Hello great people I need some help choosing a engine to put into my beauty. I want 450 to 500 horse power. Id also want to upgrade my 700r4 transmission. I thought about the 383 stroker...
I need help to also know if I go with LT4 restomod do I need to change drive train.

 

The biggest first question is what engine you have now. If it is a v6 car, you’re going to have a lot more work to do for ANY swap. If it is a factory 305 car, then a 383 doesn’t REQUIRE the same level of effort to get it in the car. Supporting mods will likely be needed however.

 

You sound like you have little to no wrenching experience. Unless you can afford to pay someone else alot of money to mod your car you would be wise to step back and learn more about your car and the costs and trade-offs of mods. It might be a good idea to find someone near you who has a car project and offer to help so you can gain some hands-on experience. There are many knowlegable poeple on this forum and spending some time reading will help, but there is no replacement for hands-on learning. I am not trying to discourge you, everyone, including me, starts out not knowing what we don't know. Welcome to the car hobby. Try not to make as many mistakes as I did.

 

Kestell here offering the keys to the kingdom of car wrenching advice. I watched my dad make mistakes for decades working on cars with him. It never makes money. It only loses money. Always be ready to drive a car sized hole into your finances if this is the path you choose to follow. It's just that the decades of failures and successes make the project worthwhile for some. Something something Journey not Destination.

 

This is a very common first post topic in this forum.

To qualify a reasonably accurate reply, how much $$$ do you have for such a project, and who will be doing all the work?

 

https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/cc...l-block-build/

 

 

I am in the same boat, lol. New to cars and trying to v8 swap.

 

Sorry for the dumb question, but what would make it harder? Would it not be just the mounts and brackets to swap?

 

If you are starting with a small block chevy and just swapping over to a different small block chevy there are more shard parts. Transmission, exhaust, ect can all be reutilized from one motor to the next. A V6 to V8 requires you to replace more parts that are not compatible.

 

the issue with this is that you would then need to source those mounts and brackets instead of using the ones off the old engine. Not to mention different wiring harness.

 

When you plan for an engine swap, be it a v6 to a v8 or gen 1 small block to big block or any of those to an LS or an LT engine, you have to think about anything that connect to that new engine including via other parts. For example, the trans may bolt to your new engine but it may not be strong enough. If it is stong enough it may need to be moved rearward. Then you need to mod the drive shaft. will the rearend be strong enough and does it have a usable gear ratio. will the fuel pump provide the correct pressure and volume of fuel . Are the fuel lines large enough. What will you do for exhaust.What about the cooling system, what kind of fans, stock radiator? shroud?Ac? And then the thing that hardest for most poeple , Wiring. Modern engines, even from the 80's and 90's have many sensers and engine controls that you have to get right. But it is worth the effort! The after market and this and other forums can be a great help. It is never cheap, write up a budget and then plan for double that.

 

Thank you. I never considered half of this! I am very new to cars and I appreciate the help. I have a v6 3.1l with the 700r4 trans. From what I have read it wont handle the abuse and I am trying to figure out what combo and mounts are available using a 350 motor. I have the bracket mount to a 350 that came with the car but I do not have the part it bolts onto the kmember with. Any advice on this? Thanks.

 

Do you have the needed tools to do the job.? If not add another 5K+ to your budget.

 

I don't know what bracket you have. It sounds like you bought a car that someone else had considered doing a swap on and changed thier mind. 350 's came in many differnt cars and trucks and the mounting systems are not all the same. If your 3.1 is running well I would either drive it as is or sell it to buy the car you want. If your 3.1 is bad, I would replace it with an identical 3.1 ,rebuilt or used. The reason I would not swap a small block into a v6 car is that there are plenty of factory third gen small block cars out there already. There is no need to try to recreate that. If you do decide to do this swap, like I mentioned earlier in this thread, try to find a lift out. That means the entire swap package either from someone doing an LS swap or from a wreaked car. I have done v8 swaps into S10's an LS swap into a third gen because the factory did not make those. If the factory makes it there is no need for me to.

 

Sorry for late response this is what I end up doing ly6 swap with 6l90e money isn't a problem it's getting everything work so I bought a wiring specialist harness didn't think to put ac on it because of the cars standalone ad. My issue I'm having now is I connect the r4 compressor to the belt line but now the ECU doesn't control it how to I get it to work on pressure and not signal. Am I supposed to use a trianary switch I'm so confused

 

Sorry for late reply this is what I end up doing I went with the ly6 6 l Gen 4 motor with a 6l90e transmission I kept and used the stock engine brackets with an adapter and I went with the wiring specialty harness I went with a custom driveline 3-in Dom piping seamless also I did custom radiator support brackets yeah went with the high Camaro engine mount for the drive system kept the r4 compressor try to keep as much of it clean as possible I can post pics

 

 

Looks great! When it is driving let us know the details of the build ,like drive shaft ,tunnel mods, etc.