Recently bought a 15th aniversary edition trans am and couldnt drive it home because the brakes were locked up. after towing it home and replacing the the front brake cailpers and pads i thought i was ready for inspection, Come to find out it has a cracked block. i was wondering about the perks of upgrading from the stock 305 to a 350. im good at trouble shooting problems and doing the repairs but i dont know much about motor and transmission sizes and what motors would work with the car. if anybody has the original specs for the car and what would need to be done for the engine swap it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome aboard thirdgen.org.

'84 is a good year to work with. It will have a q-jet carb and TH700 transmission (assuming automatic) that will be 350-friendly. The exhaust isn't too good, but that isn't hard to address (with a little bit of $$$s).

The "specs" that you need to know are - "small block Chevy". From there, any differences are easy to address.

What's your budget? Do you want an engine you can bolt in, or do you want to build one?

Assuming you're willing to buy an engine, and change a couple of parts to make it work, try this on for size:
Engine: http://www.jegs.com/i/GM-Performance...30282/10002/-1
Intake manifold: http://www.jegs.com/i/Edelbrock/350/2116/10002/-1
Intake gaskets: http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/210003/10002/-1
Flexplate: http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performan...01073/10002/-1

The intake manifold and gaskets are required to match the type of heads that engine has, and the flexplate is required to fit the type of crankshaft it has.

Everything else from your 305 will transfer over to this engine.

Now, exhaust is the next step...

 

i was looking for one i could bolt in for now but easily make changes to over time. i was just told the only difference between a 305 and a 350 was a little bigger bore and a longer stroke and that everything on the outside matched so i would be able to just bolt all my stuff on. my budget total is only around 2k at the moment. my plans first was the motor and a Holley Carb,

 

You were almost told right. It is true that externally they are identical (for any given year model, that is), and that the bores are different. However, the stroke is the same for 305 and 350.

For a $2k budget, a Holley carb is money poorly spent. Keep your stock carb - it's the best street/performance carb available, factory or aftermarket.

For something you can bolt in now and make changes over time, and stay within your current $2k budget:
http://www.jegs.com/i/Chevrolet-Perf...oductId=752506

Changes you will be making over time are cam and heads.

And exhaust. Plan on a $1k budget minimum for exhaust.

 

the quadrajet carb is really the best one i can get? ive had alot of people tell me there junk but ive never been a carb man other then knowing how to take one off and put it back on i have stipped a few down and cleaned them but thats about it.

What kind of recamendation would you have for an exhaust.

This is the first car ive ever tryed to build myself all ive done in the past was basic repairs to just keep my everyday drivers on the road so any ideas or recamendations are greatly appreciated. as well as any tips for the motor swap because this is only the second time ive ever pulled and replaced a motor.

 

Yes, the q-jet is a good carb, and the computer controlled type that came in 3rd gens from the factory is the best q-jet of them all.

For off-the-shelf, the Hooker 2055HKR headers are hard to beat. They are for the '86-'90 TPI single cat application, but will fit in other cars just fine. Follow that with a direct-fit cat for the same application, and a 3" cat-back for the same application, and you've got a very good-flowing system.