Carb V8 Swap, need help???

[akent]

Hello Everyone,

Hey i have owned a v6 camaro for 3 years now , and have loved it. I want to put a v8 in the car. I have some mechanic friends that can help me get the motor and tranny in, but we need some help with the eletronics. Since i wont be running a computer for the v8 i wondered what we could do for the fuel gauge, tach, and speedo. For the tach we can run it off the ignition. But, what about the fuel gauge and the speedo?? For the the motor combo i am going to run a carb 305 roller cam, trick flow 175cc heads, 650 holley carb, 12-432-8 comp cam, air gap edelbrock manifold, electric water pump. The motor should run easily 400 horsepower, on desktop dyno it runs 440 hrsp at 6500rpm. I also am using a 1989 700r4 out of a corvette for a tranny. Any help, links to threads, or websites would be great help for the electronic, or just swap information.

Thanks,

Aaron

[nimrod.sixty9]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

Your also going to have to cut into the top lip of the firewall to get the carb to fit...

[akent]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

i dont think so, i have see other setups were they have got it to fit fine, but that is ok if we have to

[techsan23]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

I went from efi to a carb on a 5.0 and left the computer hooked up. I just bundled all the wires I wasnt using together, and built a small sheet metal box to contain all of the wiring. Your talking about going with a completely different engine and trans though. I dont see why you couldnt use parts of the stock computer and harness after disabling some of the warning lights on the dash.

[cam98aro]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

i dont think so, i have see other setups were they have got it to fit fine, but that is ok if we have to

you have to cut the cowl metal up to get a carb to fit.

check out ls1tech on the sbc/bbc section, there are many people who have done the swap and a few stickies telling you exactly what you will need.

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

you have to cut the cowl metal up to get a carb to fit.

check out ls1tech on the sbc/bbc section, there are many people who have done the swap and a few stickies telling you exactly what you will need.

why exactly are people wanting to switch to carbs?

[cam98aro]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

why exactly are people wanting to switch to carbs?

because carb'd cars are so much more fun to drive

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

because carb'd cars are so much more fun to drive

i would also rather have a carb, but i'm sure the power potential is significantly less, am i wrong?

[nimrod.sixty9]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

i would also rather have a carb, but i'm sure the power potential is significantly less, am i wrong?

From my experince with 3rd Gen Camaros and SBC's, yeah youd deff be wrong. But fuel will drop, for some that wont matter. The amount of aftemarket will blow you mind :D If you have time, ability and money I would say deff go for it!

I would also build up that tranny. Ive been thru 4 trannys in a year! All were 700R4. Finally gave up the OD for a TH350 (couldnt afford to build a 700R4). Make sure it can get cooled as well!

[cam98aro]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

i would also rather have a carb, but i'm sure the power potential is significantly less, am i wrong?

that depends on who you talk to.

the way i see it, is FI is more for economy, it gives you a finer mist of fuel which gives you a better combustion, and it burns all of the fuel

carb's dont do that as well as FI does, so you will be running unburnt fuel through your engine.. you may lose power because of it on the same exact setup, but much

if FI was so much better and gave you so much more power, you would see drag racers using FI setups.. but you almost never do.. if they can afford to build a $30k engine every winter, im sure they can afford a FI setup, its not the cost. its just the ease of tuning a carb

but really, there is nothing that FI can do that carbs cant (in a sense other than direct injection, etc)

[nimrod.sixty9]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

FI can produce near perfect air/fuel ratio, therefor better economy and power (when needed). Reason why drag cars use carbs is that they can dump loads of fuel! There are plenty of ppl carbing LS1's too, reason; simplicity, power and the ability to dump a lot of fuel.

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

gotcha, thanks

i guess noone can argue against direct inject though. I saw a 69 camaro that was mated with direct inject in a hot rod mag :omg:

[nimrod.sixty9]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

gotcha, thanks

i guess noone can argue against direct inject though. I saw a 69 camaro that was mated with direct inject in a hot rod mag :omg:

I will see if I can find the thread on 3rdgen.org that has someone documenting a SBC install on a early 4thgen just like yours. Well Ill look for it tonight, damn net filters...

I think the 5thgen 3.5 will prove the DI worthy :D

[akent]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

wow guys,

thank you so much for all the help. I mean i am wanting to switch to a carb motor, because the after market is huge, and you can build 400 horsepower if you know what you are doing for a little over $2200. To me that is cheap horsepower. Its not the most efficient, and you defiantly want get great gas mileage with a carb right out of the box, but it is a well known system. Also, people just keep making it better. Look at barry grant daemon carbs. Overall, thanks a lot. I am either going to build the 305 or maybe do a 5.3 out of a late model truck. Stay tuned i will keep you posted.

P.S. Does anyone know if a 5.3 truck motor bolts up to a stock ls1 k-member? Also, between the lt1 k-member and the 3.8 k-member are they different or are they just different motor mounts??

[ssms5411]

Re: Carb V8 Swap, need help???

Turbo it for alittle over $3000 and get over 400 HP.