I'm ready to do a 455 transplant in my '71 Skylark Custom. I'm not sure I feel comfortable doing it, so is there anyone in the Mid- Atlantic region that is proficient with everything that I would need and would do the work? I have the rebuilt motor and that is about it. I live in No. Virginia.Reccommendations Please! Pat 67 Skylark 71 Skylark
Pat, if you were close I'd do it for free- but you'd be doing most of the work as I tell you how to do it, so next time, you need no help. Good luck, and take many pictures.
I live in the most southern part of Virginia but I know of a guy in Richmond that is a Pontiac enthusiast and is always restoring one. He could be of a good bit of help and I will try to get answers to problems if you need them.
I don't think you should have any problems as I remember mines was pretty straight forward except for some minor nuances. The motor mounts that I had bought would not fit into the frame mounts because of some tab on them. So I took a jack handle, cut off the "L" part and grinded the other end till I had a giant chisled, then I spent a good hour to two beating the you know what out of the tabs till I broke them off. The slipped right on the frame mounts after that and I still have em in the car over twelve years later. Besides that I had to guestimate at the drive shaft length since I was putting in a short tail th400 tranny. Well the drive shaft was a bit to long and eventually caused the tranyy to self distruct. It stopped shifting and when I pulled the governor there was metal shavings. So once a week I would clean it and change fluid, yes lots of shavings in pan. Eventually it just stopped working. I took off another inch off the shaft, put a new tranny and was good to go. I used the same power stearing set up from the 350 motor and I just moved the tranny cross member back a bit. The frame mounts were a bit of a pain until I used 2 swivels. Still a hassle since now its real wobbly but I eventually got it. So basically I dont see a reason for you not to go ahead and tackle swap yourself. I also did the same swap on my '70 cutlass plus switched over to a 4 speed manual, again not so big of a deal. Good luck and we are here to answer any questions. Allen allioop108@aol.com
