LT280z Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 As a few of you know im building a 327 for my Z and have asked several of the v8 guys for advice....I was having a shop build the motor in the begining that i was not 100% comfortable with so i picked up the motor and took it too a very well known builder in Houston to finish it up. I got a call Friday from the new builder and was very sad when i hung up. My crank is cracked as well as my heads.....I have spent about $1500 on internals(that can be returned) and was going to spend quite a bit on machine work....So today i ran into an old friend from the racing days that i have not seen for a few years. We built his Monte Carlo about 4 years ago and installed a brand new GM H.O. 350 (NAL-12486041summit) motor and a brand new t56...The car is a 1987 ss and was reliable and fun. So after a few minutes of talking he told me that somebody stole the radio out of the Monte and hasnt driven it since(3months ago) because his wife gave him her old car...02Mercedes....(must be nice)........After talking for a few minutes he told me he would like to sell the car since his hot rodding days are over and he doesnt have the room for it in the garage.... How much..........$2500.......and i can have it.......which i think is one hell of a deal since i know what he actually paid for all this stuff and helped him put it all together.......The motor doesnt leak oil or smoke or anything else....Runs strong....So i am tempted to go this route and put the motor in the z the way it is and not modify it at all. I can get the car built and running and always pull the motor later to do a cam and heads. I was just wondering if it would be wiser to use the newly aquired 350 and t56 the way they are and tune the car and complete it in a relatively short amount of time and MOD later....or mod now since its out of the car.........Modding being cam and heads????? After getting deep into the v8 swap i am starting to think that the motor is the easy part and i should focus on all the other things that need to be done before building a real high horsepower motor..... Any thoughts guys????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Personally, I would not spend time building the motor, although a cam change is extremely easy to do, but just install it in the car and mod later once you have all the bugs sorted out in the swap AND chassis. You see, there are so many little things to take care of that people forget about them and then get lost in building and engine while the Z sits and rots... ...people like me for instance Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbk240z Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Then maybe you could sell the Monte shell to recoup some of your investment. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paz8 Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I agree, go for it, put in the 350 and t56, it will have plenty of power to pull around that Z, and having that donor car will make life a little easier knowing you have a working combination. Putting in the engine and trans is the easy part, I have had the engine and trans in and out of my project ZX three times to check for the usual interference with the trans tunnel and exhaust system, I can now install the engine in about 15 minutes by myself. If that Monte SS is in good shape sell the complete car after your done with it, don't "part it out", takes too much of your time. Just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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