so last monday i rear ended a brand spankin new dodge magnum . i wont be orderin any of my SAS parts till after the 1st of the year now. a few days ago i was at a friends house and he has a 70s chevy with a built 350 in it that he wants to get rid of, it also has 63'' springs i could use for my SAS later down the line. what would be a reasonable prive on the engine? what would be an estimated cost of putting the 350 in my truck including cost of engine? do i need the tranny out of the chevy to? i figure the gas mileage wouldnt be horrible i mean i get 15mpg now and the v8 wouldnt be workin nearly as hard.

 

putting the 350 in would be the majority of your cost- smog requirements and such mandate the newest of either the engine or chassis emissions be met. So... what would it cost to get a say, 74 350 to meet 94 toyota v6 smog requirements?
answer- cheaper to get a 95 350 from a wrecked car and swap it's electronics and emissions stuff over to your 94.

 

but wouldnt having a carburated 350 eliminate the hassel of wiring for the injectors...

 

you miss the point...

you put an engine into a chassis...
if the engine is older than the chassis, chassis emission requirements must be met
if the engine is newer than the chassis, engine emission requirements must be met.

there is no provision for older smog requirements being acceptable in a newer chassis

 

it may be of note to you, that if you can find a 94 or newer smog legal GM 350 with a carburetor, you could install THAT ENGINE in your chassis (not a 74 engine) as long as you meet the 94 or newer toyota or wherever the 350 came from (as long as it's 94 or newer) smog requirements.

 

maybe this is a better, though not necessarily technically correct explanation-
whatever engine you put into whatever chassis has to meet the most restrictive of emissions requirements of either the chassis or engine.

 

so
74 engine into 94 chassis has to meet 94 emissions
94 engine into 74 chassis has to meet 94 emissions

next question?

 

I see. how big of a deal is it to wire a newer 350?

 

and then you have to deal with chassis type, such as passenger car, light truck, industrial vehicle...

and you get to play with the referee in California... 'cause I know you live here.

 

if you buy an engine and harness from a junkyard... whatever that cost is...
then you have to deal with mating the engine to your truck... so that's more money... and then getting the setup exempted / waived by the referee after quite a bit of testing...
I don't know. Never done it.

 

I'd guess you'd be into it for at least 3-4000 dollars, being conservative.

 

or say frenchtoast smog and go with the carburated! looks like a 3.4 or 4.3 would be a better choice?

 

don't ask me.
do the math.
Find the cost of a wrecked whatever with the engine, harness and ECU you want...
then figure out the cost of installing that into your truck: trans adapters... maybe even the trans, resizing the drive shaft(s), transfer cases....

 

smoochie boochies.

 

Check out Downey Offroad's website. They've got adapter kits to help you figure out the costs. Getting the engine in is the easy part, getting it to run right is the tough, time consuming and expensive parts.

If you are handy and like to trouble shoot problems, then go the for the swap.

 

Isn't it true that the motor can't be older than the chassis, period?

 

wait. where are you located? emissions dont exist down here, so you dont have to worry about any of that depending on where you are.

 

Around here thats the law.. But most shops will pass the truck if its done right.

 

given that emissions testing requires that the newer of either the engine or chassis be met, putting an older engine into a newer chassis can not be be met.
So yes, it's true... sort of.
a 93 engine that is cleaner than a 94... may be acceptible if the cleaner 93 emissions are kept....
that's why, in california at least, you go to the referee, to have "some thing" in the middle acting rationally....
but no one seems to consider the benefits of the referee system here, they only look at the down side of the government giving them the shaft.

we already know that we could take every > 76 year old car off the road and replace each and every one of those cars with brand new cadillacs and reduce smog... but what then?

 

why not just put your money into a 22re???