brand new 350 ram jet motor swap

[starbai]

On our 81, we want to get some more power from it without doing any major fabrication. Upgrading the techonology making it a little more streetable.

We're taking it in for paint ina few weeks so we figured if we're gonna do anything to this motor, now would be the time to do it.

We heard about sdparts.com from powerblock TV on spike.

From there we called to get some ideas etc from thier staff that seemed pretty helpful.

We wanted to go with a Fuel Injected motor, didn't want to mess with a carb, this car will be pretty much daily driven.

They suggested a 350 RAM JET ($5000) and a 700R4 Transmission ($1900) with Torque Convertor.

We're pretty much learning here as we go. Any suggestions for our criteria and whether or not this is a good way to go?

ANY INPUT would be greatly appreciated.​

 

[KANE]

On our 81, we want to get some more power from it without doing any major fabrication. Upgrading the techonology making it a little more streetable.

We're taking it in for paint ina few weeks so we figured if we're gonna do anything to this motor, now would be the time to do it.

We heard about sdparts.com from powerblock TV on spike.

From there we called to get some ideas etc from thier staff that seemed pretty helpful.

We wanted to go with a Fuel Injected motor, didn't want to mess with a carb, this car will be pretty much daily driven.

They suggested a 350 RAM JET ($5000) and a 700R4 Transmission ($1900) with Torque Convertor.

We're pretty much learning here as we go. Any suggestions for our criteria and whether or not this is a good way to go?

ANY INPUT would be greatly appreciated.​

Go with Tuned Port on the 330HP HO 350. Torque is what you feel and TPI produces gobs of it. You'll need a Vortec base.

I also think TPI looks better than the RamJet.

 

[bossvette]

the ramjet 350/700R4 should be a straight forward swap it uses a compact controller mounted on the engine for ease of installation. I've seen several at shows and have not hard any complaints.

 

[Tom Bryant]

bossvette has done a few tune port retrofits so he knows his way around this stuff. EFI is a mystery to me. I'd follow his recommendation to go Ram Jet just for the ease of plug and play installation. I have also seen several of these at shows and the owners rant about how easy it was to do with everything in one package. I was thinking Ram Jet for my '69 stepside at one time but built a carbed 355 instead just because I wanted to use up a bunch of stuff I had in stock.

Tom

 

[minifridge1138]

I think the 350/700R4 would be a good setup. One thing to consider is that the 700R4 will not be a direct replacement for an '81 Vette. However, the 1982 Corvette used the 700R4, so you can just buy parts for the 82. I know you will need a new drive shaft.

 

[Glen Braxton]

The GM Ramjet would be the way to go from a technology stand point, plus it looks much better than a TPI unit, and less hassle to hook up. It also has that old style FI look.


That said, the plenum appears to be rather tall, and I've been wondering if it would fit under a stock hood of a C-3. Has anyone seen a Ramjet in a C-3 with stock hood?

 

[Art Jett]

All the catalogs I've seen say---"won't fit under a stock corvette hood" under the Ramjet motors.

 

[tyly]

think it would fit with the LT-1 style c3 hoods?

 

[Art Jett]

think it would fit with the LT-1 style c3 hoods?

Not a clue Art My TPI is actually about 3/4" shorter than the stock carb and air cleaner.