I have a 1983 Trans Am. It has a stock cabureted 350 in it already. I also have a 500 Cadillac motor sitting around, would it be better to beef up the 350 or swap it for the 500?

 

Dropping the 500 in wont be a drop n drive. You will probably need a different transmission, custom exhaust, maybe mounts, as well as other fabrication. It would be quicker and easier to build the 350 and drive it, not to mention cheaper.

 

How much horsepower might I be able to get out of a 350?

 

Literally there is just about no limit to how much power you can push out of a 350. anywhere from the stock 200's to over 1000. All depends on your budget, abilities, and time.

 

The biggest downfall with Caddies is the overheads.Aftermarket heads are very expensive.The stock overheads are all in very early in the rpm range.Torque monsters??. You bet!!. There are trans adapters to your tranny. And here is the comparison chart for sizes of engines.Look at the BBC VS the Caddy.

http://www.carnut.com/specs/fengdim.html

Me??. I think for a very longtime guys didn't think any swap was too hard. Question was more about what was practical or not.

Not doubt the Caddy is heavier.

 

I'll most likely stick to the 350, it'll be a lot easier. One of my friends has a Subaru and he keeps saying that no matter what I do to my car his is still going to beat it. He doesn't like anything made by GM at all and I would like to get my car to have enough snot to blow his out of the water. That's not the only reason I'm building it though, I just love the cars and I would like to have one to drive.

 

1983 TransAms didn't come from the factory with a 350. And you can't tell a 350 from a 305 by looking at it in the engine bay. What makes you think its a 350?

 

If memory serves, someone has tried the old Stone Age Caddy swap before, and discovered they had to remove a sizeable chunk of the firewall and/or windshield cowl.

There's better candidates for a swap than Grandpa's old 70s sedan smogger turd.

Inch for inch, Cadillac motors aren't "torque monsters", any more than any other brand. 500 CID is a "torque monster". The brand name on the casting makes not the slightest difference whatsoever.

 

My dad has had the car sitting in a barn for a while and I just now thought about fixing it, so we've had it for a long time and when he drove it, he dropped the 350 in it. Not trying to sound like a jerk but that's how I know there's a 350 in it.

 

Why did your dad stop driving it??.

 

He got another one and took the transmission out of mine and drove the other one around until about 2 years ago then he junked it and took the engine and transmission out of it and they're sitting out in our garage. He also kept the rims to the other car but I don't need those because mine has honeycomb snowflakes on it.

 

I thought you said it was stock my mistake. I vote keep the SBC over a 500 caddy. Unless you just want a lot of looks at car shows