Intro and Swap question

[Jadefirbird]

I suppose a little introduction is in order first. My name is John, i'm from maryville/knoxville Tennessee, 22 years old as of Feb 11. I have a '96 Firebird with the 3.8 V6 automatic. I am planning on doing a swap with the car now that it is paid off. Before I continue I feel the need to please ask people to not to just say "just sell it and get a v8" or something along those lines as I do not consider it a helpful answer. So, anyways, to continue, I saw in the magazine High Performance Pontiac where two guys had a '94 (i think) it was firebird, not formula or Trans-Am, that they had put a Pontiac 400 in, and they were even still using the factory hood. This partly inspired me for my swap. I would like to put in a Pontiac 455 into my firebird seeing as it and the 400 are the same size. I was wondering if anyone knew of some information that could prove useful in doing this swap.

Thanks
John

[volkerc]

Originally Posted by Jadefirbird

I suppose a little introduction is in order first. My name is John, i'm from maryville/knoxville Tennessee, 22 years old as of Feb 11. I have a '96 Firebird with the 3.8 V6 automatic. I am planning on doing a swap with the car now that it is paid off. Before I continue I feel the need to please ask people to not to just say "just sell it and get a v8" or something along those lines as I do not consider it a helpful answer. So, anyways, to continue, I saw in the magazine High Performance Pontiac where two guys had a '94 (i think) it was firebird, not formula or Trans-Am, that they had put a Pontiac 400 in, and they were even still using the factory hood. This partly inspired me for my swap. I would like to put in a Pontiac 455 into my firebird seeing as it and the 400 are the same size. I was wondering if anyone knew of some information that could prove useful in doing this swap.

Thanks
John

I wonder what issue that was, cause i did not read that one, and i think i did not miss an issue, certainly an interesting swap, but i'm pretty sure that it would require a lot of special work on the mounts and frames, the 350's are already squeezed in tight in there, the 400 pontiac blocks are bigger than the 350 chevy and i doubt it can be done cheap, if at all, or at least with heavy modifications, what was the number/issue of the mag?

[Jadefirbird]

I don't remember the issue and it wasn't a buildup. It was one of the cars at the shootout. it was red and these two older guys (mid 40s to mid 50's i'd say) were the ones running it.

[volkerc]

Originally Posted by Jadefirbird

I don't remember the issue and it wasn't a buildup. It was one of the cars at the shootout. it was red and these two older guys (mid 40s to mid 50's i'd say) were the ones running it.

again, i'm not saying it is not possible, but what i'm saying is it will require extensive modifications, this is not a drop in and go kind of thing, and you should better know what you are doing...i will go through my issues again, that is for sure...

[99onI95]

Never read it either. But, as far as the engine swap goes its easier and most importantly cheaper to buy the v8 than do a swap.
I know because for the past few days I've been calculating cost because my v6 has bit the dust.
Your problem is your under 25 so insurance companies aren't going to be happy with you driving a 300hp car.
Therefore, in the long run I guess it would be cheaper to do the swap and not let the insurance company in on the gig.