73 z project - found a donor car

[dladow]

I found the donor car for my 350 engine swap - a 1988 IROC-Z Camaro, of all things, that someone had swapped a carb'd 1979 350 from a truck and T350 tran for the 305 that was original. By the time I got it, it had been impounded, bought at a tow auction for $800, then sold to me for $450. The tranny was non-working, but the engine fired up and sounded fine. So at the least I got lots of auxiliary stuff that I needed, like alternator, power steering pump, water pump, electric radiator fan, brackets, HEI distributor.

 

Yesterday we got it home on the flat bed truck, and proceeded to try to figure out what in fact we had bought. Once we put valve cover gaskets on it (someone had put them on without gaskets, silicon only) it didn't smoke, no smoke out the tailpipe, no funny noises at high revs, very smooth idle, very little blow by. So maybe it is reasonably fresh.

 

With the valve cover off, I could see the casting # on the heads is 333882. After some research, found that the 882 heads have 76cc chambers and terrible flow unless some heavy port work is done. They also have a rep for cracking. So I don't think I'll be keeping those. Carb looks good, a Carter 600 cfm 4bbl, but the choke mechanism is suspect. Manifold is aluminum, haven't determined what kind yet. Idle is so smooth I assume that it has an RV type very mild cam. Manifold exhaust. I'm guessing well under 200hp as it sits, but probably pretty good low end torque.

 

Assuming the short block is OK (there's always hope) I may go for Vortec heads, air gap manifold, and headers. If it has flat top pistons, I'll have to figure out what the 64cc chambers will do to the scr. I want something that's pump gas friendly. I could also go with World replacement heads with the same chamber size.

 

Next big job is to yank that engine out, get it on a stand, and take a look inside. Fun stuff!

 

Dave