may end up haveing a local shop build an engine I called around the other day and there is a custom racing engine shop that said that they could probbly build me an engine with 300 within my budget and install it.

 

That may be the way to go. It isn't hard to build a 300 HP SBC. The difficulties come from changing the induction (or modifying what you have), and paying for labor. I would guess that around 90% of TGO engine-swapping members do their own install work. Might even be higher than that.

 

On a side note, you might want to go to the TBI forum and look through the "budget TBI build-up" sticky. That may be closer to what you're looking for than you realize.

 

Both of these engines say for use in 1978 and older cars. Why is that? Do they not pass modern smog testing? Should I care, having a car that is tagged "historic"?

Also, would these engines be roller cam, and are they 1 or 2 piece rear main seal? I know they are probably basic questions; I'm learning! I'm looking for the ideal 350 to replace my '87 LG4 with, and the 330HP engine is looking real tempting! My Qjet needs a rebuild, would I be ahead to have it rebuilt, or put another carb on top the new engine? Finally, being a carb car originally (with a new in-tank fuel pump) would I need a regulator?

 

86' and up were the 1 piece rear main, roller blocks, anything earlier are 2 piece, non roller.

Fuel Injection = electric pump
Carb = Mechanical pump

If you went carb and have a electric pump then you need a regulaor.

 

'86 was still flat tappet, actually, even though they had 1-piece rear main seal.

'79-earlier had the dipstick on the driver side. I know of no particular reason why they would say '78-earlier (usually say '75-earlier). The HO crate engine has flat tappets and 1-piece rear main seal, but the block is roller-ready. The 290 HP engine is flat tappet and 2-piece rear main seal - I believe it will support the dipstick on either side of the engine.

If you go with the 330 HP GM crate engine, I would recommend staying with the factory q-jet. It will do anything an aftermarket carb could do on that engine, and do most of it better than any aftermarket carb. You will need a Vortec spreadbore intake manifold, but that's easy enough to get. And, keeping the factory carb would be a lot less money than what it would take to go non-computer, aftermarket carb.

 

Five, question. Am just gonna call you Mr. knowledgable lol

Flat tappet makes less power then a similiar hydraulic cam correct? Did they make any hydraulic rollers in the f-body, if so what year did it change? I just dont understand the differences in HO motors vs the non HO.

 

Roller lifters don't automatically make more power. They are better, and they do allow more aggressive ramps. But, it really depends upon the grind of two cams, one flat tappet and one roller lifter, which one will make more power.

The factory went to roller lifters in passenger cars in 1987.

"HO" is a very widely abused term. For 3rd gens, there was only one "HO" - the L69 305, VIN code "G". It had a different cam, air cleaner, exhaust, and tuning (and until 1985, different compression) than the base LG4 305.

The crate engine is a completely different animal. They just stuck the HO name onto this particular engine.

 

ok I have a new question if I go to a carb setup I know I will eliminate the ecm but will this effect how my gauges work such as speedo ,tach etc. I know this is probbly a stupid question but I was wondering