v6 to v8 engine swap on 77 Skyhawk

[veehome911]

Hi there, im new here but i just got a 77 buick skyhawk for free from a friend of mine. she bought it new in 77 and its been sitting since 99... it has 58,000 miles on it. It needs a ton of work but i love this car so im going to do it all myself.

I wanted to drop a v8 in it and want to do it the easiest way posible. what type of motor would best fit this car with theLEAST amount of modifications..

[cjbiagi]

The easiest would be to install what GM offered, a smallblock Chevy. You can use all factory parts that way. However, finding all the V8 stuff is getting harder.At minimum you need V8 frame mounts, engine mounts, V8 H body oil pan, and exhaust manifolds or headers. There will also be torque arm issues and accessory issues to deal with. Not trying to scare you but just be realistic as to all the mods it will take. If you can find a complete V8 donor car you'd be miles ahead of trying to locate all the individual parts. There wouldn't be any real modifications, basically all bolt on stuff. It's just a matter of finding it all.

[veehome911]

what would be a good donor car? i did find a buick regal localy for 700. it has a 350 small block in it.

[80 MONZTA]

Donor car would have to be an H-body... Chevy Monza, Buick Skyhawk, Pontiac Sunbird, Oldsmobile Starfire, Chevy Vega or Pontiac Astre. Of those, only the Monza had the small block Chevy V-8 in a LOT of them from the factory. But over the years a lot of the other cars had been swaped in, so you may find the parts that you need in any of them.

[cjbiagi]

Right, the whole idea is to find all the necessary parts in a V8 H body. You can get the engine out of whatever, but all the things to make it fit need to come from a H body.

[veehome911]

Yeah, but the only problem is that I can't find any donor car.. Any v8 h body is really hard to find.. So ill have to figure something else out! Thanks for all the info guys.. I don't put a v8 In it and decide to keep the v6 any ideas on how to make it go faster? I've been trying to find a supercharger for it or a possible turbo kit but I'm new to most of this and want something relatively easy.. I'm pretty handy and good with basic mechanics.. I just want to keep it within a tight budget..

Thanks for the quick responses!

[cjbiagi]

If a tight budget is a concern then you are probably better off keeping the V6 and doing some bolt on mods. Superchargers and turbo's are all going to add up fast. The V6 is a good engine with good torque so just adding a 4 barrel carb along with a good exhaust system, ignition mods and tuning will go a long way.

[cammerjeff]

The best quick mod the $$$ is a rear end gear swap, most V-6 H-Bodies came with a 2.56 to 1 rear gear ratio, changing to a 3.08 (the lowest gear ratio that will work with stock gears and your center carrier) or a set of aftermarket gears that are made to work with your 2 series carrier.

A rear gear change will really wake up the car from a 0 to 60 perspective, and make it much more fun around town.

After that you could add a 4bbl, and depending on if you have an even fire or odd fire 231 V-6 (77 was the change over year, early cars had odd fire engines, lte cars got an even fire engine)

You could add the better flowing 79 and later "high port" Cylinder heads, headers ect.

My 78 Sunbird wagon with 3.73 rear gears, overdrive auromatic trans, ported high port heads, holley 4bbl intake with buick 252 Q-jet carb runs 14.7's in the 1/4 mile (from the stock 18.4 times) and is very quick to 60 mph. And gets 25 MPG on the highway at 70 MPH.

[stage169]

Check into the Buick 350. The motor mounts, alt, pwr steering should swap from your V6. If your Skyhawk has the TH350 trans you can use it on the Buick350 V8. If your Skyhawk has A/C you might have to remove that and you would have to find the correct year Buick 350 exhaust manifolds but it can be done.

Lots of info on this sight if you just use the search option. Brian