caddy 500 (or 454) engine swap - suburban build plans

[FlatBlackBurb]

okay so ive noticed a blatant lack of power coming from my 350 sitting in my 87 3/4 ton 4x4 suburban. The 350 TBI is ok... but i want something with a little more power. besides i get crappy mileage with this anyway, not like a bigger engine is gonna make a difference.

im looking to swap in a caddy 500, 472, or just a 454 into the burb. which of these would be easiest? how much of a power increase can i expect to obtain by doing an engine swap? i have the turbo400 transmission so that can stay in there. my friend matt (you might know him as "lochenjons") told me about a thread telling the best years of the caddy 500, heads, and some other stuff to get for the most power. of corse he didnt know where the thread is, can anyone point me in the right direction? im just looking for accelleration power, more torque, and just more power in general for offroad use. which of these engines would be best for me? and what all is involved, like what do i have to change to do a swap.

is the ecm going to be fine, or do i have to get a new one. and how easy is it to do an engine swap and still have it be smog legal? i plan on getting smog legal headers so i can ditch the manifolds. i dont care if i wont be able to smog it, becausei can always stick my 350 back in when smog comes around, but it would really make things a lot easier.


anyways could someone just give me the low down on this? or point me to a thread that explains what i need to do?

thanks

 

[dyeager535]

If you are subject to CA smog, I'm not sure you can legally put a 454 in your truck, (AFAIK only 2wd 'burbs your year could have a 454, not sure how that would be interpreted) and I believe that goes for the other non-Chev engines as well, since they are all older than your vehicle.

As to the injection, it wouldn't be even close to correct for a non-chev engine, and a 454 would require a bit of work to make happen. Since you are CA, that would rule out a carb swap.

As an edit, you can't be injected and simply swap an engine of different displacement back and forth, certainly not to pass a sniffer test.

 

[Greg72]

The hardest part is going to be the stingent laws in CA.... engine swaps are more trouble than they are worth.

Your best best might be another 350, or maybe a 383 (that looks stock and can still pass the smog checks). If you want REAL freedom, you need to be in a smog exempt vehicle to start with.... pre-'75 is the current law if I'm not mistaken. I lost track once they repealed the 30-year rolling exemption.

You're not the first person to face this, but do yourself a favor and don't become one of those "I'll just deal with smog when the time comes" people.... they always cry the loudest when they realize that they are completely screwed by their "cool engine swap" and there's nothing they can do later on to get past a visual inspection.

 

[boz42]

i dont care if i wont be able to smog it, becausei can always stick my 350 back in when smog comes around, but it would really make things a lot easier.

I think that is a lot of trouble to pass smog. If you are serious about that part, go w/ a 454. The caddy swap required me to change quite a few things in my engine compartment. I couldn't swap back to a chevy engine very easily.

A sbc to bbc swap is fairly straight foward.

 

[Brians89K5]

you can stick a 454 in your burb as long as the engine came out of a vehicle of that year or newere. So if you have a 79 you must get an engine out of a 79+ to pass ca smog. Then you have to set up the smog stuff from that year vehicle and pass the sniffer test for the year vehicle of the engine. Its not to hard at all. You can call the DMV and they can send you in the right direction to pass smog... Then again you can make a friend who will pass you smog for a bill or two? heh.

~Brian

 

[lochenjons]

my friend matt (you might know him as "lochenjons") told me about a thread telling the best years of the caddy 500, heads, and some other stuff to get for the most power. of corse he didnt know where the thread is, can anyone point me in the right direction?

I'm not sure if this is what I was talking about but it mentions '69 heads on '75 block gives 12.5 compression . Close enough to what i was looking for
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=590810

 

[FlatBlackBurb]

hmm yeah im just looking for not THAT much work... and the caddy 500 seems like it would be such... ill see if i can find a 1987 or newer 454 and go from there.

 

[lochenjons]

Yeah I just cant justify all the extra time and money for a cad 500

 

[original balzer]

Be a man slam your thumb in the door grit your teeth and drop a LBZ in it.

If you dont know what a LBZ is please disregaurd the previous sentance.

Balzer