How in the hell did you get that too fit??? My little V6 takes up more room than that. Maybe I should just get the wagon a 455 and drop the 350x into my F-body. One of my cars has to get better mileage than the other. I hate and love people like you. You get me thinking and before I know it Im broke. -Matt
I didn't have to make it fit. I just dropped it in. I may have problems with getting the exhaust to run out of the engine compartment correctly. But the manifolds with fit just right without rubbing the fenders. Yeah, I know where some of the wires run to. But some, I don't.
I was thinkin some of them are Prolly gonna have to go on the other side too....No ??? But Hey....WHat do I know ??? All kidding aside - All the best of luck getting this project under power !! When i was 18 I got my First '69 Skylark - It was powered by the wimpy L6 250 chevvy inline 6 with a powerglide tranny. Performance ?? Yeah....If i was rolling down a mountain !! I met the local Buick king who had a hopped up '73 Rivi 455" and a daily driver '74 Estate Wagon with his "spare" 455" in that. Man.....I didn't know squat about performance back then and he took me for a ride in the Wagon and i nearly wet my pants !! Then weeks later he took me in the Riv and i knew right then I'd have a BBB One day under my hood and left foot. Took me 13 years for it to finally happen but it did !! Again...good luck and keep us posted !
Here's what I've been up to this morning and afternoon: http://www.geocities.com/mustang732/images/430inCamaro/engineWideShot.jpg The transmission comes back a lot further than I thought it was going to. It overshoots the crossmember by a lot. http://www.geocities.com/mustang732/images/430inCamaro/transRear.jpg So either I can try and fabricate something to mount it in or just order that kit and wait 3 weeks. I'm also having trouble getting the engine straight and level from engine mount to engine mount... Check out all the current pics here: Pics 427Camaro, did you use a shorter oil filter? I'm thinking I'll need a relocation kit cuz the steering arms get in the way of the filter.
The oil filter that I have on it is about 4 in" long.Maybe 5". It's not that long. So is your engine mounted or just sitting in it? Are those the new mounts, in those pics? If it is mounted, did you have to move the mounts to the front and did you have any problems at all with the exhaust manifolds?
It's just sitting there in those pictures. I've been working on bolting everything down since. They are new mounts from TA Performance that are used to put 400/430/455s in older skylarks. I took me a while to figure out at what position I wanted to lock everything down at but I think I'm there now. The mounts are on the holes that are the furthest in the back of the engine, not the front ones. This makes the engine come forward more than the front holes. I think that's the only way it will work since the back of the engine hits the the firewall if it goes further back. The only exhaust manifold I was concered about is the passanger side one. It's really close to the firewall in the back, but I think I got it positioned where it won't hit as the engine torques. But if it does I could always just cut some of the firewall out. Did you have problems with that same manifold? The rest of the engine has plenty of clearance. Getting the bolts to the mounts through the enclosed crossmember is a big pain... How important is it in getting an engine perfectly straight and not tilted when mounting? I would assume it's not as big a deal to have it rotated since it moves that way when reving anyway, just as long as it not noticable. But what about the centerline of the drivetrain? How important is it to get that perfectly straight? Can the u-joints in the driveshaft deal with minor misalignments?
Yeah, it looks as though I'm going to have problems with the passenger side manifold. I'll just have to wait until it's mounted and see. So you did use the holes, on the crossmember, that are more towards the firewall? I would think that it's pretty important to get the drivetrain as straight as possible. Because if you don't, you might be dealing with your driveshaft falling out quite a bit. That's just my opinion. We'll figure it out though.
I drilled my own holes on the cross member as far forward as I could get the mounts and mounted it that way. The bolts are in the engine mounts now, and I'm going to try and make my own transmission crossmember.
Well I hooked up all the appropriate umbilicals and got it running today...now on to the trans mount...
Geese Wayne, Could you sign up for a new geocities account that does not have such foul lanuage in the URL or change it so no one see's the real URL??? Thanks -Matt :Brow:
heh, yea, sorry, that's left over from my high school days when I drove a mustang...I have since learned my lesson though...as you can see I'm not trying to build up any 302 fords here...
What all did you hook up to get it running? What colors were the wires, and which ones went where? Thanks.
Well actually I was really lucky cuz one of the guys who had the car before me must have had one of those painless wiring kits for it cuz on all of the wires like every 3 inches is a label that tells where the wire should be and where it should go...it's very nice. I could trace them back to the inside of the car if you'd like. So all I needed was the wire that said starter solenoid, battery plus, and ignition hot. I also hooked the power for my fuel pump up to that ignition hot. Man it's nice to have much a simple electrical system instead of tons of sensors and such...I also ran 1/2" aluminum fuel line from the tank to the engine w/ a regulator near the carb. And I was able to hook up the radiator I had for the camaro and I left the mechanical fan on. I got an external trans cooler since that radiator didn't have a trans cooler on it.
My Conversion Kit Is Here!!!! I got my transmission conversion kit today. It was setting in front of the steps when I got home from school & work today. I ate, then opened it. (Mom made me eat first, but don't worry, I did hurry!) Now I have a problem. This kit won't work with my TH400's 9" tailshaft. I have to have a 4" tailshaft housing. So I guess now, I'll have to trade, or buy a TH400 that has a 4" tailshaft, right? If anybody knows somebody that will trade, please let me know. Only for the transmission and dipstick. No yoke, or torque converter included. It does work and is orange, and has a shift kit in it. Thanks. P.S. I'm a high school student with a limited budget.:Smarty:
Hmm, that stinks. Getting that kit was pretty quick though wasn't it? Like 2 weeks? That's sooner than what they said. The spohn torque arm/crossmember requieres short tail as well. Could you take a picture of the yearone piece and post it? I'd like to see what it looks like. I decided to go ahead and fabricate everything(trans mount/torque arm attachment) and it's together now and I guess I can see if it works well once I get the thing driving. I baisically just need to get a driveshaft made and hook up some sort of shifter linkage to get it going. It runs well just sitting there though... You said the yearone part came with shifter linkage? I was told I'd need that in addition.
No, that kit doesn't include a shifter linkage? Why don't you have one already in it? Yeah, I'll post pics as soon as possible. The kit did get here pretty quick though.:bglasses: Hope I can find some short tail TH400 that will work? Will Olds, or Pontiacs 400's work with the Buick 455?
Oh, ok, nevermind, I read your other post wrong. I have the linkage from my riviera but the camaro had a manual transmission and it also doesn't really have much of an interior anymore either...the guys that had it before me pretty much stripped it wanting it to be lighter.
Matt, Check around some local mom and pop trans shops. Some guys that I used to visit at a local shop here told me not to get rid of my long shaft 400s. According to them, you can swap tail shafts and housings. It's worth checking out. If you can find even a bad core you may find a good tail section cheep!
OMG!!!! This is the coolest swap I have heard of or seen in I don't know how long!!!! Buick Power and Torque in an F-Body? How cool is that? My wife has the 455 Formula I have listed in my sig line and it goes like stink! It was only rated about 80% of the Buick 455 same year! Guys, I have got to see the finished product! Go run these things for some time slips and post the results! What are you guys doing about hood clearance? Exhaust systems? Which manifolds are you using? I may have to do this next and leave the 442 out back for later?
