Budget V8 swap finally..

[fawien]

So I've been searching for the right time and deals to get started on a V8 swap for my 96 S10 2.2 5spd.



After combing through craigslist, ebay, classifieds etc for a long time I finally came upon a add that caught my attention. I contact the owner and make a time to go by and look at what he has.



An ugly duckling for sure, it was crammed so tight I could barely look it over but I got to see everything I needed to. We talked awhile I agreed to his price and we met next day to finish the deal.



Ugh I hate driving in garages! My 6 foot 8 inch tall van in a 6 foot 9 inch clearance garage.... Stupid annex garage for the county clerks office, I hated it enough before getting the van. But we got everything taken care of and off I went to get my heap of a 1992 sonoma towed home.



Sitting in the driveway awaiting the tow truck. I get it home and of course my woman has tons of jokes about my new pile of junk I brought home...
I exclaim leave my ghetto fabulous truck alone it cant help being so awesome! Its so awesome I have to crawl under it to put it in park. In the end I spend the rest of the night explaining I didn't buy it to drive it, I plan on pillaging it to death.




Finally to the point! (sorry lol)
So what I found when I arrived to see the truck originally was a 305 with a th350 trans. Holley intake and carb. Brand new V8 conversion mounts and headers. Set of cragar 17X8 soft 8 black.
Final price $400

Yes I would love a 350 but at $400 for all that I couldn't argue with it.
So now I plan to yank the 305 out of the 92 and take it off for a rebuild. Probably sell off the 92 for parts or whatever (clean title so yay).
After 5 years of wanting to start this project I'm excited to finally be making some progress!

Now to the questions of the day. When pulling out my 2.2 from the 96 is there any reason for me to keep the computer in?
The wiring harness to the engine, should I keep it in for now or take it out? Figure before I go ripping stuff out I should make sure there's nothing in there that I may need it to be there later.
I want to get the 2.2 out and sell it, is it possible to get just the engine harness out without cutting any wires?

I plan on sticking with the carb and possibly running a fuel regulator and putting a block off on the mechanical fuel pump on the motor.

[fawien]

So I've gotten some work done.
I got the motor stripped down to just the block and heads. If the weather holds up I may have it out of the truck either this or next weekend. The motor does turn by hand, has compression and so far everything I've seen looks ok.
Once I get the heads off I'm going to inspect the cylinders, if it looks ok I'm going to put a fresh gasket kit on the motor and see how that goes.

So far this is what I've found out was in my $400 donor truck.
Verified the block is a 305 (havent gotten casting numbers yet)
The Carb is a holley 600 cfm vacuum secondary electric choke.



The intake is a holley street domniator.



The headers I believe are patriot shorties.



The mounts appear to be trans dapt.
The carb and intake like the motor need a little love. I will be swinging those by my friends shop and let him inspect and clean them up for me.
I still got a few more things to go look for in the donor truck, anything to keep me busy till the engine hoist arrives.

Thats all I got for now, my progress was halted saturday morning by my first son being born. I will post more as I have it.

Oh and does anybody know if the trans crossmemeber on the 92 sonoma 4cyl automatic is any different or better than my 96 4 cyl 5 speed s10? Trying to make sure I get all the parts I need off the donor before it gets sent away.

[fawien]

So just a quick update.
I pulled the motor trans out last nite. Ran casting numbers and it's a LE9 305 with the 58cc 1.85 1.5 heads.
Next step is to tear it down and prep for rebuild.

[Black P-38]

Wow, guess I'll be the first to say it... GREAT deal on the donor truck! All the parts you're gonna keep are worth more than you paid for the truck I'm sure.
Good start for a budget build. Hopefully the 305 is in good condition as well as the trans. The '92 looks to have some good sheet metal and would make a good First Gen project for someone. Keep the updates coming!

Mike

[2003Xtreme]

heck of a deal man! that is one of those kind of deals I have been looking for that you can never find haha. good find on the truck and goodluck with the project

[fawien]

Thanks hehe, yeah I've run the math over and over and figure I got well over my moneys worth. I also found a valley industries bolt on 3500 lb trailer hitch on it. Gonna pull that off and sell it I think. I've already got an interested buyer on the 92, guy I work with has a front end wrecked 91 he needs a frame and front sheet metal. Should get some of my money back on that deal.
I should have the motor tore down in a week or so depending on my schedule. So far I'm optimistic about it's condition. The guy I got it from said the donor motor had around 80k miles on it so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[Towmanred]

Great deal man! My 327 alone cost me 300 bucks and I still had to rebuild it.. Now if you could just find a set of better heads that 305 will be just fine... Have fun!

[Black P-38]

Oh yeah, and congrats on the other new addition... your first son!!!

Mike

[fawien]

I think those are about the best carbed heads they made from the factory for the 305. I know the torquer heads I been looking at are a little better valve size wise and 5cc smaller chambers.
I'm most likely for now just going to get some mild headwork done on them to keep costs down. I can always go back later and add better heads when my budget allows.
My boy already been outside watching me work. Hopefully he'll be a future gear head

[fawien]

So I got most of the motor torn down this weekend.
Heads are 14022601 casting.
The bore has a lip but nothing bad looking. Doesn't appear rebuilt but will have to wait till the bore gauge hits it.
It turns over well (stupid torque converter bolts lol) and doesn't seem to hang any.
Next steps, start shopping for a machine shop and new parts.