Alright so down the road my plan is to swap a bigger v8 into my 89 rs. right now i'ma run the 305 till i have enough for a build on a bigger engine. Now i'm familiar with swaps into imports, which require a crap ton of work. I.E new tranny,rear-end,blah blah. So sumed up i'm wonderin what fits into the 89 without severe cutting and welding. Some i'm fine with but i don't wanna do something that i cannot fix. Like cutting the wheel well completly in half. So some input from the experts is needed please. Like a quick intro on what entials to a big swap and what is common,what is difficult. My personal opinion is trying a 454, lemme know what yall think. thanks for lookin

 

sorry for the double post, but if anyone has any input on a ls6 or ls1 swap lemme know.

 

Biggest you are going to go without major surgery is a 350 or a 383. Third gens dont have much under hood clearance and were engineered for SMALL block chevy's. Im sure it can be done, but not without major work.

 

it all comes down to how much money do you have?

Seriously, you can stuff a big block under the hood, you see tham at the drags. But, you won't be using the stock front end and you'll be doing some fabrication.

The questions that only you can answer

how long can you be without the car during the upgrade process? (here's a hint, you'll need lots of time and a daily driver during the process)

How much money are you honestly willing to drop into the project within a 3-4 month period?
(at some point, big ticket items get purchased together)

what are your goals? Please don't say that you want POWER or a big honking engine. Are your goals to have a strip only vehicle? Is it to have a street legal vehicle that can on occasion run (fill in the #, 13's, 12's, 11's, 10's) at the the strip ?

If you say 13's, then the next question is must it be a 3rd gen? I'd say sell the car and just go find a bolt on LT1 or an LS1 4th gen and you have a 13 second vehicle.

Or, if you want to keep the 3rd gen, do you want it to be reliable? If so, then just finding any old engine found on craigslist wouldn't be prudent. You'll need to go crate motor.

Again, only you can answer the question because only you honestly know how much money you can spend and how long you can be without the car.

 

thanks for the input, i'm leaning twords 350 after all the reading i've done.

 

go 383, you wont regret it

 

well i know where a 350 with 30,000 miles on it is with a power glide behind it. for a whooping 800 bucks. i tink tat might work better, but i have learned to research........research...make a dumb comment....research and BOOM. finaly make smart chioce.

 

you use that 350 for the 383 lol... its jus a 400 crank

 

If its a 4 bolt main and its been thoroughly checked, then yes it may be possible to use that block and correctly machine it to accept a 400 crank. There is more to it than just the crank....

It sounds like you are on to something with that 350. Don't assume its any better than your 305, until its been checked over. Also, scrap the powerglide. Stick with the 700R4. You will have to make a new crossmember, shifter, plus relocation for torque arm...etc. Plus, no gaurantee your driveshaft (length) will work with that trans.

 

Scrap power glide?!?!?!!? I was under the impression that power glide was the best chev tranny avialable? pah can't spell today. I'm also wondering how difficult it is to switch a 350 from carb to tpi or fuel injected. also wondering if its within the real world realm to swap the 305 tbi to tpi for less then an arm and leg? 383 crank huh..