sbc to bbc

[mamu]

hey everyone. i have a 82 swb 2wd that i bough a few years ago. has a bad 350 in it so i had plans to build a moderate sbc to replavce it. but today i ended up trading some stuff for a fresh 454 bored .030 over ported an polished heads.....all that good stuff. so what im curious about is there anything that needs to be done to help this rig come to life? i have motor mounts, starter, headers, half of the serpentine setup....hes looking for the other half. the truck has a 700r in it now and i plan to use it. but is there any waterpumps that you guys suggest for these big blocks or fuel pumps? the small things in life! this is my first run with a big block but i hope it makes a mean street machine!

i do plan to lower the rear an regear to compensate. but jus trin to get some heads up!

pics of some fat blocks would be sweet too if yall have any!

 

[mamu]

heres the 82

 

[hirschdalechevy]

hey everyone. i have a 82 swb 2wd that i bough a few years ago. has a bad 350 in it so i had plans to build a moderate sbc to replavce it. but today i ended up trading some stuff for a fresh 454 bored .030 over ported an polished heads.....all that good stuff. so what im curious about is there anything that needs to be done to help this rig come to life? i have motor mounts, starter, headers, half of the serpentine setup....hes looking for the other half. the truck has a 700r in it now and i plan to use it. but is there any waterpumps that you guys suggest for these big blocks or fuel pumps? the small things in life! this is my first run with a big block but i hope it makes a mean street machine!

i do plan to lower the rear an regear to compensate. but jus trin to get some heads up!

pics of some fat blocks would be sweet too if yall have any!

I would check out your radiator , (I dont really do 80's but in all my 70's square's that I put big blocks in I went with four row's) as far as waterpump's and fuel pump's stock is fine unless your rat is wildman motor and with a stock 700r if your rat has any heat at all , (if you have fun with the skinny petal on a regular basis) , you are going to turn your 700r into lunch meat. Also if your rat is a bad boy it will put the bully beatdown on your stock 10 bolt rear end. Anyway that's some of the thing's I have smoked with my big block's but it's an easy swap. Late model heads kind of suck if you want real power you need older big oval head's or aluminum aftermarket stuff.

 

[mamu]

I have the older model heads (78 I think) suppose to be the open chamber oval port heads? I thought about the radiator and the rear. I was thinking about putting 4.10 in the rearend. To get it running then we shall see how long till it needs a new rearend put in.

 

[hirschdalechevy]

Stock 1978 head's are no good for any real hp , but if you are happy with 325 hp max that they will do , you might get a little more with porting and such but most people would never waste their time on the small oval port heads because it's not worth it . I think chevy big blocks went to the (peanut) small oval port's around 1975 or so.

 

[mamu]

He said 78 block. But he said the heads an intake was off a 427 he had in a chevelle. So idk what the heads are. Do you know a casting number of a good head vs a lesser desired head? I sure hope this thing isn't a dud after all this work. But I no it won't be as potent as my Dmax I run....I jus want a street machine with a nice rumbly idle

 

[hirschdalechevy]

If you have 427 heads you are good to go. If you pull a valve cover you will see the casting # and then you can be sure of what the guy told you.

 

[HotRodPC]

Your radiator might get you thru May, but come June, July, August, Forget it. You'll need to update your radiator, espeically to sit in traffic of any kind or tow. BBCs run hot by nature so you need to add some cooling power. The 700r4, forget it. You'll have it shredded in no time. Need to consider a Th400 unless you want to spend the funds for a computer to operate a 4L80-E. Depending on what gear ratio you have in the rear end, you don't NEED to change it to compensate. You might be better off to leave it as it. BBCs also don't like higher rpm like small blocks do. You're turning a much heavier rotating assembly, so unless you plan on doing extensive work to the bottom end, consider your redline to be about 5500 rpm. If I had a BBC in a half ton and running a non OD trans like the Th400, I'd probably prefer the 3.42ish ratio. 3.73 would be good too. With all the low end torque of BBC, you don't need as much gear to get you going unless you're just all out racing.

Do make getting a bigger radiator priority though. Then the trans upgrade but the rear gear ratio can wait a bit.

 

[dhamp]

I keep seeing everyone saying to ditch the 700r4, but isn't it possilble to have the 700r4 built to withstand it? Like a Rapton Level 3 or Level 4??

 

[mamu]

I have a 700r4 behind a built small block in a 92 z71. It holds just fine after I had it built. So I'm the same way. I don't understand why everyone says the 700r are junk. We have had nothing but satisfaction from the ones we have had.

 

[HotRodPC]

Yes, you can build a 700r4 to tolerate some horsepower and some abuse from time to time. But, keep in mind the TORQUE a BBC puts out. Sure it will stand up to a few passes at the track, but its still going to be short lived IMO.

 

[Swims350]

the older ones were weak just as HRPC will tell you. Plus you had to have it BUILT. anything that's built should hold up and last, stock sucks.

 

[mamu]

well looking to get the 350 out this weekend hopefully. around a bachelor party and a date with a new lady friend! she might get to help hold the light. does anyone have a serpentine setup laying around for a bbc?

 

[smurph20]

WEll if you were keeping the smallblock yes i do have a serp setup.

 

[crazy4offroad]

WEll if you were keeping the smallblock yes i do have a serp setup.

How much?