I have a 67 camaro that has no engine or trans. I have a line on a 400 that came out of a 72 Impala. I have been told the engine runs hot. The owner thinks it needs new heads. I thought I read somewhere that 400 runs hot because of the thin walls between the cylinders. True? I'm thinking that I would be better off locating a reasonable 350 or purchasing a crate engine. Any thoughts on the matter? Also any suggestions on what type of tran to get? I plan on driving this car daily and have a 30 mil round trip to work. Would the new overdrive trans work in this car? I quess I have asked enough questions for one topic.

I have run 400s in many cars without problems, just make sure you have at least a 3 row radiator, 4 is even better since camaro radiators arent that wide. The deal with 400s is the middle cylinders are siamese bore, with no water jackets between them. 400 heads will have steam holes drilled in them between the middle 2 combustion chambers, so if you put different heads on it you will need these added by a machine shop. 400s are also externally balanced, and have their own balancer and flywheel that do not exchange with other small blocks. I would go for it, even with the stock 2bbl these engines make so much torque they will IGNITE the tires to nothing without trying. Put it in and hang on!

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66/70 chevelle ss396's
69/71 camaros

Mel,i have a 400/.30 over in my 68 with no problems at all.Like DropTop said make sure you have at least a 3 core rad. and due to the harmonic balancer the front swaybar will have to be lowered 1/2" for clearance most likely....as for a tranny,i run a built 350 with a shift kit and auto/man.valve body. if you need any help e-mail me at dagwould1@aol P.S....be sure you have 400 heads or it will overheat,this is a must for the street.

How did you lower your swaybar? Did you fab up some metal spacers or something similar? I am currently thinking of putting a mild 400 .30 over in my 69 RS and was hoping that it wouldn't be too big a problem. Did this change the handling of your car any? This is not a daily driver, but still want to be able to carve a few canyons when I get racey.

You shouldnt have to lower the sway bar, everything should fit ok. Be sure you have the right engine mounts.

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66/70 chevelle ss396's
69/71 camaros

For a tranny in a daily driver, I think you will be very happy w/ an overdrive tranny. It will cut down you trips to the gas station and lower your rpms on the highway so there will be less wear and tear on you engine. There are kits out there to make the swap a simple bolt in, but I've never did it so I can't say that it is or not.

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Bryan Shook
Burgettstown, Pa

If you have not done the machining to the block yet it might be a good idea to add a coolant hole in the deck surface as well as plug the large coolant passages. The added hole should be placed on the outboard side of the deck surface between the two middle cylinders. Also add this hole to your heads and gaskets. This location is right where the two middle cylider's exhaust ports are located, an area in need of better cooling. The 3/8" to 7/16" hole should be placed .200" above and half way between (.550") the bolt bosses. Also, plug the 4 large coolant holes on the inboard side of the deck and drill about 3/16" holes (not too sure how big they should be) for the coolant to flow. This will help strengthen the deck and allow the coolant to flow to the more critical areas. If you are running heads other than the stock 400's then use a gasket as a template and drill the small steam holes in the head. These are all the tricks I know of to keep that 400 of yours cool and kickin' ass.

Joseph

as to the spacers,i just took one swaybar bracket and fabed up two .5" blocks at work and installed both (one per side) now i can get my little finger between the balancer and the bar,where, as before you couldn't get a sheet of paper between them.

doug.

[This message has been edited by DOUG G (edited 10-08-99).]

Thanks Guys For valuable info. You have convinced me to go with the 400. But, what do you guys think would be a reasonable price for the engine. I was thinking about asking the seller if I can get it magnafluxed and pressure tested before paying. What do you think?

That all depends if the engine is dismantled or not. I don't think anyone would tear down an engine just to sell it but see what you can talk him into. If it needs work, i.e. not running, then I would not pay more than a few hundred bucks for it and that would have to include all the excessories like power steering pump and brakets.

FYI
Bare blocks go for around $150-$200 but need machining

Joseph

I have a 1986 IROC with a 305 that I am thinking about putting a 400 in. While looking for the engine on the Internet, I found :http://www.toplineautomotive.com/chevroletshortblocks.htm They have rebuilt 400 shortblocks for $400. Ths ad says they're cleaned, magnafluxed, bored, new pistons and rings, honed. Connecting rods are magnafluxed and resized, crankshafts are reground etc..etc..etc..

I just encountered the dampner to sway bar interference problem whilst dropping my new 400 SB in my '69 today. My first thought was to cut spacers (3/8") for the motor mount frame mounts which actually worked out great. But I had this thought that I had missed something (and wasn't sure I liked the idea of raising the motor even though I have better header clearance)!

After perusing older posts I found this one and realized I never considered spacing the sway bar down! So guess what happens tomorrow morning? I think I'll leave a small spacer (1/4") under the left mount to maintain a little clearance but the rest will come from the sway bar.

I love doing things twice!