Since im swapping in a T56 aswell to put behind my 400, I have a quick question. My car is origionally a T5 car. So what is ment by the T56 hydralics? I have the slave cylinder from the doner car, but do I need the master cylinder?

Got the oil pan on, should have the starter bolt hole drilled tomorrow.

The hole is drilled, what do yall think?

What do yall do to prep a new engine for start? Like how do you prime the engine and build compression? just turn the motor over a few times by hand?

Needs to be reamed farther down into the hole like the other ones so the knurled shank can fit in there.

Some use a priming shaft run on a drill (before putting the distributor in) to circulate oil through the engine; others turn it over without spark plugs in. The factory never did either, for what that's worth.

Do you think you can explain how the starter bolt works? My dad thinks that is better to have all threads in the hole.

Do you have a starter bolt in front of you? Take a look at the shank. See those cross-hatched marks toward the threads? That is "knurling" to make it larger. It takes up the slack between the shank and the starter hole. This locates the starter more exactly.

That knurling goes into the starter mount hole in the block. It is bigger than the small diameter of the threads. If you don't ream the hole, the starter bolt won't tighten down.

Since no one else chimed in, I'll take a shot.

As I understand it, you can use the 3rd gen master cylinder with the T56 slave cylinder.

What are you doing for exhaust? Typically those kick-out pans get in the way of 3rd gen exhaust.

Well right now I do have the stock Y-pipe so I was hoping I could just connect my headers to the exhaust for now so I can break in the Camshaft. You shouldn't run open shorty headers when breaking in an engine right? Because it could possibly shoot out flames right? If the exhaust does not fit though I suppose I could just take off that old Y-pipe and reroute it.

Ill have to take a look at the starter bolt hole again and try to explain that to my dad.

Running open shorty headers isn't the horrible thing people make it out to be. The "reason" is after getting up to operating temp and shutting it off, some of the exhaust valves will be off their seat. "Cold" air getting up to the valve, due to the short length of the exhaust tube, can warp the head of the valve. More likely with open exhaust ports, and with the poorer general quality of parts back in the "old days".

I wouldn't worry about it.

However, I don't think anything will be able to be routed around that kick-out pan.

Here is where im at right now on the engine.

So from what your saying five7kid its ok to just run open shorty headers for my camshaft break in till I can get to a exhaust shop to reroute my pipes?

Here is the engine with the other stuff sitting on top

It'll be fine.

Ok so I have some questions. In the 2 pictures what are these plugs? Is one of them the Oil pressure sender and do i need both? Also how do you hook the Tachometer up to a new distributor?

This is how I did my spark plug wires.I put my engine at top dead center and the rotor inside the cap pointed at the #1 cylinder. I put the cap on to where one of the terminals is ontop of the rotor prong so that should be my #1 spark right? As for putting the wires on, you start at the #1 plug on the cap and go clockwise for the rest of the plugs in order of the firing order right? witch is 18436572. Anyway thats how i put my wires on. IDK if i explained that to well but if ya'll could comfirm it that would be nice. (these are also the wires you make yourself, I hope I did em right lol!)

As for the exhaust right now. I may just put the old manifolds on for now and hook up the exhaust. Then ill go to a shop and have them fab up some stuff for my headers.

Gah wiring is gonna be a pain!

The one above the oil filter is the oil pressure switch for the in-tank electric fuel pump. The one by the distributor is the sender for the oil pressure gauge.

Your distributor can be in two different positions when the #1 piston is at TDC - the cam and distributor make one revolution for every two revolutions of the crankshaft. You have to bring the #1 piston up to TDC on the compression stroke in order to properly set the distributor.

I but the #1 piston at the top, i took the spark plug out and did it that way.

How to you hook up the tach though to the distributer?

Heres what i did today, Changed my slave clylinder the the t56 slave. here a quick pick of the tranny to. Also took me like an hour just to realize that there is no bolt that goes through the pedal and the slave rod. I finally saw that what it connects to is already attached to the pedal.. FML X_X

Almost had the engine in today... Trying to work to fast slowed us down.
Anyway, how does the 94 T56 clutch work, I dont see how it bolts to the flywheel since it seems different than my 88 T5 clutch. The t56 is a pull style right?

First pic is the... pressure plate? I think thats what its called, that one is the new one witch is for the t56 but help me understand how it bolts up to the flywheel.

second pic is the old pressureplate that was on my T5 I see how this one bolts up but not the new one.

Good sign for the starter ya?

Got the engine in finally :] Now to to just hook up all the wires :[

What do you guys think I should do about this? =/

Transmission...

The white wire that was on your original coil goes to the "TACH" terminal on your HEI distributor. You can either get a connector pigtail to connect it "properly", or put a female terminal on the wire and stick it on.

For what it's worth, something doesn't look right about your picture. The vacuum advance typically goes toward the front to passenger side of the engine, and the connectors on the cap on the driver side. The cap is only supposed to fit one way, and yours doesn't look like it's set on the distributor correctly.

Looks like the transmission will be coming apart.

So do you think im a 180 degrees out?

........ Everything that could go wrong went wrong +1. Took the transmission apart and it was all messed up so we had to rebuild and it finally got it back together only to pretty much have to replace the housing and the front part. Then to top it off the bell housing I was sold wasnt worth of crap. All the holes were wrong and it had welds all over. So this transmissino was abused and I wasted $900. But I got all that fixed, went and bought a new bell housing today and finally got it in. But now I have a new problem. My spohn crossmember/torque arm does not line up with my transmissions mount. Do I need to get some kind of aftermarket transmission mount? Anyone else have this problem?

What engine mounts did you use?

Just normal OEM replacement motor mounts. I found out that I ordered the wrong crossmember, that one is for a tremec t56 and I have a 94z28 t56. So Spohn is doing an exchange for me. Wasted more time though =/

Ok well I got the proper crossmember now and have it installed. So not much left to do.

Quick question: Is the drive shaft suppose to slide in easily like with just your hands? Or maybe the help of a deadblow hammer.

Will the Electric fuel pump still work without the computer?

Ok so what do I need to do to get the car running? Just the Starter right? How many wires go to that. The Battery cable a wire from the alternator, the purple wire and the other thick red wire with the next to the purple one?

And as much as I did not want to have wires cut, my granpa persisted to cut them, So I hope he took out the right ones.

We'll wring Grandpa's neck later...

The battery cable and the two large red wires go to the same large terminal on the starter solenoid. The purple one goes to the small "S" terminal on the starter solenoid.

You also need an ignition-switched power wire to the distributor.

The in-tank fuel pump won't come on without the ECM, unless you kept the oil pressure switch, which should power the pump after you have oil pressure.

Ok I finally got the car to turn over. Now I just need to get the fuel pump situated.

What do you guys think I should do for the Carb? Like how do I hook up the throttle.

Here is a pic of the transmission hump cut. Kind of crooked but... It will work

Great... Now whats wrong with my car?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txk952GpK_M

First of all, the look on your face as your walking away at the end is priceless....

Your starter is not engaging the flywheel, it needs to be adjusted....

haha, thanks for the laugh... Kinda needed it. I was just really upset lol, I have not been able to drive my car since spring break.

The front pulleys are turning though when I go to start it. Doesn't that mean that it is engaging the flywheel?

I didn't even notice that lol, I forgot just how much torque those mini-starters are capable of. It's honestly a matter of trial and error at this point; make sure you have spark, make sure you have fuel, and make sure your timing and wires are set up correctly....

Wires should be right, I checked them like 15 times because It was my first time learning about all the firing order and how that works so Im positive those are right. How do you tell if you have spark or not?

On a side note... I really did not have much fuel. Pump is not connected, all we really did was spray a little starter fluid into the carb. But wouldnt that car attempt to turn over with or without fuel? You think I should pour a little gas in the carb?

Get some fuel in the intake manifold, meaning hold the throttle open with the linkage and have your dad pour a little in there. Do this AFTER you check for spark. When I check for spark, I pull the coil wire off and stick a flat head screwdriver in it so that it is up against the terminal inside (with HEI you can just use an individual spark plug wire end), I then lay the screwdriver on a flat surface so it doesn't move around, then I turn the engine over with the key. Just listen for spark, but don't keep it in that state for too long, just for a second or two. Once you confirm spark, pour some gas through the carb and try starting it again....

Well i talked to my granpa. He's the one helping me and he said there is spark. And he thinks its trial and error with the shims on the starter and thinks the battery is not charged enough.. When it is basically fully charged. and the starter is turning everything so I think he's wrong on those 2 parts...

Anyway, I went out and sprayed more starter fluid down into the manifold. Went to go start it and heard a loud POP and a little bit of smoke came out of the carb. So does this mean that the timing is like a 180 degrees off? And really everything was fine and it just needed more fuel?

Yes, pull the distributor up some and face the rotor exactly 180 degrees the other way....

Ok turns out the starter was fine afterall... The problem is, I have 0 Compression. I give up for the night... So I'll have to work on that through out the week.

Haha woo! It was never the starter. I had the rocker arms to tight. Turned it over
Maybe three times and it fired up. Only ran it for a second though.

So I'm trying to put on my mallory 4309 FPR, can any one chime in on how they did it and what they used? Right now I was looking at that "Pics of Mallory FPR installed" but I need some more details.

How does this look for my install?

i use a priming shaft

Quick start up. Still need to wire the fuel pump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZkdO6Pwzwg

nice fireball

you can wire the fuel pump to the OPSU or just a switched 12v source. they each have thier downsides.

gonna sound bad a$$, Im following your build because im also gonna do a 305 400 swap

Thanks! Can't wait to feel how much more powerful the 400 is compared to the 305! and 6 gears to top it off!

Finally have the interior back together... Man the shifter looks sexy.

I'm glad I found this post I'm rebuilding an 84 Firebird and I'm going from a 2.8 V6 to a 400 sbc so this is gonna help out alot. Awesome progress on your part though man, congrats!

I have a question? I have a 90 firebird formula with a 305 and i was looking at swapping it with the 350 in my 79 k10 is there anything stopping me from doing this or that needs to be done before?

The only thing that held me back on my swap was just the starter bolt hole and matching the T-56 to an older block. Also the fact that the T-56 I bought basically needed a full rebuild. and what really sucked is having Zero Experience with wires. Reading all around the forums helped with that though. I'm 18 and this is my first engine swap and first pretty much everything on this car. So I'm sure you could do it

I finally got my Fuel pump working correctly, now all thats left is the fans... MORE WIRES!!! I JUST LOVE THEM! not really, but I'm working with the Hayden 3647 fan kit soooo, it shouldn't be to bad.