Quick question, I picked up a free 1976 Camaro. Anyway, the body is literally shot. The front end suspension is completely worn out, I can practically wiggle the two front wheels apart.

The engine that's in there right now is a 1974 Chevrolet 4-bolt 350 V8 from a 1974 Chevy Impala Police packaged car. I checked the VIN and engine stats on this engine, and apparently this is the "185 hp" version of the 350 4-bolt V8 from 1974. I forgot the torque output, but I think it was close to 300 foot pounds.

Anyway, the transmission currently in this engine is ALSO from that same car, which happens to be a TH-400. It's the Turbo Hydromatic 400 that's ALSO the Police package edition (pulled the vin, it's from the same 74 Impala). Apparently, the only difference between the police package one and a normal TH-400 is that it has a larger cooler, coolant lines and pump, and the casing is re-enforced.

The other good part of this is that the HEADS on the engine are from a completely DIFFERENT car and were cast in 1971. The heads apparently came from either a 400 cubic inch H.O. V8 from a full sized Chevy Pickup or from a 327 cubic inch Chevy Corvette.


Now, when I got this car, it didn't run. This guy gave it to me for free. However, he bought close to $2000 dollars worth of parts for it. He had in the mean time, installed a Crane CompuCAMS cam-shaft, crane "Gold" roller rockers, a better oil pump, had the transmission rebuilt, BRAND NEW in the box, Edelbrock Performer NON EGR Intake manifold, and a BRAND NEW in the box Edelbrock 1405 600cfm Edelbrock 4bbl Carburetor. It also has a Holley electric fuel pump installed in the gas tank. Oh yeah, it has a set of Hooker Headers with collectors. I'm not sure though how that's going to work considering that they were made for a 2nd gen, and not a 3rd gen.

Anyway, with all of the things I mentioned, any idea what kind of power I'm looking to get?


As far as I know, the standard hp rating for this particular engine, assuming it had the right heads, would be 185hp, I forgot the torque rating, but I remembered it was close to 300 foot pounds.
Considering that it has an aftermarket crane cam, Gold roller rockers, headers, edelbrock Carburetor and Intake manifold as well as heads from a 327 Corvette.. any idea what kind of power it should be putting out now? Oh yeah, did I mention I got it started? The throttle and tranny cables on the car are bad, so I can start it and let it sit at idle.

Any idea what kind of times I can expect with it in an 82 TransAm?


Thanks!!!!!


Todd

 

The block is just a block... nothing special. The pistons are probably dished if they are stock, that woul dbe a good thing to know.

There's no such thing as a "400 HO", a 400 SB in a truck in 72, or a 72 Vette 327. So the most important single element in characterizing what you've got, the heads, is a mystery. Get casting numbers and any machine work, and post that info and we'll see what we can do.

Same for the cam: there's a whole bunch of those cams. Find out which one it is, if you can. Being a computer-compatible one, it's not going to run as good in a non-FI application as it could. I'd suggest yanking it and putting a better match to a non-CC-carb setup in there, such as a Comp XE series.

You're right, the headers will not fit. Not even close.