Before you do ANY swap, check your local laws to see what they check for with your annual smog inspection. I have NO inspections of ANY kind in Florida, so I can do what I please unless I really piss off a cop. You probably can't since you had an environmental Nazi in Republican clothing as governor at one point. You may be required to keep all factory emissions controls. Now, within that, you can probably get away with a setup like mine by making a few minor changes. I originally did all of the research as to what a 305 Monte Carlo had and equipped my car as such, but substituting a 355 instead of the 305. Since you have a 1978 model car, it would be technically legal, even in California, to put a 350 in place of the 305. Why? Well, GM made a 350 powered Malibu with the 9C1 police special service package back then, using the LM1 350. You would need all of the proper smog equipment for the 305, however. Also, the Quadrajet you have is the same one I have on my car since mine is off a 1979 Chevy van, and the distributor on my car is from a 1977 Chevy Caprice, so it should be the same too. The Q-Jet can be made into a 750 or 800cfm unit with 30 seconds and a cutoff wheel (it's a 600 now), and you can also recurve the distributor to your liking too.
Oh, and my 355 cost me $1700 for the long block, assembled by a local machine shop with new heads, cam of my choice, compression of my choice, etc. It was a few years ago, but I could do something similar today for around $2,000-2500. I used a 305 intake, and all of the computer crap (it was free since it was left over from a friend's car) initially, along with a $35 used trans and converter. My car even has a cat and 50 state legal headers. I think I spent $4,000-5,000 when every last little thing (plug wires, belts, hoses, filters, lines, brackets, fan shroud, fan and clutch, radiator, spray paint, etc.) was added up and the transmission was rebuilt. Your swap would be much cheaper since you are starting with a SBC V8 car to begin with. I will also say that my swap was done with the odd parameter of pizza delivery as a requirement. I was driving it 40k+ miles a year back in 1996 when it was done (wow! it was 12 years ago?), and had only a few minor hiccups. I broke 2 cheap Chinese rockers and bent the pushrods because of that, plus I had a leak in the air injection system which caused it to go lean and pop through the carb. Unfortunately, being a delivery car 6 days a week precluded me really taking the time to troubleshoot every issue. I bought a new car for delivery in 1998 and had the car running much better within 2 weeks of taking it out of service. It also blew the junkyard trans which I had rebuilt for $550 including a shift kit. I have had 4 carbs (electronic Q-Jet, Edelbrock 600, Buick Q-jet freebie, and the current Chevy van Q-jet that I found newly rebuilt in a junkyard after a 6 month search) on the engine until I arrived at my current setup which I have yet to set up fully as the car has been driven maybe 3 miles since it's installation (it's in paint hell right now). Just remember that no matter how good you are, or how well you plan, things are going to go wrong. Have the time and funds available to iron out your minor issues and you will be able to enjoy the car for many years with few problems.
(I have since swapped the cam, intake, carb, and rockers to come up with what I have in the car right now. The cam and lifters were $150 (I think), intake was $15, Rockers were $170, and the carb was $30)
Oh, and my 355 cost me $1700 for the long block, assembled by a local machine shop with new heads, cam of my choice, compression of my choice, etc. It was a few years ago, but I could do something similar today for around $2,000-2500. I used a 305 intake, and all of the computer crap (it was free since it was left over from a friend's car) initially, along with a $35 used trans and converter. My car even has a cat and 50 state legal headers. I think I spent $4,000-5,000 when every last little thing (plug wires, belts, hoses, filters, lines, brackets, fan shroud, fan and clutch, radiator, spray paint, etc.) was added up and the transmission was rebuilt. Your swap would be much cheaper since you are starting with a SBC V8 car to begin with. I will also say that my swap was done with the odd parameter of pizza delivery as a requirement. I was driving it 40k+ miles a year back in 1996 when it was done (wow! it was 12 years ago?), and had only a few minor hiccups. I broke 2 cheap Chinese rockers and bent the pushrods because of that, plus I had a leak in the air injection system which caused it to go lean and pop through the carb. Unfortunately, being a delivery car 6 days a week precluded me really taking the time to troubleshoot every issue. I bought a new car for delivery in 1998 and had the car running much better within 2 weeks of taking it out of service. It also blew the junkyard trans which I had rebuilt for $550 including a shift kit. I have had 4 carbs (electronic Q-Jet, Edelbrock 600, Buick Q-jet freebie, and the current Chevy van Q-jet that I found newly rebuilt in a junkyard after a 6 month search) on the engine until I arrived at my current setup which I have yet to set up fully as the car has been driven maybe 3 miles since it's installation (it's in paint hell right now). Just remember that no matter how good you are, or how well you plan, things are going to go wrong. Have the time and funds available to iron out your minor issues and you will be able to enjoy the car for many years with few problems.
(I have since swapped the cam, intake, carb, and rockers to come up with what I have in the car right now. The cam and lifters were $150 (I think), intake was $15, Rockers were $170, and the carb was $30)
i meant OVC
