alright guys, i've figured it out. i want to put a v8 in my blazer. nothing unusual. anyways though im looking at my options for engines i can get within 2 months.

a guy that lives across from my parents house builds cars and engines, and has a spare 400 sbc sitting in the back of his garage that came out of a mid 70's truck. it runs great, has everything on it and is more or less ready to install minus mods to my computer and a fuel pump. cost, $1.3k

then my other option is a 350 at my local junk yard that came out of an 86 camaro rs. has everything as well but im told it has bad valves in the 5th cylinder. it looks clean and dont look as if it leaks oil, just has the expected residue and dust build up from age. cost, $700

what i'm wanting to know is how different are the motor mount points? will my stock 5 spd bolt up to the back of the 400 sb? and what kinda milage can i expect out of either engine? both engines are stock.

 

What year are you driving again?

One of the big problems I have with a 400 is that the bores are siamesed so there are no water jackets between the cylinders, just around the outside of each cylinder. This can cause hot spots and detonation if you are pushing things.

 

Why dont you go with a LT1 mpfi engine instead of a 20-30 year old block .

 

If the vehicle is carb'd or TBI already, it is a whole lot easier to leave it as such.

 

swart
im driving a 94 model w/tbi. i was considering just yanking the computer and everything out anyways cuz once i get an econo box this thing is gonna get parked and turned into a weekend toy only anyways. so mpg wont make a damn to me at that point. i've heard of the water jacket issue before with the 400's, and remember rick (the guy with the spare one) mentioning something along those lines w/ detonation and hot spots when i asked him about his. he said that as long as im not looking for 700+ horses it shouldnt be an issue. and if i ever did look to push those kind of numbers than i could just come back to him and he could take the block to work and take care of it for me. idk really, as i sit right now... i would be more than happy with ~400 horses

burak
im looking to do this on a semi sorta budget. i dont have 10k to drop on an engine. if i did i would invest a little more wisely and go with an ls5 w/all aluminium block and heads

 

Depending on your location, yanking the computer, etc may cause you to fail your inspections.

If it were me, I would go with the 350 and build it up. You can easily get 350-400HP out of a 350 on a budget build.

 

ya i understand what your saying about the inspection thing.

if i were to do that though it wouldnt be until i had another daily driver econo box. something that gets 35+ mpg lol. after that all i would have to do is have it titled as a show car or something like that where im only allowed to drive 2500 miles a year, and it has to be inspected every year. with that i would be able to drive it to shady side dragway for the 4 summer competitions and still have some miles to waste on a weekend.

 

I agree with the post about the 400 SB. I don't like them, a 350 is a far better engine IMO. If you look around you should be able to find a crate 350 NEW from a Chevy dealer for $1500-$2000 max. Long Block.

 

400sbc is a decent motor but it has its place a blazer isn't one of those places its hard enough to get a sbc to run cool in a blazer nevermind a 400 that haslimited waterjackets
Plus I wouldn't pay 1300 for a 70's 400 that runs great you could buy a 350corefrom a salvage yardand rebuild it for cheaper or like said above buy a crate 350 for 1500 and get a year warranty. Better yet do some clearancing and put a 400 crank in a 350 block and have a 383 this option will cost you some bucks.

 

eh. right now im open for options. im more or less leaning towards a 350 anyways because i already know it'll fit in a 1st gen blazer without any major problems to take care of. anyway i go after a v8 gets put in, shortly after the blazer is being turned into a weekend driver regardless. because i just quoted a used toyota prius yesterday for 9k (thank goodness for parents who are in the good with dealerships). bi-weekly fill-ups here i come!