As the title says. I may have come across an 87 tpi 350 . What would the swap involve. Would this bolt right up. Will I need the corvette harness and the computer or will my 305 one work??? Is there casting numbers to look at to ensure I'm not buying a 305 with corvette valve covers on it.. also what will I have to change for certain on the engine ( water neck? Accessory drive? Oil pan?) Any help will be muchley appreciated
thanks guys

 

Are you swapping it into a 305 TPI car? 86-91 corvette motors have aluminum heads and the block will have 5.7 cast into it behind the driverside head

 

Yes into a
305 tpi car.

 

You can strip it down to the motor (intake, heads and block). Most of the 305 accessories will be used.
Will need to swap oil pans, exhaust manifolds,fuel rails and get a 350 chip and ESC module.
EGR will need to be addressed if you need to be E-compliant.
will need to drill/tap a hole in the pass head for the serp bracket.
Basically, make the vet motor look like the one you are taking out.
That's some of it.

 

They are advertising cast iron heads ... fingers crossed it's an upgrade? I plan on rebuilding it anyways ... hopefully it's a set of vortec s with a new intake manifold. But I seen the picks of it it has the nice metal center bolt corvette valve covers.

 

Vortecs use center bolt valve covers. If they say it is a corvette motor and has iron heads, the only year for that configuration was 86, I believe. Corvette aluminum heads have no EGR provision and used a special manifold base that used an external EGR plumbed from the exhaust manifold so this would be an indicator of a vette motor. If you plan to rebuild it anyway, what difference does it make if it's a vette L98 or an F-body L98 beside maybe using the aluminum heads?

 

you are correct it is an 86. i got the engine and the computer. (minus the harness) they litterally cut this engine out of the car.

 

Hopefully it is a vette motor as the 86 vette had a roller cam setup, the F-body didn't get a roller cam until 87. Either way it looks like you got a good one and when you rebuild it, you get to build it the way you want. Starting with a good base is never a bad idea! GL!

 

I just sold a late 86 vet aluminum head motor that was not a roller block, 1 piece rear seal tho.
Still had all the VIN stuff on the pad too.

 

With the change over and parts being shared across the different divisions, the early years probably had a bunch of different "undocumented" combinations. I could be wrong on the roller block info but the vette usually got the good parts sooner than the other models. I changed a cam in my nephews 87 Iroc and the speed shop gave him a flat tappet cam. When I took the cam out, it was a roller, he had to get it exchanged and his car was down for a few extra days. Maybe 87 was the changeover year.

 

Oh yeah, lots of weird things happen when new parts are introduced and old ones are being used up.
Did you know some of the last TPI motors in 92 got the PM rods and lighter hyper pistons? Look for black valve covers on late 92 TPIs 305 and 350s. ;-)

 

I know both 86 & 87 vette convertibles had aluminum heads. Used to have one years ago.

 

Yup, late 86,verts only, got the 128s and all 87s got 128s then the 88-91 got the better exhaust ports from the 113s.

 

That's a good bit of info to know when scouring for gen 1 motors!