Hello, as the title says i have a bunch of questions. for 2 different camaros. i have an 87iroc and 88iroc convertible both 305 auto's. So im gonna start on the 88 since its being worked on right now. i have to drop the engine to it back in. and i've been noticing some cut wires. so i bought a haynes manual of a buddy for 10 bucks. well the book sucks. so i was wondering if anyone can give or send me to a place with a good schematic of the engine compartment harnesses, with pictures would be nice. anything to lookout for while dropping the engine back in? Now to the 87. im putting a 350 in it out of a 75 k5 blazer, i plan on about 400hp 400tq ball park. i figure that easily accomplished at a decent cost. with this much horse what will i need to do to the rest of the car so it can withstand it. tranny rearend etc. and what do i do with the tranny? i've seen em bolted up to old sbc's but what do i have to do like wiring wise and for the kick down. i may be asking to many questions at once. but thanks for your time.

 

For the wiring, look here: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=19

On the swap ...

The engine will bolt to the tranny just fine. If you are keeping the TPI you won't have any issues with the TV cable to the tranny - it will all be just as it was before. You'll just need a 350 chip for your ECM, and a 350 knock sensor I believe.

If you are going to a carb setup, you'll need the proper geometry corrector for the carb you choose (this connects to the carb linkage and corrects the geometry for the TV cable).

You'll need a new bracket for the throttle/TV cables, and I think you'll need a new TV cable for a carbed or TBI car (I think I've read that the TPI cables are too long or something).

Then you'll need a method of locking the torque converter in the tranny, since there won't be any computer controls any longer to lock it - there's a sticky in the carb forum about it.

To get your hp numbers, your going to need heads - the 70's 350 heads had large combustion chambers and were not performance oriented - most of these 70's 350's made 245hp (some less).

And don't be surprised if you get it all together and find that the tranny slips with the new 350 - my 305 did fine, but when I swapped in the 350 my tranny instantly slipped badly - the tranny was obviously on it's way out, but you can't tell with the 305 as easily.

 

i plan on going carb. so not to sound like an idiot but what is this TV cable that your talkin about? is it the other cable that goes with the throttle cable. i was told that i was going to have to invest some money into the tranny anyways to get it able to handle 400 hp. so i plan on a rebuild kit/shift kit but not sure on what to do to beef it up to make it stronger. what about the connector that connects to the driver side of the tranny? or dont worry about the connector.

 

The TV cable is what you referred to as the kickdown cable. You just have to start calling it the TV cable - the technology changed on you

It's called a TV cable instead because ... TV stands for Throttle Valve - the Tv cables are much more sensitive and function much differently with respect to the tranny than the old 'kickdown cables' did. The TV cable acctually determines the shift points - all shift points, whether upshifting or downshifting. The old kickdown cables just made the tranny drop a gear (a downshift) when the throttle was pressed so far.

Thus, it's very important that the TV cable be adjusted correctly, and the geometry of it get set correctly, etc. Otherwise, a tranny can go bad in as few as 2-3 blocks of driving from a mal-adjusted TV cable.

As far as the rear end goes, you should be ok there - the stock rears don't handle a ton of abuse, but since you are auto tranny there won't be any clutch dumps really - it's the dragstrip guys with sticky slicks and 500hp with clutch dumps that kill the stock rears.

A good rebuild on the tranny will handle 600hp, so you are fine there.

The connector in the driver side tranny - this ONLY serves to lock the torque converter (TC) - this is done with signalling from the ECM - since you are going carb, there won't be any ECM, thus no signalling, thus no lock up of the TC - when the tranny gets built, before install into the car, just put in a lock up kit - they are simple to do (especially when trannt is out of the car), about $100, and they function by use of a manual switch, a vacuum switch, or both. The locking of the TC helps keep the tranny cooler at highway speeds, and saves on gas mileage as well. What happens is that a solenoid is set at a certain speed, that forces as much fluid as possible into the TC - since it's overflowing with fluid, there's no TC slip, thus the drivetrain is 'locked' with the motor. A new lockup kit will have a new connector, along with a new solenoid, some simple pigtail replacements for inside the tranny, and the vacuum switch. I don't like the vacuum switch operation myself - just didn't feel right to me when my vacuum got to the point of locking the TC, so I just use the manual witch and I just lock anytime I'm above 50mph and don't anticipate stopping anytime soon.

Another thing I forgot - fuel pressure. Your TPI pump in the tank is way way too high of pressure. You'll either need to drop the tank and replace the fuel pump with a carb pickup so that you can use a mechanical pump on the block, or you'll need to get a RETURN-STYLE fuel pressure regulator to use with the existing intank fuel pump (like the Mallory 4309 regulator). You cannot use a 'deadhead' type regulator (there's too much pressure and the intank pumps have to have fuel returning through them to keep them cool and functioning), and you cannot draw enough fuel through a non-working intank pump.

Hope that helps.

 

Tons of good info here:

https://www.thirdgen.org/technical-articles

https://www.thirdgen.org/faq

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/carb...c-control.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/carb...nk-pickup.html

And of course is your friend - there's tons of swap threads here from other folks that have done it!

And PM me anytime, I'm glad to help if I can!

Oh, Read this about the tranny changes in mid year 1987, and determine which tranny you have beforehand:

https://www.thirdgen.org/replace-700...c-transmission

 

hello. thanks for all the url's tons of info that should help in my build on this car. but i was talking to a buddy who i didnt know but is a third gen fan. has a couple of them. he's lookin for the 700r4 that i have and he has a t5 tranny. which at first i didnt think it was possible to get a 5 sp on my budget but he's willing to trade straight across. but what im worried about is that the t5 wasnt available on the stock 350. so is there a budget way to fix this tranny up to hold what i want hp and tq wise?

 

If you swap with your bud you wont have a 5-spd very long. There are not many success stories about the T5 behind a 350, there is a reason why GM never put one behind a 350. Look for a T6 from a 4th gen.