carb'd 408 in a 4th gen?

I am considering selling my truck and building another Camaro. I have a 408 small block sitting at home ready to go into somthing, and it would make a really unique, really sweet ride in a 4th generation Camaro. I know that some modification would be in order to fit a distributor on top. How would the rest of the engine go in? Being that it is externally balanced, with a special flywheel, how would it mate to a t56? Please, nobody complain about me wanting to put a carburator on a newer car. I like the simplicity and cost of a carburated engine.

John

Might as well get a V6 car if you want to throw that motor in it.

The biggest problem is the externaly balanced flywheel. That is going to give you a problem. Best thing to do is get a LT1 flywheel and have it matched to the flywheel on your 408, might take some heavy metal but it's the only way to do it without tearing the motor apart.

As for the distributor, a MSD Crab Cap distributor will solve that problem.

Bret

I was looking at the crab cap distributors last night and I thought they might work. Is there anyway to internally balance the 400? So a machine shop should be able to take an lt1 flywheel and form it like the 400 flywheel to work with the transmission? Does anyone know anybody who has ran a carburator on a 4th gen? Or for that matter, anyone who has a 400 block in a 4th gen? (fuel injected or not)

John

Would a BMR K member work with an aftermarket oil pan? I have one of the 7 qt. pans. This motor was in a third generation race car, and was pulled out and rebuilt .040.

John

Yeah it should work without problem.

I was looking at the crab cap distributors last night and I thought they might work. Is there anyway to internally balance the 400? So a machine shop should be able to take an lt1 flywheel and form it like the 400 flywheel to work with the transmission? Does anyone know anybody who has ran a carburator on a 4th gen? Or for that matter, anyone who has a 400 block in a 4th gen? (fuel injected or not)

John

I'm currently gathering up my parts to convert mine to carb. Unfortunately though it's going to have to be an "over the winter" project so I wont be able to help too awful much in the form of "gotcha's" until prolly mid winter/early spring. I'm toying with the idea of running alcohol too, so I'll be breaking some new ground there I s'pose. I'm planning on putting up a little site about the conversion as it comes together. ;-)

Oh, one QUESTION that I can pose here... As far as cowl clearence goes, I've been looking at an MSD pro-billet small cap. Does anyone have any good data on whether the crab cap is >= the small cap version as far as crosstalk and scatter? ignition box will be an MSD 7 most likely..

Dave C.

Im finishing up that swap right now. Car used to be a v6. Now its a 383 with a t56. Are far as flywheel goes, centerforce makes the one im using. Its for t56 and 2pc rear main. You can find it at summit. I went with bmr k member, fitment is great. I had to cut the cowl back and i went with a mallory unilite distributor and there is plenty of room. I cut the cowl away above the distributor and welded in side walls to stop rain from coming in. This way i can still remove my cap. You dont need an expensive trigger/cap combo in my opinion. Lt1 flywheel will not work on that motor if it is 2pc rear main. The flywheel i ordered was a counterbalanced model. I then took the flywheel, balancer, and crank to a machine shop and the balanced it there. My car was going to be an auto so i took my old flexplate and he matched the flywheel to it. Im using the engines stock water temp, oil pressure, fan switch, starter ignition, alt wires, vss for t56, and i tapped my distributor to run to my tach. Every other wire will be done away with soon. This way all of my gauges will work and my fuel pump will kick on when it senses oil pressure (just as it does stock). Its a little more difficult to swap it into a v6 than a z but it can be done. Only reason being the lt1 uses a distributor and the gauges are calibrated for 8 pulses/rev for the tach. I will swap gauges and i tapped the pink wire from firewall for coil ignition power. Any other questions feel free to ask.

Heres a picture of where i am currently. Just need to bolt on front accessories, put on headers and plug wires then its ready to go.

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=38262

Lowbgtrs

is it possible we can could a few pics the work you did on the cowl area to prevent the rain from coming in? im still kicking around ideas of how to reconfigure mine,


thanks,
-john

i have a 400 in my 80z. I wanted to put a t56 in mine but the bell housing doesnt fit. I read in a magazine though that they sell bellhousing for this type of swap. They were putting one n a 3rd gen.

Camaro_Guru16NY:
As soon as i take the carb carb off to rebuild it i will shoot some pictures for you. ITs nothing special, basically flat pieces of metal about 1.5" high boxing off the hole i cut out.

As for ryan80z, the bellhousing should fit fine if its from an lt1. What is the problem?

i had a fidanza flywheel for an older 2 bolt main SBC, only difference between that and my LT1 flywheel was crank bolt pattern... still had the same counter weight, so you should be able to balance out a flywheel to what you need.

Camaro_Guru16NY:
As soon as i take the carb carb off to rebuild it i will shoot some pictures for you. ITs nothing special, basically flat pieces of metal about 1.5" high boxing off the hole i cut out.

As for ryan80z, the bellhousing should fit fine if its from an lt1. What is the problem?




ok thanks a bunch,

-john

Good info guys....