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engine swap time - need advice

andyblack

andyblack

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Grovania, GA
It's time to swap engines since mine is smoking and not running too great anymore. My current engine is a stock '85 305. I have a TH400 behind it. I don't want to rebuild it, so I've been looking for a 350 Chevy to replace it with. There's a guy who wants sell me an entire '97 1/2 ton 2wd Suburban with a 5.7 Vortec for $700. He says it was running when he bought it "but it skipped". I haven't heard it run but I let up the hood and everything looked to be there except for the A/C compressor and serpentine belt.

Does this sound like a good candidate for my swap (assuming it runs)? How hard would it be to do it? I'll have the entire truck so I'll be able to get any wires/sensors/whatever off it that I need. What should I look for on the Vortec engine? Is this engine any good or should I just keep looking for an older carbeurated 350 that would be a more direct swap? (Those things are getting hard to find.) What about transmission compatibility? I want to keep my current TH400 and not try to run the 4L60 that's surely behind the Vortec in the Suburban. Would this be a problem?

Has anyone performed a similar swap?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.
 
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You could use that engine with a Vortec carburetor intake.

Martin
 
IF that motor and trans runs, which is a big IF, it would be sweet.

But, id run the combo as is, and keep the injection. No reason to do extra work to take a step back to a carb.
 
I suppose an intake like this is available from Summit or some outfit like that? Would that eliminate the need for the computer and all that stuff? I mean $700 for the whole Suburban sounds like such a good deal since I can part it out afterwards, but only if the engine is worth mentioning.

Oh and my carb is about shot too. Would the intake manifold you mentioned work with a Holley Truck Avenger carb?
 
dhcomp said:
IF that motor and trans runs, which is a big IF, it would be sweet.

But, id run the combo as is, and keep the injection. No reason to do extra work to take a step back to a carb.
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I thought about that, but this is a 2wd Suburban. I don't know why I said it was a K1500 to start with. I just want an engine that can bolt right up to my trans/t-case with minimal hassle.
 
"runs but skips" would scare me away from it...could be a lot more than just a simple tune up to fix that problem...persinally I'd look for a old carbed engine,its a lot easier to deal with ,putting back what you removed,unless you like making a lot of work for yourself...making newer engine work in old trucks is entirely possible--just be prepared to spend a lot more money and time to get it done..the "upgrades" might not be worth the hassle to some folks..
 
What is your budget?

Its hard to beat a GM crate motor, free shipping on jegs.com

Not your highest performance, or cheapest route, but its very reasonably price, and you know it will go in without too many hassles.

Plan for a rebuild of your carb, replacement of all the tuneup/wear items, and you'll be good to go.
 
diesel4me said:
"runs but skips" would scare me away from it...could be a lot more than just a simple tune up to fix that problem...persinally I'd look for a old carbed engine,its a lot easier to deal with ,putting back what you removed,unless you like making a lot of work for yourself...making newer engine work in old trucks is entirely possible--just be prepared to spend a lot more money and time to get it done..the "upgrades" might not be worth the hassle to some folks..
Click to expand...

That's been my philosophy, but I'm finding it quite difficult to find a carbureted 350 around here believe it or not. What used to be the most common V8 out there is almost extinct now.
 
dhcomp said:
What is your budget?

Its hard to beat a GM crate motor, free shipping on jegs.com

Not your highest performance, or cheapest route, but its very reasonably price, and you know it will go in without too many hassles.

Plan for a rebuild of your carb, replacement of all the tuneup/wear items, and you'll be good to go.
Click to expand...

I wanted to stay under $1000, thus the $700 Suburban. :D
 
If it is a 97, then the motor mounts would bolt right into your existing mounts, so no worries there. The reason why people say to keep the combo of motor/tranny is because those tranny's are electronically controlled, so if you want to get rid of it, you have to go through the harness to delete the tranny controls and re-flash the computer. Another thing to try to identify is if the intake gasket is leaking (very common on those years vortec's), but that might be hard to tell if it hasn't run in a while. Normally you can see some coolant hanging around where the intake manifold mates to the heads.

As someone who is getting close to done on a TBI motor swap from a donor truck I bought too, I can say if you really are just looking for the easiest swap possible, and you don't care too much about fuel injection, you just want it to run, than try to find another carbed rig, or even GM creat motor. You could probably do that swap in a weekend and be running on Monday. But if you want fuel injection, know that it will just take some time to get it working correctly in your rig (and probably a little more money, depending on the situation)
 
There's also a guy here in town who runs a little shop that says he has a running TBI 350 from a '91 and claims he can install it in my truck for $1000 or sell me the engine for $500. What would it take to get this engine running in my truck? Are there intake manifolds or adapters that could let me run a carb on a '91 TBI engine?
 
Yes, but I would swap to TBI before putting a carburetor back on it. The only reason I mentioned putting a carb on the Vortec is because the Vortec EFI setup is kind of silly. If you were going to try to swap that mes in, you would me much better off swapping in a 5.3.

Martin
 
This is not the first negative thing I've heard about the Vortecs. I've only heard good stuff about the TBI and the 5.3s.

Is it true that the TBI can run without a computer or oxygen sensors and stuff?
 
82355 said:
Yes, but I would swap to TBI before putting a carburetor back on it. The only reason I mentioned putting a carb on the Vortec is because the Vortec EFI setup is kind of silly. If you were going to try to swap that mes in, you would me much better off swapping in a 5.3.

Martin
Click to expand...

^^This.

If you have access to a TBI motor, than that might be a good route to go. And if you don't want to do the leg work to get it running, might be a good route to go. But TBI trumps carb in my book
 
andyblack said:
That's been my philosophy, but I'm finding it quite difficult to find a carbureted 350 around here believe it or not. What used to be the most common V8 out there is almost extinct now.
Click to expand...

Same here,unfortunately..often you cant find just a engine,and the only way to get a running one is to buy a whole donor truck (which is better ,then you can test it out usually--buying an engine sitting on a floor in some craigslister's garage is a risky proposition--so is a salvage yard one that has sat months since being pulled)--only drawback to that is the "donor" truck is often in better shape than the truck I'm buying the engine for--and I end up not wanting to cut it up for parts!.:doah:.(and its often a 2wd,if it was a 4x4 it'd be a no brainer to just swap trucks,not engines!)...

If I were more "up" on later tech and engines,I'd not be so down on installing a later model engine & electronics into an old truck..I can only advise about what I'm familiar with and done myself..I'd be very intimidated if I tried doing such a swap--but then,I was not exactly confident when I did my first "direct" swap,or put a 454 in place of a 350 either..but I managed to do it !..
 
I'd find a vortec 350, 4 barrel intake and slap it in. Re use your existing acc drive as well.

On my k5 I swapped a tbi 350 that I put a 4 barrel intake on, it was actually fairly decent power wise when I swapped in the 3.73 gears. Nothing wrong with that route either.
 
That sounds like the way to go for now. Do you remember where you got the 4 barrel intake from?
 
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