im looking for a v8 for my 92 bird to upgrade from my boring 189 and i was wondering what engine would be a perfect fit without using alot of money on misc. parts. can anyone give me any good suggestions?

 

Chevy small block. That's what it would have had if it hadn't got short-changed with that .... other thing.

I'd suggest building a 350, since they're CHEEEEP and all 350 blocks are basically equal as far as fit and power output. Maybe with Vortec heads, a cam in the low 220s of intake duration, and a Stealth Ram. Won't even be all that hard to adapt your existing computer and wiring to it, if you do it that way. Easiest way to get a core that's as close as possible to what you want to end up with, would be to pick up a junk 96 - 2000 Chevy/GMC truck 350.

All you'd HAVE TO change in the car then, would be the transmission; the 6-cyl trans won't bolt to a V8.

 

Do you think I can just pull it from a Trans Am? Engine and all? I'm gonna look it to the gmc. I know I need new header when I size up so what else will I have to upgrade

 

First thing you gotta realize is, you have a GM car; not a "Pontiac", not a "Chevrolet", not a "Firebird", not any of that. GM is a company. All the rest of that is just PACKAGING. Stickers, cup holders, wrinkles in the sheet metal, stuff like that.

Sure; but there's no difference between the GM motors they put in those, and the ones they put in other sheet-metal wrinkles of the same "class" in the same year. Which isn't even the best "class" to get a motor from. Not alot of sense in limiting your search to a minority brand that no longer even exists because it couldn't generate enough sales to be worth the cost of making it different from the brands that DID sell.

Note that I said "Vortec" heads... those come on 96 - 2000 Chevy & GMC truck (& van) 350s. Buy that motor, you get THE BEST stock motor core to work with, BAR NONE. I'd do that LONG before I'd fiddle around with some "Trans Am" motor.

There's no "magic" in "Trans Am". Put aside all the romance, the aura, the mythology, and boil it down to NUMBERS, like flow, cost, power output, and so on. Ignore the brand partisans that want to spank off about "real" "Pontiac" this that or the other; they're taking the hard long expensive road that doesn't go as far or as fast or as easy as the cheep plentiful everyday common route.

 

i understand that but i just asking if a trans am engine would be more compatible but with less work you know? im not tryna spend an arm and a leg. but im gonna look into the gmc pickup truck 350 engines

 

Not really.

They're all the same, at a certain level.