Topic: how hard would this be??? (engine swap)

[78t/a_rcr]

How hard/how good of an idea would it be to put a 350 in my 78 trans am??

[Joker (§ir£Ğragon)]

350 Pontiac or Chevy? The Pontiac would be very easy. The Chevy would be harder and more expensive since you have to change everything including the tranny. But it's do-able. Especially since the later 2nd gens came with SBCs.

[Gold78Spc]

Find a similar year camaro with a 305 or 350 and you should have a lot of the parts you need for the change over.... but why would you want to do that you your TA? Stick with the 400 if you have it.

[ta78w72]

In 1978, you could get a 350L on a Formula.  So it should fit the transmission just fine.  Some things are on the reverse side though....like the alternator and the A/C.  The battery on one of those goes on the passenger side and the fuel lines ran up the passenger side.

[Joker (§ir£Ğragon)]

In 1978, you could get a 350L on a Formula.  So it should fit the transmission just fine.  Some things are on the reverse side though....like the alternator and the A/C.  The battery on one of those goes on the passenger side and the fuel lines ran up the passenger side.

They used a Chevy bolt pattern TH350 for those. A BPO bolt pattern tranny won't bolt to a Chevy engine.

[78t/a_rcr]

why stick with the 400? and i was thinking of going with a brand new engine and tranny from Jegs for a about 5K.. this way the car would be alot more reliable i was looking at the 350 that is rated for 330HP which is alot more than the OEM 400 is

[ta78w72]

why stick with the 400? and i was thinking of going with a brand new engine and tranny from Jegs for a about 5K.. this way the car would be alot more reliable i was looking at the 350 that is rated for 330HP which is alot more than the OEM 400 is

Because this is a Poinitac Firebird forum.  The answer you'll get here is to keep the stock 400.  I happen to agree with that because I like these cars to be kept original.  But, if you're not a purist, a 350 is a great engine.  Parts are cheap and you can get a heck of a lot of HP out of them.  As far as HP goes, you can pump up a 400.  Remember, no cars in this era had much HP.  They were still fighting to get into compliance with the smog and fuel economy requirements.

[Gold78Spc]

If your gonna drop all those bucks on a crate motor did you check out people like Performance Pontiac, or Butler Pontiac that specialize in building Poncho Power ?

[78t/a_rcr]

I dont want to keep it stock and I know the 400 was a really underpowered motor because of smog and all those things they had to deal with... I know that the 350 has alot more cheaper horsepower available and can get more HP out of them... i looked at Butler but was a little confused... what would be something good to buy on there??? BTW the engine I plan on buying is a Chevy 350 with 330HP complete engine for about 3,000 and the tranny is a TH350 for like 7 or 800... the rest of the 5000 that I plan on spending right away was for suspension

[Gold78Spc]

Yeah, their site is pretty confusing.  Maybe call them, tell them what kind of HP your looking for and then ask how much to build it.

[bad76]

You should be able to get that kind of power out of the 400 for around $3500.00 at any dependable engine shop. As far as Butler goes, they are way to high priced for everything they offer. Stick with the pontiac motor. 

[rkellerjr]

Stick with the pontiac motor. Just think, your sitting at a show and someone asks, "what's ya got in there" and you say, "a chevy 350" and they respond, "a chevy engine in a pontiac?!"  Re-build the 400 and people will be amazed, "Wow, a pontiac and it still has the 400 in it!  That's rad dude!"

[78t/a_rcr]

ok so after thinking about some things i'm kind of leaning towards rebuilding the 400... now for another problem... where can i get a good rebuild kit for it???

[Gold78Spc]

Summitt Racing should be able to put something together for you.

[bad76]

Drop it off at a shop for the machine work and let them find the parts.