Crate engine

[87 442 manitoba]

I honestly don't care if is chevy or olds just want a easy swap and a clean engine bay. It's a daily driver. The reason I want a sbc is because I heard it bolts right in and does not have enough powers to screw up my trans.

 

[original442]

i have an 86 442, I took out that 307 and replaced it with a '74 olds 350. now that was a direct bolt in
i used just about whatever i need from the 307 to put on the 350...i know im gonna need to beef up that 200r4
but its not my daily driver...

 

[454muscle]

I honestly don't care if is chevy or olds just want a easy swap and a clean engine bay. It's a daily driver. The reason I want a sbc is because I heard it bolts right in and does not have enough powers to screw up my trans.

As far as needing a beefier transmission and rear end bla blah blah forget all that. That can be done LATER, I'm sure you are thinking the same thing. If you put a high output motor in it doesn't mean you're gonna go drag racing the next day and break it. I'm sure you're smarter than that. It's common sense that you would go easy until the rest of the car is up to par.

Also,if your current engine is a SBC, then an SBO will not bolt to your current transmission, because the bellhousing is different.

Having said that, I think this is what you want/need:

GM Crate Motor (you can't get any more reliable than a motor built by GM)
SBC 350 GM Performance P/N: 19210008
Complete engine, carb to pan
330 horsepower
380 ft. lbs. torque
9.1:1 compression
Summit Racing Price: $4,129.95
Can get it from your local GM dealer too.

Parts used in this engine assemblies are 4-bolt main 1-piece rear main seal blocks, nodular cast iron crankshafts, powdered metal connecting rods, Dished cast aluminum pistons. Installed camshafts are hydraulic flat tappet with .435 in. intake lift and .460 in exhaust lift with duration at .050 in. for intake is 212 and 222 for exhaust with a 112.5 lobe centerline. Standard Morse link timing chains are installed. Cylinder heads are Vortec cast iron style with 64cc chambers; 170cc intake runners with 1.94 in. intake valves and 1.50 in. exhaust valves. Stamped steel self-aligning rocker arms are used for reliability. Aluminum dual plane with EGR capability Vortec style intake manifold with a Holley 600 cfm vacuum secondary with electric choke help feed the engines. Spark plugs, HEI distributors are included. Cast iron long style water pumps with standard "V" belt rotation threaded for 1979-89 power steering pump brackets. Standard 8 in. balancer and 12 3/4 in. flexplates, along with chrome air cleaner, and standard cast aluminum thermostat housings with driver side hose connection and a 180 degree thermostat. This kit also includes the oil filter, oil filter adapter, PCV valve, PCV hose, oil dipstick, and tube. Does not include starter, fuel pump, fuel pump push rod, or the fuel pump adapter plate.

 

[Blake442]

I honestly don't care if is chevy or olds just want a easy swap and a clean engine bay. It's a daily driver. The reason I want a sbc is because I heard it bolts right in and does not have enough powers to screw up my trans.

Yes, the SBC bolts in after you change the motor mounts, but after that, EVERY single part is different!
Many people over-look this fact when planning their swaps, and it ends up costing them a great deal of time and money to get all the correct pieces that they need.

Asking "how hard is it to swap a motor" clearly says that you've never done it before, so save yourself the headaches of changing everything and just put another Olds motor back in it.

Another flaw in your logic is that you want more power than the 307, yet are settling on a SBC because you think it won't have enough power to wreck your current transmission.
Well, my stock 307 burned up two stock transmissions before it threw a rod... Plan on a transmission rebuild anyways.

Not trying to sound like a dick, just trying to save you some major headaches, and some money...

 

[FE3X CLONE]

As far as needing a beefier transmission and rear end bla blah blah forget all that. That can be done LATER, I'm sure you are thinking the same thing. If you put a high output motor in it doesn't mean you're gonna go drag racing the next day and break it. I'm sure you're smarter than that. It's common sense that you would go easy until the rest of the car is up to par.

Seriously? :lol: The whole point of a person putting in a larger engine is for the power. I can tell you there's just about NO ONE on this board that could just "baby" a newly installed engine so that they didn't blow up their trans, let alone someone still in high school. 😉
My 455 had the TH-2004R slipping within 3 days after being installed. And that was just at part throttle acceleration. It lasted a year before 2nd gear started slipping so bad that it didn't want to upshift.
But it was terrible to drive daily like that for an entire year. Great I had a nice engine but the car was slower than a civic because the darn trans was toast.

As far as NRE engines, those are no where close to a $5000 budget so we really shouldn't be steering him in that direction. It's nice to show what's possible but that 632 monster is a $54,000 engine! Heck, their daily driver naturally aspirated engines start at $14,500.

The easiest swap would be to another Olds engine. But as said, any larger engine is going to require trans mods.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Also,if your current engine is a SBC, then an SBO will not bolt to your current transmission, because the bellhousing is different.

He should be okay if it's a TH-2004R (which it should be). They were dual bolt pattern.

 

[454muscle]

Seriously? :lol: The whole point of a person putting in a larger engine is for the power. I can tell you there's just about NO ONE on this board that could just "baby" a newly installed engine so that they didn't blow up their trans, let alone someone still in high school. 😉
My 455 had the TH-2004R slipping within 3 days after being installed. And that was just at part throttle acceleration. It lasted a year before 2nd gear started slipping so bad that it didn't want to upshift.
But it was terrible to drive daily like that for an entire year. Great I had a nice engine but the car was slower than a civic because the darn trans was toast.

As far as NRE engines, those are no where close to a $5000 budget so we really shouldn't be steering him in that direction. It's nice to show what's possible but that 632 monster is a $54,000 engine! Heck, their daily driver naturally aspirated engines start at $14,500.

The easiest swap would be to another Olds engine. But as said, any larger engine is going to require trans mods.

What are you talking about? His 2004R should be able to handle the NRE 632 without ANY modifications at all.
Lol just kidding 😛 -- I only threw that bit in cuz it looked really cool. But they do make customized engines for customers suited to their needs/wants.

My first GP had a 2004R and it went through 2 engine swaps, and the final SBC350 300+ HP engine was driven hard for 1.5 years (I was young at that time too!) and the transmission never had a problem! S'all I'm sayin'

Also,if your current engine is a SBC, then an SBO will not bolt to your current transmission, because the bellhousing is different.

He should be okay if it's a TH-2004R (which it should be). They were dual bolt pattern.

Now that's something I didn't know. Learn something new every day...

 

[Lue]

I have a 87 olds 442 with a 307. The 307 runs fine but just has no balls. I'm still in high school and don't have a ton of time to do a engine rebuild or build up. I'm thinking a crate engine is the answer. Got a 5000 dollor budget. Any opions on a crate engine and also how hard is it to drop an engine in?

I ended up going the crate Engine route (GM part #12499711), and can say it was a learning curve for me. It first went in to my 78 Malibu (viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6143) , but got in to an accident after (around) 1500 mls. I couldn't tell you if it was that hard to install, sense I payed a shop to drop it in for me ( emberesed ).

The second time around (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10353), I gave it a try to do my first swap. Depending on how much knowledge you have your way around cars , it can become a lengthy project. Like many onthers on here said, there's goes a lot of planing, prepping, calculating, in to a swap.

 

[SScamino]

I had my vortec motor in my car for 3 months and the trans blew lost all gears and wouldn't move, bough a completely rebuilt th350 with all the good stuff and wow such a difference in how the motor felt, I'd just do a good stock rebuild on your trans and do a SBO 350 your exhaust will be fine and you'll have fun, and should do it for the money you have if your good with budgeting your money, keep it olds!

 

[axisg]

Throw a set of headers and true-dual exhaust on the 307 and drive it til it dies. It'll wake it up quite a bit.

Put the rest of the money towards building a nice Olds 350, 403, or 455...

x2. If you stick with an Olds motor the swap will be easier. Make a phone call to your local engine builder and see if they have an 403 motor gathering dust on the shelf. A 403 will swap in place on your 307 much much easier than switching to a SBC. YOUR TRANS WILL DIE A PAINFUL 2ND GEAR SLIPPING DEATH, PERIOD ! The 200R4 was not built to handle any kind of power so start looking for a replacement 200r4 or 700r4 with some work done to it to handle the power.

The first 3 shortcomings of the gbody is ( 1 motor,2 trans,3 rear ). You already have step 3 covered in the 8.5 rear in the 442 so once you spend the $$ on a replacement trans and motor you will have the drivetrain upgrades covered.

To me $ 5k should just about so it. It will run $1500 CDN appx to beef up your 200r4 trans ( the 442 has one of the desireable valvebodies so get your trans rebuilt with good parts ). That will leave you $3k budget for a mostly stock 403 ( do some research before you drop the $$ ). With $500 left over for new belts, hoses, and reworking the qjet to feed the new motor.

I wish I had $5k as a high school kid, let alone $5k to drop into a car. My first 3 cars were all $50 beaters one step away from the scrap heap !