New to gbf. Engine swapped help!

[Grandprixpaul]

I have a 1987grand prix, swapped out the 4.3. For a 350 chevy 366hp. Engine and a 350 turbo trans. New everything attached to engine , distributer, mini starter, 180amp alt. And a rebuilt Carter performer car 625 cfm, the problem I'm having is that the car is not holding a charge and I've checked both the starter and the alt twice, can't figure it out , plus I'm worried I have to much to adjust to get it to run like it should, I took it down the street once and it ran slow,!!! Should be flying , but Im not sure how to adjust the vaccum on the trans, the trans kickdown cabel,the distributer and the carb jets set right , how do I know there set right , where do I start? I've had 4 grands prix's this one the fairest I've went with engine swaps so I'm not a virgin at it but I'm missing something, car sounds great and idles great , Other mods right now is jegs trans brace running jegs 2 1/2 exhasst kit went in great , and used cherry bombs welded mufflers sounds , and some auto meter gauges in the dash and a hurst console shifter, ceramic coated headers full length also from jets, trying to do the car right just could use some guidance on what to start on first and one out there that did all this at the same time and ran into problems? Thanks Paul will post pics soon as car get out of storage and at new house.

 

[oldtinsmith]

Grandprixpaul,

Welcome aboard Paul! Looking forward to seeing your pics.

Doug

 

[dogsht]

Might help to get a good solid clean ground body and frame. Sorry don't remember much about the old three speeds as I didn't start modding cars until the mid 80s. Somebody will chime in about the vacuum thingy. No mention of cam but you might have too much for a stock converter. Also if you have stock tall gears something like 3.08s will help the acceleration and still work well with the three speed & the highway.

 

[AlanB]

Sounds like a cool project. I would start with the starting/charging problem first. Once you have that tackled, I would put up a specific post For the other problems with a descriptive title like" TH350 adjustment help" so that those with the knowledge can see the title and hopefully respond.

Anyway, what did you mean by when you said not holding a charge? Is your battery being drained with the key off? Is your alternator not charging ? Your problem could simply be a bad battery. Put a full charge on it and take to the local Autozone or whatever and have them load test it.