few opinions on drive train setup

[snowman]

well i'm goin to see if i can find the paper i saw those 400's in and give them a call. I'm not sure if i want to go all out on them as far as build goes. maybe an intake and cam, and redo all the seals, and some headers of course.

Thanks for your help

 

[82355supreme]

The 200-r4 would hold up behind it unless you go crazy on power. However, you say it's getting weak. Weigh your cost/options on rebuilding the 200-r4 VS an already done TH350. I can tell you that you won't want gears over a 3.42 if you go with a TH350 if you drive the car on the highway for long stretches.

Even if the one 400 is running, rebuild it. All your time & effort will be wasted if once it's in the car 100 miles down the road it $hits the bed on 'ya.

 

[snowman]

ok, just re-read the ad, one is a pontiac 400 (needs rebuilt 200 bucks) the other is a chevy 400, doesn't say if runs or not for 325 would the pontiac work? it says its out of a 67 firebird, and from what i read they made their own motors for the firebirds and didn't use chevy ones.

 

[N.O.S SS]

Pontiac wont bolt up to your 200r4,But take my word for it you wont be dissappointed with a 400 chevy.It will suck you right back in the seat with not much work.

 

[82355supreme]

CHEEEEVY,CHEEEEVY,CHEEEEVY!!!!!

Don't mess with a morphedite Pontiac (now I'll catch Hell from loyalists)
The only issue with a 400 is heads & head gaskets. The gaskets need to have the steam holes.

 

[snowman]

well got a call from the guy with the chevy 400sb, he said it ran when they pulled it out of the car, wasnt sure what it came out of. when they first started it it kinda puffed a little smoke but that was it. he said they took the manifold off to see how things were underneath and everything looked clean, he said it was from a 70-76 car, wasnt sure if it was a 4 door or 2 door, i think his dad did most the work. but 325 bucks, you think i should do that instead of rebuilding my 305 then? i think it might be a good idea, little more costly but this way i can keep my car moveable till the motor is done and do everything at once and have only minimal down time (tight on parking round my house, so would be nice to be able to move if i have to.

oh if anyone wants to buy a 72 triumph spitfire in the iowa area, i got one for sale

 

[RocketMan83]

Sounds like it needs valve seals, which is an easy/inexpensive fix. I would go with the 400 for sure.

 

[82355supreme]

Snowman, get the 400 Chevy. However, like I stated in a previous post.... rebuild the whole thing. Don't cut corners just 'cause "some guy" says it runs fine, just a little smoke on start-up. You'll kick yourself in the A$$ if she grenades the first time you wind it up.

Here's my personal experience. I got my donor engine from a VERY good friend of mine's old farm truck. A '76 GMC 3/4 ton, 350 4-bolt, steel crank with 80,000 original miles. engine ran great, no smoke on start-up, idled smooth, no misses, nothing. Well, I considered your idea too. New cam,intake,headers & carb, & leave the bottom end & heads alone. Yea right!!!! As soon as I tore the intake off, all I could see was 30 years of sludge covering everything. I then decided to take the heads off & discovered the cylinders were ridged so bad that the .030 over-bore just cleaned them up, almost had to go .040 OR .060 Another thing to remember is these 70's era engines have a PATHETIC comp. ratio of 8-8.5:1 if you're lucky, & big combustion chamber heads (76cc) Which is fine for turbo or supercharging, but without you better get some flat tops or domed to get the CR up to at least 9.5:1

Sorry for the long rambling, but I just don't want to see a fellow rodder F-himself by trying to save a few dollars. :wink:

 

[snowman]

yeah i think i'm goin to go for the 400, i figure either go big or go home it will take quite some time to get everything inline, but they guy also has a recent rebuilt th350 transmission, i'm goin to see if i can get them both for 550 that will solve many problems but i planned on doing a complete tear down of the 400 and takin it to the machine shop and have the heads and block cleaned and checked. I dont want to F-up on my first build real bad . my main thing is i want to try and do all i can on my own. so should be a big learning experience. And thank you guys for your help thus far, i'm sure i'm going to need more later haha. once i am done, there isn't a car within 30 miles of me that will be able to touch it. only thing around me is mainly new GTO's and some transams with not a whole lot done to them. and not much for ricers really either, cept the guys that thrown a wooden wing on and a coffee can on the exhaust

 

[snowman]

well never mind on the 400 its gone, so back to scratch, i figure i'll wait on the motor. I'll start from the ground up, with suspension and rear end and transmission and stuff, then do motor, since this one runs still. thanks for your help