I have a 305 with a cracked head, the engine has 154 k miles on it and my mechanic says I should just get a newer 305(less miles).

I've decided to put a new 305 in and I was wondering if I could get advice on how hard it is to swap a 305 TBI 90 RS with another 305 TBI.

One mechanic tells me 2grand. One mechanic tells me 800.

Is it such a tough job? also, I don't want to replace the TRANSMISSION.
The transmission is fine, i believe it is the stock trans, It's an AUTOmatic.

Can the engine be swapped without the transmission being touched?

One mechanic tells me you will need to remove the transmission and the engine. ANy help?

 

Hey man! This forum site has been pretty quiet for a while lol, might look for one that is a little more populated. I just happened to be bored at work and looked on here.

You sound like you do not have any mechanical experience yourself, so I'm pretty sure doing the swap is out of your hands? If so, I would be very skeptical about who touches/wrenches on your car. Especially with chevy motors, since they all look the same on the outside, you might not get what you think you're getting. The good thing is that it is a 305 and no one would put a 350 in there instead lol. If you were going the other direction, I would be worried of someone dropping a 305 in place of the 350.

A cracked head does not mean new motor, it means a new head. The problem with that is there are a ton of cracked 305 heads out there. SBC heads in general seem to crack a lot between the two intake runners. A junk yard might actually be your best bet. Look up your local junkyards and ask them about it. They might be willing to swap out a set of heads or even drop in a different 305. That would be the first place you should go for a used 305 anyways. I wouldn't recommend a brand new one, cost would be unwarranted. If you were near me I wouldn't mind doing the swap for you for some beer if you were willing to hang out and learn/do a little yourself. I believe a reasonable price would be $500 labor plus the motor for a swap, since you are doing a basic one for one swap and no mods. Hope this helps man.

 

Thanks for the advice!! I appreciate the reply!! I would love to know how to remove it. I would take you up on that beer too lol. I have the head mechanic for waste management to work on my car. He's great.

I'm buying the engine from a salvage yard with 130k miles on it, eh not really the best for mileage, but i just want the ***** running at this point lol. Then maybe sell it etc.

They run/start it and test it before they sell you it. The mechanic handles the car with care, i trust him 100%. He's also giving me a deal on it. Yeah I just need a basic swap done.

 

I assume you are not worried about performance. Any junk yard should be able to tell you what motor is a direct replacement. They have Mitchell manuals which tells them what year and what other bodies have the same motor. I would also suggest using Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market to track down the best deal on the lowest price used motor.

Now some other advice: You are talking about installing a 30 year old engine that may have been sitting for the last year of more. One of the worst things you can do to a older motor is to let it sit and dry out. Even if the motor have 10,000 miles on it and it was 30 years old and it had been sitting I would tear down reseal the motor. The motor could show no signs of leaking today but it very well may look like a fountain 6 months from now.

Since a large part of this job is going to be labor you should really look at a remanufacture engine, you can find them at Pepboys or any local chain auto part store. I would guess the cost of around $2500 installed.

Installing a used motor can be very simple, in most cases garage don’t even swap part over they just used the part off the used engine. 2K seens very high unless someone found a low miles newer replacement motor. I would expect to pay under $400 for an over 100K, 305 from a yard. It should not take more than 8 hours to swap one used motor with another. In my prime I could do it in 6 hours with a beer in one hand. To me the $800 seems very reasonable.

Just remember this is not a new motor, there is no guaranty how long it will last, it does not increase the value of the car. The used motor blows a head gasket in 8 weeks your screwed.

Whoever said the trans had to come is full of it. I prefer to remove manual trans with the motor simply because I hate lining them back up on the install, I leave the automatic in there. Either way it should not be a big deal. We are talking 15-20 minutes different tops.