Alright, so I've already gotten a lot of help from the fellas at ****** Militia, but I still have some unanswered questions. I'm swapping to a 350, and am reusing my ecm, harness, and tpi intake setup. I know I'll need a tune and 22pph injectors... And probably a new exhaust haha. I was told by a gentleman, that I can use any 87-95 tbi truck motor and it'll be a direct bolt up, so long as I have the center bolt valve covers. He also said all 86+ tpi and tbi motors used a center bolt valve cover bolt pattern. My car is an 86 z28 lb9 700r4, and I had the car checked when I first got it to make sure it was a numbers matching car, and it was. My valve covers however, use a perimeter style bolt pattern. To my knowledge, the motor is stock other than a mild cam. So, what year 5.7's should be looking at, that my tpi will bolt right up to? I barely have the money for this swap as it is, but need the car running and might as well spend the same cost on a 350 block. Also, anything important I need to know, or buy, for this swap?

 

Any SBC will bolt right up, valve covers dont matter how the engine bolts up in the car/to the trans. The details are in all of your sensors, accessories, etc. I think what you are going to want is a L98 (350) from an 87+ car.

 

Pretty much ANY small bolt chevy engine will "bolt up". Some have more advantages than others...

The 87+ car engines are 1-piece rear main seal, and more importantly come with a roller cam... more power potential, and with current motor oil lacking ZDDP additives, flat tappet cams tend to wear out really fast.

Those truck engines may have been cast with roller cam provisions, but were assembled with flat tappet cams. That means extra parts to step up to a roller cam for any additional performance: cam = $200-$300, $100 for the spider and dog bones + $135 lifters. (Or $250 for lifter/dog bone/spider kit.) The factory specs means it likely won't have any more power/performance/fuel economy than your LB9, without some modifications.

The newer L31 Vortec van/truck engines are serious bang-for-the-buck, but requires its own set of extra bucks in the form of a $400 manifold to match the revised intake ports of the Vortec heads.

LT1 - while a fine engine, adds coolant and unique accessory challenges to the mix. I recommend avoiding this option.

 

What coolant challenges with the LT1? Seems like it's bolt on and go. Just need a new power steering line.

 

Sorry, I think I confused swapping an LT1 intake onto non-LT1 bolt/heads with swapping the whole engine. The cam driven (non-belt driven) water pump provides a different set of challenges if/when being modified.