Hello please help. I am new to firebirds but not new to the streetrod world. I have a 1983 Firebird and was wondering what kinda engine mounts i need. What you mean to clam shell??? Could i buy the mouts from a dealer?? How about the transmission. I was originally thinking doing a Chevy 350 motor, turbo 350 tranny and beefing up the rear axle. Does that make sense. Then my friend came along who knows firebirds and tols me to put a 400 in it. My thought was that the chevy could be built up good with the right parts. This won't be a weekend project. I plan on doing it for quite some time. Please help.


PS I already read the V6 to V8 sway in the engine forum.

Is there a book for swaps????

 

Personally, I wouldnt do the 400 swap. Not worth it at all. As far as the 350, you need to go to an autozone, advanced auto, or whatever is local to you and get the mounts that mount to the cross member. As far as the clamshell that goes on the block, the dealer here wanted a 100 bucks a pair. i scored em at a junkyard for 10. Thats the best way to go. YOu got a long road ahead, good luck.

PS>> dont forget, if you do the th350, you got some torque arm issues to resolve.

 

WAG your friend meant a 400 SBC not pontiac. way too many details to work out for a pontiac swap. the SBC will bolt right up. motor mounts can be bought at any parts store.

 

Like what? He needs motor mounts, headers, and a transmission anyway. It kills me that this board is called "Engine Swap", when it should be called "just put a small block Chevy in it like everyone else".

 

You mean a 350 like everyone else!

 

It all depends on your preferences and the size of your wallet.

The 350 is a pretty straight forward swap, and you can make great power with it. I personally cringe everytime I hear "I gotta 350". Not that I dislike the engine, but they are as common as "I gotta Vette engine".

The Pontiac 400 is capable of making excellent power, but costs a lot more to build and is much more difficult to swap in. The after market is much more limited to accessories also (not that the parts aren't out there, just more specialized and more expensive).

Do what you want to and have fun at it. After all, if it isn't fun, what good is doing it?

 

It makes perfectly logical sense to pay three times more just so you can be cool.

 

nor does it make perfect sense to do the same damn thing every other moron on this board does "just stick a 350 in it"

absolutely nothing wrong with a pontiac motor, imho the pontiacs should have came with them stock..

anyone who disses on a pontiac motor has obviously never ridden in one,or is retarded if they have ridden in one and didnt like it.

built up 455 or 400 the right way,so much torque you wont know what to do with it.

stop being jackasses everyone,350s are great and all but gdamn,who doesnt fuggin have one?

 

BOP TH350s and 400s are practically throwaways at most salvage yards...they Chevy ones typically cost more. Headers are about the same (if you're talking quality headers at least). Motor mounts are about the same as aftermarket for Chevies. The only thing significantly more expensive for the Pontiac is the heads, but the end result is worth it. At one time your argument would have been valvid, but now, with lots of companies developing parts for the Pontiac motors (Butler, KRE, Edelbrock, etc) prices have come down.
My 455 (474) will have about $5000 in it, not chump change, but hardly unreasonable for a 600+ hp,stroker, solid roller cammed (a lot of the expense) motor that doesn't have to twist to the moon or rely on nitrous to make good numbers. Granted, my combination is fairly high buck, but even using the best of everything its still not unreasonable.

(Lt1guy on Redraif's computer)

 

OK, Never once did i dog a pontiac engine. They are great engines. As are the olds engines of the era. Just so happens that our cars didnt come with them. That also makes it mroe expensive to make the same HP. If money is no concern than do it, but once again:
Now as far as BOP th350's or 400's being throw away trannys, I wish I lived where you do. THere were about 3 times as many chevy th350's made as opposed to BOP's, they certainly arent any cheaper here, you will pay an arm and a leg for one.

 

i dont

 

wow someone forgot to take their anti******* pills today didnt they ...lol...i see that you have a 327 and if so then thats a small block chevy so if by your reasoning then why put a small block chevy in your car otherwise your a jackass.......LOL....anyway to the original question if your going to decide between a chevy and pontiac then you need to decide how deep your wallet is and then make your decision the chevy is going to be alot cheaper to build and i agree the pontiac will have more torque than a chevy small block stock but if it were me id drop a chevy small block in it parts are cheaper and easier to come by ...ie. swapmeets and classifieds for headers and all the goodies your gonna need you can buy used instead of having to buy new if going with the pontiac good luck on finding cheap parts ...all in all id sit down and decide what you want and price both engines and all the stuff you need to swap em in that is the most logical thing to do . if you go with a th350 tranny then you will either need to get a kit to relocate the torque arm or buy a kit that attaches a 700r4 tailshaft to the th350 like ljnowell did to his from there everything is pretty much strait forward except the mounts .are you going from a 6cyl. to a v-8 ? if so they mounts will have to be changed for the engine and there not that bad to do at all just get a buddy and take your time ...

 

I guess its like some of the guys from the north who say ac delete heater boxes are all over the junkyards (not here!). I can get any BOP 350/400/200R4 at the local Pull-A-Part for about $50, complete (they don't care what it is, all autos are the same price). Its actually tough to find a Chevy pattern Th400 here (everybody here build Chevies) for a reasonable price. All Th350s are easily found for cheap here...heck, I had a guy give me a dual pattern Th350 recently just to get it out of his garage! Going tomorrow to get another Th400 for Redraif's truck...the 500 Caddy motor we're building for it is almost ready!

 

honestly, it does depend on what you're gonna do. I've spent 3400 on my car, and i don't have exhaust yet, either. just open headrs. I've replaced or soon will replace everything from the radiator to the rear. the only thing still "stock" to this car is the friggin driveshaft. IMHO, if i had done a litle more research, I'd have built the Pontiac motor. it'd have more power, and be something different. are some parts more expensive? sure. you'll need the IA moutns (that bolt to the block) and headrs, and you can get both for ~$650. (www.chiefmanyhorses.com)find a block in the size you want, with a tranny to bolt on, and get to work. Spohn and other companies make gobs of parts to swap in different crap. so the argument that it'll be too hard is pretty worhtless, especially when the original poster said he wasn't new to street rods. so he probably already knows about swap headaches. my vote? if you're gonna spend time, not just throw it together, build the pontiac. I have a feeling once i've built mine, I'll never look back.