I was wondering if anyone can tell me how hard it is to swap a 326 for a 400 in my 67. The 400 came out of a 74 Friebird. I am swapping out the powerglid for a th350. Any help would be great. Thanks
Not hard , but a 74 is not that powerful, maybe no more hp than the old 326? unless you build it at the same time....I have a 72 400 in mine , but w improved heads etc... engine wise its a direct swap, motor mounts etc fits...right Q? You`ll prob. get a few more insights from others....
and if you go to "ramblings and chatter" there`s a post "hp for a wm 2bbl 350? " that might give you some ideas, or who the people are w ideas...
I was looking for a timing mark on the front cover and I can not locate one. Any idea where it is? I have been looking for it in the same area as 326 timing mark. Thanks It is a total rebuild with a few upgrades.
Later timing covers had a plastic piece bolted to the face of the cover with the timing marks on it. It's usually one of the first things to break and get thrown away. Not one of their "better" ideas. You can get timing tags from some of the repro places, I think.
The other problem you may face is not having enough motor mount holes in your block, in which case you would have to buy motor mount adapters, also available from Performance Years - and Ames - I believe.
In the performance game, there are lots of varibles. In addition to horsepower, torque is another factor. If fact, torque is the real key to acceleration. In other words, an engine that has less horespower, but more touque may make the car accelerate faster.
Gear ratio rears its head. If you have a high gear (low numerically) raito, an engine with a buttload of touque will really crank that gear. If you have a low gear (high numerically) more torque, though it certainly makes a difference, won't nessessarly make the same dramatic increase. IN other words, you may be pouring a bunch of gas through the engine, and the gain is almost nothing.
The torque/hoesepower issue is a complicated issue and lends lots of varibles. If it were dropped in my lap, this is what I'd do:
(You can install newer blocks in old cars without modification. I don't recall what you have to do, but you cannot old into new without some modification, either new mounts, or something.)
I don't know what kind of modifications you have to make to go from powerglide to a t/b 350. I think that the shifer works, only that the markers/indicator don't align, so you have to feel it. Again, I'm not postive.
Another thing I'm not sure of is crossmember/driveshaft configurations. I do know, however, that you can it's a bolt-up application to the powerglide. Also, f/g cars are some of the easiest cars to install engine transmission combinations.
Two senerios that I would take: If it weren't lots of money or changes, I'd drop in the 400/350 and see what happens.
If I were flat broke, I'de hook up the powerglide to the 400 and chunk it in. I don't know that much about powerglides and how druable they are, but to get back on the torque issue. The powerglide can be viewed as the high gear raito senerio: such a combination might make for a quite potent set up.
It's not like some of the more miserable engine installations of other cars. Because it isn't orgional, I view engines/transmaissions as disposable parts. Just like brakes, if you wear it out, put a new one in.
The point is that if you already have the parts, and you have the skill level of a good shade-tree mechanic, dropping in an engine--just to see how it does--it isn't that big of a deal if you're not satisfied with the results. Simply change it back.
Amervo is totally correct.... talking of gear ratios, I have the high gear , its 2.56 rear, have a 72 model 400 (orig. a 2 bbl carb motor) w a 650 holley, and w Q`s help I picked up a set of 5C heads (large valves ,good flowing) had them milled to 87 cc`s, installed 1.65 rockers and kept the orig. cam, and its automatoic th350 ( I decided to do this easy and cheap,w/ engine in car)
now, compared to my buddy that has a 69 400 , and 5 spd Richmond and I am not sure excactly on his rear end ,but its low, prob. close to 4...
he runs 4500 rpms at 70 mph, I do 3000 at 90! Plus I beat him to 35-40 mph....first couple of yards he`s ahead , but very soon there after Im way ahead! then he doesnt see me! lol Not sure of his gas mileage , but I get 14 at 75mph , and about 9-10 around town...
How would it change the gear ratio if you were to put 14 inch wheels on in place of 15 inch wheels? Will a car with a high performance engine and high gears out perform the same engine with low gears? I'm asking this because I'm not sure I understand the differance in performance when changing gear ratios.
Changing tires does not really change the gears. High gears (a low number) will let the car cruise at high speed but at low rpm. It also makes the car harder to accelerate. Low gears (a high number) makes the car run more RPM at high speed, but lets the car accelerate faster. Imagine a 10 speed bicycle, but let's look only at first and 10th. Low gears is like first gear. The pedals go around as fast as possible, but the bike does not move very fast. Easy to accelerate and climb hills, but top speed is not an option. Now shift to 10th. It takes all your muscles and still you accelerate rather slowly, but top speed is whatever your body is capable of. That's the way it works in a car, too. The same engine will reaact very differently depending on the gears.
I used to run autocross events with my '69 and kept the 2.56 gear to reduce the tendency to spin the tires around the slow corners, while allowing up to 60 mph before having to shift out of First ('66 Olds TH400), faster than I ever had the opportunity for (lots of long black marks when I got fed up with excessively tight courses set up by and for Mini drivers). To recoup some of the lost performance off the line I made use of my switch-pitch torque convertor, which then required a bit of restraint on the gas pedal. I too would lose a bit of ground off the line but rarely had to look at other's taillights on a rolling start, even with the 750 bikes of the time. So there are different ways to achieve close to the same goals, and different goals for different people. Decide how you realistically want to use your car and post it here. By the way, I managed about 17 US mpg at 70-75 mph in the low stall position with basically a '69 RAIII 400.
there really is no perfect ratio for all situations but this is an excellent chart. there typically is some rpm inaccuracy on auto trans, i've heard.
i'm going for ~5300rpms (max hp) in 3rd @100mph with my 200-4r and OHC6. should be a fun experiment? i'll only get about 30mph in 1st though. prob'ly no good for an auto-x... i love torque we'll see how much i can stand.
pretty accurate, I input my stuff and got 3028 rpms for 90 mph, and my speedo shows 3000 at 90 , prob. within reading possibilities at 90 mph!and tach needle is not that skinny to be able to read the 28 rpms...
we'll see how much i can stand.
