Ok, I have my dynomax catback, and I know a lot of you have it. How much do you think that a muffler shop would charge me to put it in? Also, I got beat by a 93 3.1L Cavalier today. Anyone have any ideas on that? We're both the same level driver, and both have automatic's...so I dunno. One more ? (thought I had more). Is it possible to do a 454 Big Block conversion? I know if I go to a V8 I have to change tranny, computer, front springs, and beef up my braking to be safe, and since I have like 3 454's sitting in my back yard, 1 of which is ready to go...I was wondering if it was possible without haveing to do any cutting.

 

on the caviler thingie, i was once beat by a cavi, Z24. His little motor revved up way higher than mine did, and he didn't hit second gear for a long time, but that was also while my motor was about to die. The key would be that their car is most likely not as heavy as ours. as for the 454,i always thought it would be a killer setup in a 3rd gen, but don't know if it'll fit. I've heard that length wise we can put damn near anything we want in the cars, even a 400, but i don't know if it'll clear the struth towers. That's all i'd be worried about. And you also might not need the comp. being it's a carbed motor. but on the other hand, now that i think about it, people do have 502's in their maros and birds, so you could probably do it. Once again, it'd be a killer setup, real bad *** . Imagine the T.Q. numbers.

 

Not all 454's are carbed....the ones I have are TBI Anyone know if it'll definately fit?

 

I'd imagine they'd charge too much. Why not do it yourself? It should take a day. My first two installs took a while, the third one was easy as heck- by now, I realized that if I drop the rear axle down to the ground, the old exhaust pulls straight out- no more "hang the pipe over the axle" fight.



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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

Tom...what do I need to do to let the rear axle hang?

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92 Bird 3.1L Auto
Best $750 I ever spent....

DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT!

Kills:
93 Mustang LX (Before Mods)
AIM name OVRCLCK350

 

Come on, someone has to know if a 454 will fit in a thirdgen.....

 

Yes...It's one of the more common engine swaps (other than a 305 to 350 or 305/350 to 400). Scope out the "Motor Swap" Board and do some searching.

 

the camaro performance handbook has pictures of both an MPFI 454 and a carbed 454. both were factory project cars. they also put an LT-5 corvette engine in a project car. it looks BADA$$! the 454 fits, just buy some damn good spark plugs.

 

Ovrclk, it sounds bad, but it's not. First, you need to raise the back of the car up on jackstands on the frame rail that's right in front of the rear lower control arms. Those are on the extreme left & right side of the axle, and they tie the axle to the frame. Right in front of the control arms is a square spot on the frame. You raise the car up using a hydraulic jack on the center of the axle, and slide jackstands under the frame. Then you lower the axle so the frame rests on the jackstands- but leave the hydraulic jack in place while you:

1. Remove the tires
2. Remove the track bar (21mm & "deep" 19mm sockets), also called a panhard rod.
3. Unbolt the rear anti-sway-bar's end-links. If you have to cut the old ones off to remove them (rusted solid), now's a good time to put in Energy Suspension ones
4. Un-do the lower shock-to-axle nuts. You might need to use a back-up wrench on the other side of the shock-to-axle bolt to keep it from spinning.
5. Lower/raise the rear axle with the hydraulic jack until you can tap the lower shock bolts out of the axle. (There's a point in the axle height where the shock will be "at rest")
6. Lower the axle to free the springs, taking care not to let the axle hang up on the lower shock bolts
7. Remove the springs, they won't be under any tension anymore
8. Check out your body-to-axle brake hose. You'll have to undo the bracket (one bolt) that holds the brake hose/line to the car body. Keep an eye on this in the following step; you don't want to hang the axle from the brake hose cause you'll snap it!
9. Lower the axle to the ground.

Now, all that's left is to-

1. Undo the intermediate-pipe-to-catalytic-convertor-bolts
2. Remove all heat shielding above the muffler
3. Unbolt the muffler hangers
4. Pull the muffler/I-pipe/tailpipes out from under the car
5. Slide the new stuff under
6. Repeat 3-1 backwards

Oh I asked a friend what they charged him to put a stock exhaust on his Monte Carlo, it was about $100 (excluding parts).


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!