crate motors for my vette

[hotshotzny]

after months of struggling with minor problems and countless scraped up knuckles i have given up, i have decided to yank this slug of a motor out of my 82 vette and drop in a crate motor, anyone have any suggestions as to where i should start looking and does any one have any opinions or knowledge about the stock tranny on the 82 and waht it can handle.. im not looking to build a rocket but i am looking for a little more power than what i have right now

 

[KANE]

after months of struggling with minor problems and countless scraped up knuckles i have given up, i have decided to yank this slug of a motor out of my 82 vette and drop in a crate motor, anyone have any suggestions as to where i should start looking and does any one have any opinions or knowledge about the stock tranny on the 82 and waht it can handle.. im not looking to build a rocket but i am looking for a little more power than what i have right now

If you want a motor to grow with.... something that will be easy to upgrade, then here is what I'm doing.

I'm looking at the GM 290hp motor. It is a steal at $1800. True, the cam is a wee bit big for it, but that means it will be easier to add better heads to it when I have more time. For now, I want more power- but I'm really not sure about the I want on it heads (lots of choices). So, it will be a series of stages and the 290 is a great starting point (4 bolt main). Car Craft built one that churned out a lot of power so its a great foundation for future work.


Otherwise, you have lots of choices and lots of motors for lots of $$$.

 

[milo30]

engine swap

I'm looking at the same thing for my 78. I haven't made decisions on anything yet but have a couple of posts out there and getting a few responses. Here are a couple of good places to start as far as a crate engine goes. I'm still looking for more and weighing the options.

Mr. Goodwrench
GM performance parts
enginefactory.com

As far as a trans I'm looking at replacing mine for an overdrive.
let me know what you find out.

 

[silver 80]

DarkShark is right that is a steal for the price you couldn't get yours rebuilt for that price, at least not here in Madison. I went with the ZZ4 it ran great when I had the carb on it, but I'm going to TPI.
Tom

 

[Glensgages]

after months of struggling with minor problems and countless scraped up knuckles i have given up, i have decided to yank this slug of a motor out of my 82 vette and drop in a crate motor, anyone have any suggestions as to where i should start looking and does any one have any opinions or knowledge about the stock tranny on the 82 and what it can handle.. im not looking to build a rocket but i am looking for a little more power than what i have right now

a good 5 HP Briggs & Stratton might be too-much for the wimpy 700R4:
swap it out first (or have a later-generation 700R4 built ), and THEN decide what power-level you want/can-afford, or you'll spew thransmission fluid all-over the road.

 

[hotshotzny]

i had that feeling about that trans but wasnt exactly sure....

 

[hotshotzny]

If you want a motor to grow with.... something that will be easy to upgrade, then here is what I'm doing.

I'm looking at the GM 290hp motor. It is a steal at $1800. True, the cam is a wee bit big for it, but that means it will be easier to add better heads to it when I have more time. For now, I want more power- but I'm really not sure about the I want on it heads (lots of choices). So, it will be a series of stages and the 290 is a great starting point (4 bolt main). Car Craft built one that churned out a lot of power so its a great foundation for future work.


Otherwise, you have lots of choices and lots of motors for lots of $$$.

thanks for that, i am definetly going to look into that..... any particular website you looked at for the particular motor you are talking about or was it right from gm

 

[Glensgages]

thanks for that, i am definetly going to look into that..... any particular website you looked at for the particular motor you are talking about or was it right from gm

In June '07, Chevrolet High Performance magazine took the 290 HP crate-motor (which actually made 315 HP outta the box with an RPM Air Gap intake & 650 Holley double-pump carb ), added GMPP Fast-Burn heads and the CC 270H cam, which resulted in 385 HP:
I think their total expenditure was $3800.

Here is the 290 HP long-block

http://paceperformance.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=84482

and here is the short-block

http://paceperformance.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=183227

 

[Tom Bryant]

If you are going to change the heads and cam the short block is the only way to go. Sounds like a good combo. I had about $1500. in the last 355 I built in parts and machine work alone. I built it on a 4 bolt block I had and ported my own heads so you can see that if you have to pay a shop to do the assembly and everything it would cost much more to build than to buy that 290 horse with a warranty.

Tom

 

[minifridge1138]

Keep the 700R4. There is nothing wrong with that transmission. They can handle 400+ HP and run in the 10's in the 1/4 mile. The 700R4 has more aggressive gears, but the 1982 has a wimpier rear axle ratio.

Here is a chart of gear ratios:
___________First_____Second__Third__Fourth
TH-700R4___3.06:1___1.63:1___1:1___0.70:1
TH-350_____2.52:1___1.52:1___1:1___N/A
TH-400_____2.48:1___1.48:1___1:1___N/A

So all things being equal, you'll get better acceleration and better mileage with the 700R4 than you will with the other two.

A good place to read about automatic transmissions is www.bowtieoverdrives.com They have a lot of information about various transmissions.

As for the crate motor, i can't help much. There are a lot of choices. I'd say set your budget and get the most bang for the buck! Are you planning to keep the crossfire?

 

[Whiplash]

I went with this 350 and couldn't be happier. My friend went with the 383 and loves it. I met the owner of the company that builds these motors and he's got a great background. I lost the link during the move but the one below gives you the specs. PM me if you want me to dig into the direct contact.

http://www.yearone.com/pco/P_0407/0004.asp

 

[76 Sting]

I went with this 350 and couldn't be happier. My friend went with the 383 and loves it. I met the owner of the company that builds these motors and he's got a great background. I lost the link during the move but the one below gives you the specs. PM me if you want me to dig into the direct contact.

http://www.yearone.com/pco/P_0407/0004.asp

Wiplash's engine is a piece of junk actually the car is alsootfl

Just kidding man you have a sweet ride and you know it

Jon is correct. I have their 383 thanks to him. However, I also had their 350 create for a few months and it is a hell of an engine. You will not find a better deal than the YearOne 350 Create period. I challange anyone to find a better deal.

There are a ton of folks using their engines on the vette forum's. They may be labeled Hitech or Year One, but Derebery is making most of the engines for them..http://www.dpmpower.us/contact.htm.

Jon and I know them well and have visited their location several times.

Great folks and awesome service.

 

[oceangal]

Are you keeping the crossfire set up? I decided to keep mine, to keep it unique. Whether that is a good move remains to be seen.

Good luck I bet its going to be a much more fun ride when its done. I am a bit nervous about finally stepping on the gas when all is said and done on mine.

Albeit late I got my motor from this guy:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEV...209192447QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250209192447

I did get a 383 stroker motor I dont remember now what all the extras where and I went with the X-Ram manifold.

Hopefully by May I will have a review on the motor. I did get a new tranny and stuck with the 700R4 and just like the motor I will have to wait til May when everything is in. We did get a new rear end, I forget the ratio now.

 

[Whiplash]

Wiplash's engine is a piece of junk actually the car is alsootfl

Just kidding man you have a sweet ride and you know it

Jon is correct. I have their 383 thanks to him. However, I also had their 350 create for a few months and it is a hell of an engine. You will not find a better deal than the YearOne 350 Create period. I challange anyone to find a better deal.

There are a ton of folks using their engines on the vette forum's. They may be labeled Hitech or Year One, but Derebery is making most of the engines for them..http://www.dpmpower.us/contact.htm.

Jon and I know them well and have visited their location several times.

Great folks and awesome service.

:eyerole If I want that kind of abuse I can get it a home

 

[Victory Red C6]

I would wait for the LS9 crate engine and look for a tranny that will work worth it.

 

[milo30]

LS9 would be nice but it will be too expensive. The LS7 is $1200.

 

[Tom Bryant]

That 383 high torque from White Performance looks like a lot of bang for the buck and 92 octane friendly.