Ive about decided that I cant afford two hot rods. I'm contemplating putting the BB in my Camaro into the vette. There are a few things that I don't know relative to the Corvette BB swap as opposed to the Camaro swap. The Camaro was a bolt in with a few minor exeptions. First, The BB sits a little higher than the SB. When I swapped into the Camaro, the fan shroud was too low and had to be modified. Is there a BB shroud I will have to get for the vette to make it work? Second, is there a such thing as a "short" water pump for the BB in a vette. I think I've read that the BBs in vettes used standard length water pumps and pulleys. The power steering pump in the vette is almost right up against the frame, If I use the one I have in the Camaro now, will it hit the frame or is there a corvette only bracket for the power steering I will have to get for the vette. I guess what I'm getting at is that I already have a set of pullys and brackets on the BB as it sits in the Camaro. Will I be able to use them or will I have to track down propriatary Corvette stuff. This motor went a best of 13.2 in the Camaro. Thats with no posi, a governed TH400 that shifted at 5000 no matter what, and a weak third gear that would not lock up unless you lifted. I have a good posi in the vette with 3.55s and a new tranny with a shift kit. I think it's not to unreasonable to expect high twelves with this motor in the vette. I realize these are kinda wierd questions, I'm just hoping to save some bucks using the equipment I already have.

 

The bb block will pretty much go in your vette with not much modification: However: You need a bb radiator. will your camaro rad fit? I dont know

What type intake/aircleaner is on your BB now. If you dont have a drop base airc;eaner, or low profile intake, your will not have hood clearence

Your BB motor will fit, no prob in the engine compartment and uses the same motor mounts, and will go right up to your tranny, but you may have hood clearence issues, as well as raditor probs (you may need to get a raditor to fit if your camro one wont)

The ps set up, and all assesscory stuff (AC, PS) brackets may not work off your camaro

 

Probably need new front springs and some drive shaft work depending on what tranny you got in your vette now.

 

You will need a good radiator to cool that thing and the big block fan shroud. Engine will bolt right in, no problems there. Could have hood clearance issues if you do not have a low-rise intake. Don't think the Camaro brackets will work. Looking at the Stewart Water Pump site, it shows a big block w/p for the Vette at 5.750" and for passanger cars/trucks at 7.287". So appears the Vette uses a "short" pump on the bb too.

You will also need heaver springs in front to hold the extra weight and then will need to balance the rear suspension to match the front to maintain handling.

tom...

 

I already know the hood will have to be changed to work with the Edel' Performer. I already have a large aluminum radiator so cooling wont/shouldn't be a problem. It already sits kinda high in the front anyway, I figure the BB will mash it down where it belongs, after all, it's only about 250 pounds more than the SB, it's just like me sitting on the hood. Shouldn't be a huge height change. The Tranny position won't change so there shouldn't be any tranny/driveshaft issues. This front/rear balance thing is a new twist. Can anyone explain further?


[Modified by BubbaJJ, 11:27 AM 8/21/2002]

 

The additional weight of the BB will cause the nose to plow, understeer. Chevy adjusted for this by adding a rear sway bar. The sway bar will add oversteer, kick the tail out, and balance out the front/rear handling. A lot of people forget that is you make a change at one end then you need to ballance it out at the other.

tom...


[Modified by Tom73, 12:26 PM 8/21/2002]

 

Ah, thanks. I always wondered why it didn't come with a rear sway bar. To be honest, the front one is kinda wimpy too.

 

Didn't you mean to say that the rear sway bar will add "oversteer"? :confused:

 

yep

 

The BB uses the short pump, so it will need "short" brackets and pullies. The bad news is that the required bracketry and pullies for an A/C equipped car will set you back $500-1000, depending on how good a shopper you are. None of the pieces have any application other than Corvette, except the crank pulley. Then there's the exhaust/header issue. Still, you know what they say about displacement.....

 

Damn straight about displacement. That 454 in my Camaro is a wicked beast even with the other problems.