I bought a 91 grand trans am for cheap a while back as a project. From the moment i drove it i knew some **** was different about this car. It was completley straight piped. It has a 3 speed with a shift kit and ratchet shifter. It was rediculousely loud @ 3k cruising the freeway. Theres a edellbrock carb and manifold where the fi should be. The electric fans have been swapped?? for a mechanical set up. So, I replaced the whole brake system cleaned up the z06 rims put a flowmaster 44 on and got it running pretty well, but i'm curious to know how can i figure out if that's even the l98 350 that the car came with from the factory?
What is the least expensive way to build on this platform? It's a toy to mash in.

 

Post up a picture

 

ill take one tomorrow durring the day and post it

 

Found this in my gallery, this is it.

 

Looks like a carbed small block chev
L98 have TPI.

Is it a 305 or 350? You'll need to get a casting number or the suffix number off the block since they all look the same on the outside.

 

Where are the casting numbers located on the block?

 

At the back of the block behind the drivers side head. Kinda hard to see but with a flashlight amd a mirror you can see them. Look for lg 5.7

 

V-belt swap, clutch fan swap, Edelbrock carb swap..... all I see here is fail. They took off really excellent parts and put $hit parts back in their place. Whoever did this should be flogged with those v-belts. Sadly I don't think you will find success under all that fail.

GD

 

With the center bolt valve covers there's a good chance it's an l98, at any rate it's at least an 87 or newer block. Id bet it's the original.

 

What do you guys recommend i do to it?
i looked for the brain. Its been harvested along with the other stuff. Would it be cheaper to go back to fi or upgrade the carb set up?

 

Looking at the pictures someone deleted the smog pump and the ac pump on the left side of the engine. Dont run that motor anymore until you get the altenator mounted correctly. The waterpump,alternator, and ps pump are all still the serpentine system style. You need to remove the manual fan and go back to electric then install the smog pump/ac accessorie mount and install the delete pulleys and put the correct belt and tensioner back on it. Get that sorted then go from there.

 

according to Casey, there is a stamp on passenger side of block, up front, where it meets head. You can see if engine was mated to a Firebird and if it is VIN matching.

 

I think you can restore the serp belt system without installing a smog pump or A/C compressor. There is a pulley available to replace the smog pump. I believe there is also one to replace the A/C compressor. You'll have to look for those. You still need the passenger side accessory bracket. Whoever did all this to the L98 must have been afraid of EFI. Sad really. They probably ruined or just tossed all of those parts that are becoming more rare and valuable everyday.

 

At one point I was surprised by things like this but then I realized someone too stupid to use EFI is probably the kind of person who will downgrade the car to make it "oldschool"

 

pretty"Hick"under that hood,but I have seen far worse "hack"jobs on thirds before-this one might actually run pretty decent and strong what would be really funny is to see something like this under the hood of a 4th gen-carb converted,TH350 swap,mech flex fan,chrome P.A.W. air cleaner or "triangle of death" poking out from under that overhanging 4th gen windshield base Back to subject vehicle,isn't that a standard rotation W/P with the fitting on top-turning backwards?