Ok, I know this is a forum for Camaros, but I need serious help with this, and can't find it anywhere else.

I have an '88 Firebird, stock with the 2.8L/173CI engine, and want to put a CHEVY 350 into it. It's possibly going to be carbed (there the only ones I can find around me, and I can't afford a new one). So far my guesses at what I'll need to have changed modified are:

Radiator (duh)
Mount conversions
Exhaust
Wiring (computer possibly?)
Bellhousing/tranny in general (4 sp OD auto currently in it, I think it's the 700R4 (right?))
Fuel pump
Coils on the front, need stiffer ones?

This is my first engine conversion at all, and being only 17 I'm not to engine smart yet. I've been in and out of a '69 Camaro for drag racing, and have done some work on it, but it's not the same. Here's the engine I'm looking at:

Out of an '85-'87 (not sure which year) Scottsdale, 350CI, carbed.

What will I need to do? I know this is very vague, but as I said, I'm brand new to swapping engines, and my dad who has done it, doesn't wanna help out to much. If this have been asked before (which I'm guessing it has), please just point me in the right direction, and I'll try to get everything I need to find out.

Do you need any other info about anything to help you? If we can do a one-on-one type thing, where you e-mail/IM me daily/weekly with help, that would be wonderful! Well, I'll await a reply, I just totally lost my train of thought. Please help a 17 year old get a screamin' Firebird!!!!

Ray

 

Congrats on the 'Bird and welcome to the board. There's a lot that goes into an engine swap especially when you're going from a V6 to a V8. Here are a few tips off the top of my head:

The front springs are different. Get some out of a V8 3rd gen (305 or 350 doesnt matter) along with motor mounts. The radiator might be the same but I doubt it, might as well get it just in case.

The Scottsdale carb is gonna be a computer controlled Quardajet....which leads me to recommend putting an Edelbrock on the motor before you even try to start it up. I don't like q-jets (computer ones especially.) If the truck motor has a computer controlled distributor ditch that too and get a mechanical/vacuum advance HEI distributor. That way you won't have to deal with taking the computer out of the truck and wiring it up and it eliminates quite a few sensors and wires which makes the install much easier.

The truck exhaust manifolds aren't going to fit in the f-body engine bay, and the V6 exhaust is short a couple cylinders, so you can either get the stock exhaust out of a junkyard car or go ahead and spend the money on headers. I'd go ahead and get the headers, but if you're cash flow impaired then that may not be possible (in which case I'm gonna have some stock manifolds and y-pipe out of a 350 car for sale in about a week.)

The 2.8 tranny won't bolt up to a V8. The bellhousing pattern is too small, and even if it did fit it wouldn't hold up to the power. Tranny's are easy to find, a TH700-R4 is probably your best bet. The rear will be fine and the driveshaft may or may not work, I'm not sure on that one. Your fuel pump will be fine but you need a regulator to bring the pressure down to something the carb can handle (5 or 6psi.) Get one with a return port...it'll make the pump run cooler and last a lot longer.

That's it off the top of my head...hope it helps.

 

if you do a search here you'll come up with a lot of info. Just a couple weeks ago I spent quite a long time typing out all 300 reasons why it's a huge waste of money and time. You can also do a search on thirdgen.org and find 2 or 3 thousand similar threads.

I had a 350 built sitting on an engine stand waiting to go into my 2.8 car, and when I realized what a headache I had ahead of me I sold the car and used that money to buy a V8 car to swap my motor into. Unless you have an entire, complete V8 thirdgen right there next to you to pull parts off of, forget about it.

I also wouldn't even consider using that scottsdale motor unless you completely go through it. That motor may have put out as much as 170 horsepower. I can't even imagine going through all the work of a V6 to V8 swap just to wind up with a car with the same power as every TBI and LG4 camaro already on the road. A stock TPI 305 camaro or firebird can be found very inexpensively, and will make more power and be faster than a car with that truck motor in it. By the time you buy all the crap you need, including all accessories like the power steering pump, pullies, alternator, and that sort of crap, plus the stuff you already know about like the transmission, springs, radiator, you're going to be into this for a ton of money and come out with a slow car. On top of all of that, you're still going to have the 1-legger rear differential, so plan on another $300 for a posi diff. The costs just go up and up and up.