im looking at a 383 stroker on ebay.... my car currently has a pretty mild 350 and a Muncie 4 speed.. im going to attempt the swap myself..im also looking to do the clutch.. recommendations on the clutch and anything else I might need to complete the project or anything I need to change because of the swap.. anything I should be looking for before buying the motor.. its a 383 stroker with heads, valve covers and intake.....

 

Take a lot of pics of the accessory brackets, shifter linkage, reverse light linkage, throttle linkage, wire routing and anything else that looks complicated. You'll be a very happy man when it comes time to make it all fit right again!

 

internaly ballanced engine or external? your flywheel needs to be the right one.

 

Get some tags and write down what all the wires are as well. Makes it faster when putting it together.

Take a look at the engine wiring harness. When I changed my engine to a ZZ4, the old harness looked horrible. For a couple hundred dollars, I got a new one from lectric limited. The wires can look pretty scary after 40 years in an engine compartment.

Good luck w/ your project.

 

I would just use the stock chevy clutch. it will hold what you are going to toss at it. It will also line up and all of the linkage will work. I ran into some issues and ended up with an adjustable clutch ball when I went with the big fancy clutch. You don't need the big clutch with a 383.

 

I believe a stock clutch will work ok if the 383 is a mild build. If you are going for a high HP/TQ build then you might consider something like a centerforce dual friction clutch with a long or adjustable clutch fork pivot ball. I used a GM long pivot ball and it seems to be working fine for me.

I would recommend replacing the motor mounts, hoses, and belts as well. Also, check to see what type of water pump comes with the engine, the SBC in our cars require the short water pump to work with the existing pulleys.

Check what type of intake that is being provided with the Ebay engine. If the height of the new intake is too high with the carb installed then the hood might not close correctly.

Some dual-plane intakes are quite a bit higher than a original 350 intake for a corvette. At the very least you might require a drop base air cleaner to allow for the hood to close correctly.

Speaking of carburetors, does your new engine come with one? If not, then you should at least have your Quadrajet rebuilt by Lars or someone similar to get the best performance.

What type of ignition system does the new engine use? Are you re-using the existing distributor? If so, I would recommend having the distributor rebuilt and re-curved to provide better performance. New ignition wires and coil would also be a consideration as old wires may not provide the best performance from your new engine.

One other item to consider is the exhaust. If you are re-using the stock exhaust manifolds then make sure they will fit your new aftermarket heads. If not, you will need new exhaust headers which in turn will require you to modify the existing exhaust to fit the new headers.

That is about all I can think of right now, but there is probably more that I can't remember right now.

Hope this help.....

 

i am in the middle of an engine swap myself (pulled the motor tuesday) and I second taking a lot of pics and replacing the mounts... Its really not that big of a deal though... I've been fearing doing this for over a year now and found a grinder makes an easy task of removing stuck stripped rusted bolts ... I also am taking advantage of the situation to install a new non rotted radiator mount and radiator as well as lots of degreasing and painting. I found sections of my engine compartment where the fiberglass has crumbled and have repaired them with epoxy before painting.