Hi guys. It's been a while I've talked about a V6 to V8 swap, and now, I got the engine/tranny.

However, to my suprise, I seem to have gotten a pretty sweet specced engine.

The casting 3932388, seems to come out of a Camaro SS 1968 or 1969, offering 300HP and is supposedly rare; which I'm sure is bullcrap. I also have a TH400 for a transmission.

Now, that's what I researched. If it's a different spec, let me know please.

However, this engine got out of a camper, so the config's a little different, so I'll need to adjust it to fit in a car.

Now, my question to you is, is that 350 has the same mountings as a 3rd gen 350 Camaro have, or am I in for some fun?

Also, there's a mechanical fuel pump on it, which seems to be defective. I don't mind that, but my plan is to keep it there, unwired and continue using my electric fuel pump that I originaly had to power my V6 engine. Note that this V6 was a TPI/SFI to carb swap, as the previous V6 was a carbbed engine, so that pump provides the fuel needed for a carb. I also have a switch installed to turn it off or on. Will that work or will it provide insufficient fuel to the carb?

To finish off, bodywise, that car is a T-Top vehicle and I'm planning on using the same differential, but not the driveshaft, as this transmission will be different.

Don't pay attention to the electronics, that Camaro, oddly enough, does NOT have an ECM and any of the wirings to it. It does however still have its original catalytic converter but does not have any O2 sensors to it.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...305-350-a.html

Means little 35 years later unless you can prove that the engine is 100% original

Comments about block numbers from the master
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...90-post32.html
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...12-post18.html

 

Hmm, I ought to read the head castings as well...anyways, whatever the engine has in specs, it will get fully rebuilt nonetheless.

 

Whatever "specs" the engine had before the last time it was "rebuilt", are long gone.

They will not be restored by any further "rebuild" unless you can EXACTLY duplicate the original; the EXACT SAME heads, EXACT SAME cam, EXACT SAME pistons, EXACT SAME tolerances, etc. etc. etc.

THE BLOCK didn't "offer 300 HP". THE ENGINE that was built out of it did. THE BLOCK has abslolutely no bearing whatsoever on power output, apart from being a 4" bore.

Of all the things that influence the outcome of a "rebuild", probably the least significant is the casting number, once you get past identifying the bore dia. If it's not a roller, has a 2-pc rear main seal, and a left-hand dipstick, then its power output value is EXACTLY the same as any other non-roller, 2-pc, LHDS block.

The fact that it came out of a camper should tell you something... some car went to the crusher back in the 70s or 80s sometime; the motor got pulled and went to a rebuilder; then since ALL BLOCKS ARE THE SAME for that purpose, they all got completely mixed up, and it got mated with all-new innards and some completely other set of heads from what a "68 Camaro SS" would have had. Probably 882 or 624 smoggers. Then it got sold on the basis of the low bid to repair somebody's equally old camper whose motor wore out.

Don't get all wound up over a bunch of romantic-sounding "69 Camaro" BS, because that block has LONG SINCE forgot ANYTHING about being wrapped in that particular sheet metal. If it remembers ANYTHING AT ALL about its past life, it'll be the rebuild that put it in that camper; let's hope that didn't leave scars that are too deep too heal, like a .060" over bore dia. If that's the case, throw it in the trash and start over. I'd suggest getting a more recent block, such as one out of a 96-2000 truck. It'll be a roller, 1-pc RMS, RHDS version; a much better platform for an exciting rebuild.

 

When it got pulled out of the camper, it claims to have been a running engine, and might not have been rebuilt, but that's info I do not know. However, I will rebuild the engine, even if it runs fine; I don't want an engine of any sort, either being a Camaro engine or a camper homebuilt 350 engine, to sit in my 84 without a rebuild. I'm aware it runs and the guy would just like me to put it in, but I'm not listening; it will get rebuilt, plus it needs a new intake. The current one has a manual choke linkage on it.

Anyways, my questions were asked, but I had doubts about this engine being a "masterpiece power plant". It's nice to have power, but I want it to ride on the road, so I'm inclined on the sound of it, not how fast it goes. Plus, my 84 has the dual needle that goes up to 140KM/h, and I'm not giving that up.

 

Well, next thing to do then, is measure the bores, and see if it wasn't used all the way up in its last rebuild; and get the head casting #s, to see if those need to go in the trash. Not necessarily any need to change the intake to get something other than a "manual" (I'm assuming pull cable?) choke; most carbs these days have electric choke kits available, which facility might even already exist in the car in functional condition.

Yeah I hear ya about the speedo... that's one of the most laughable things I've ever seen in a "performance" car. My 83 L69 car had that crap too. I finally picked up about a 87 cluster in about 2000 or so and threw that other sick 55mph national speed limit joke in the trash, might even have crushed it with a BFH first just so no one would be tempted to "rescue" it.