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Got my hands on an 81 Firebird here in Texas. Originally came with a V6 and someone ended up installing a Pontiac 350 not sure on the trans though. Was going to rebuild but engine seized up and without tearing apart and taking to machine shop I decided to go to a Chevy 350 in its place. Other big factor was that the Pontiac 350 is way heavy and expensive to work on in regards to parts, or so I'm told. Chevy 350s are a dime a dozen and parts are all over the place. This car with be a dailyish driver since I have other cars to drive but I also have an 1/8 mile dragstrip that I will be going to with this and have some fun. Throw it in some car shows here and there as well.
Eventually I will end up doing an LS swap once I can get the money in hand to buy everything. For now this 350 will do. Not new to forums but seeing that I have always been a Ford guy I have not followed the GM engine much and even though reading as much as I can about them, it's hard to know where to get the best info on what all I can do with this engine to get the best results from it.
The casting on this engine says its an 87 year l98 5.7L. I've read a few different places that this engine could have been in an 87 Corvette or IROC. Correct me I'm wrong. Im leaning towards the IRCO mainly due to the heads it has on it. It has the pre vortec center bolt valve covers and from the casting it also says around the 87 year area, as well as having the swirl port not vortec heads which was a let down for me. But this engine has been rebuilt from what I can tell not sure how many miles were on it but it runs and sounds good.
Whats a good forum on this site to get some good info on the engine?
Will start a build thread eventually with pics of how the bird sits and progress as of now. Here is from the first day I picked it up.
@cookseyb Im in the Abilene area. Also forgot to mention that this block may have been built to a 383 stroker, I wont be taking off the heads to see what kind of pistons it has but I will drop the pan here soon and verify if it has been stroked or not.
@Che70velle I have been doing to searches in that forum and have found some good info so far, thanks for the heads up.
03-18-2019 | 01:52 PM
TX 81 Firebird 
