I have aquired a 69 Firebird ,but cant get the registration straightend out. I am wondering if I can put the 400ci in my 87' Camaro. The Camaro currently has a 305ci in her. The 400ci would be a great improvement in power. Has anyone tried this?
Is it possible?
Thanks,
Chevyo3

 

it could be doen, but a lot of other combos would be easier. first thing you need to think about is the trans and if you figure that out think about the torque arm.

 

Yes it is possible. Yes it has been tried, with varying degrees f success, sometimes with excellent results I'm sure. Almost anything is possible with enough effort and money.

A bunch of Pontiac fanatics will presently descend on this post and tell you all about how you really ought to do it, and how Pontiac engines are "torque monsters", and how this that or the other specialist vendor "is just about to" come out with a set of headers for this application that he's fabbing up in his garage or something. Take all of that with a grain of salt when it appears. As far as torque, torque is prorportional to the engine's CID, the engine's "thermal efficiency" (mostly a function of compression ratio), and cylinder fill. Engines of similar design (American V8s pretty much are all in the same category in this matter) will typically have the same or very similar "efficiency" numbers, which makes torque at any given RPM a function of cyl fill % and CID. In other words, the gasoline molecules do not peer around themselves and inspect the cast iron, and then respond to the car owner's fondness for the brand name under which the cast iron was poured, and release energy accordingly; rather, the peak torque for a 400 CID American V8 is about the same no matter whether it's a Chevy, F*rd, Chrysler, or whatever, if the compression and camshaft and all that is similar... probably within 2%.

Now that we've got past the monkey-spank that you're going to hear on this subject, let's get to specifics. Between the Chevy and Pontiac engines, the trans is different; the exhaust is considerably different; mounts for accessories are questionable; and the Pontiac motor weighs quite a bit more than a Chevy V8, which puts that much more weight on the nose, and degrades handling by a corresponding amount. Hood clearance is anybody's guess depending on individual parts and your motor mount fabbing.

That "free" engine will probably end up costing you more to put into our car than going out and buying a Chevy 350 and putting it in, and may or may not run any better. I think this falls into the category of "if you have to ask, it isn't the right thing to do". If you were one of the Pontiac people that know those motors intimately, and have parts for them, and know the combinations of those parts that really sing, and are otherwise prepared, it could be a real fun thing to do; but for someone without all that, a cross-brand motor swap is more a can of worms than anything else.