Blown engine in 78...time for swap..

[joshs78sleeper]

Yep...on saturday i blew my engine. My dad needed my help to move in sacramento (Im in the bay area). I told him I didnt think the corvette would make it on the freeway that long and I didnt really want to drive it. Well he really needed my help so I went up.

My tranny has been on its way out for a while. Its fine around town, but on the freeway it decides to downshift to second without notice. It had done this about 2 or 3 times that day, and i just kept putting it into neutral and back into drive real quick to fix it. Unfortunately the next time it decided to due it, the engine redlined, threw a rod, and i had to pull off the road with a ton of smoke billowing out.

Well looks as if i no longer have a numbers matching vette...because I saw coolant and oil so Im assuming it cracked the water jacket pretty bad. Theres a nice big 2 " hole in the driver side of the oil pan.

Its no big deal though, I was planning on putting the new 350 in soon, but financially didnt expect it just yet.

Just figured Id share

 

[qwall]

sorry dude.........i remember when that happened to my talon, belt snapped and the head just warped.........so how much is it gonna cost you to put in that 350? are you gonna do any mods to it? what set up you'll be running? keep us posted

q

 

[joshs78sleeper]

Well luckily i already have a 350 pretty much built...ill include my signature in this post with details. Now i have to decide on the tranny too. My other post talks about it but basically i can get a richmond 6 speed for free and im trying to decide to go with that or just throw in another th350 or 700r4. Id really like the 6 speed, but not sure if i can tackle the project.

 

[qwall]

richmond 6 speed for free and im trying to decide to go with that or just throw in another th350 or 700r4. Id really like the 6 speed, but not sure if i can tackle the project.

are you getting 700r for free too? and if you take the 700 what are you gonna do with 6 speed? i'll take it off your hands if its reasonable

q

 

[joshs78sleeper]

Well...no. The richmond would be free...but not the others...thats why Id like to put it in...just not sure yet. Still investigating how much it will take.

 

[cruzer99]

I was going to offer up a fresh 350 with a turbo350 I pulled out of 34 3 window. I put in a TPI 305 and 700R4 which is why the 350 is avail. but sounds like you have it covered. Saw that you were in Sac town and so am I.

 

[joshs78sleeper]

Thanks for the offer, but ya I have it pretty much covered. Its gonna cost me a little bit to complete but thats alright. The engine should be putting out about 400hp.

Now I just have to decide on the tranny. How big of a deal was it to put the 700r4 in? Thats one of my options. As stated before, I might be getting a richmond 6 speed for free...but im not sure yet if I want to try and tackle that project. If not its probably gonna be the 700r4 because i dont think i can live with the th350.

 

[cruzer99]

You will be in love with the 700R4 but do put a shift-kit in it, I'm sure I don't need to say that.........

 

[MoeJr]

As long as there is no holes in the block just save the original engine and you still have the matching numbers motor available if you ever decide to sell it. I doubt you hurt a water jacket. Probably just blew the head gasket bad. If you use a 700R4 u will definitely want a good shift kit and the special "Vette Valve" that allows full throttle in OD. Also make sure you have a 2400-2800 stall converter to give the car good off the line acceleration with the somewhat big cam you have. That 286AH cam has a very narrow powerband and will won't really come alive till 3000 RPM or higher. A bit high for the street IMHO. Keep us posted.

 

[RLP]

Just go to the engine rebuilder and get a long block for $650.00 and you are on your way.