355 Engine Swap

( Mid-July 2009 )

2009 Pictures Menu
Page 1 / Page 2
Next

While out cruisin' one night, a friend of mine overheard that I was looking for a motor for the Omega. He mentioned to me this 355 which he had built for his truck, but it was too much and he went with another setup. After running some numbers and asking some questions, I acquire this built-355 from Justin.

With this new motor, I was also gonna need a transmission that would be able to handle it. I asked my good friend Chris Derksen if he would build me another transmission. Chris built the transmission that is currently in my Nova.

My friend Glenn A. passed over some headers I could have for the Omega and it's new heart!


Before we began the engine swap, we took the ol' Omega out to Gimli to race it at the track to see what the ol' girl would do with the old 305/TH350C combo. I believe the rear ratio to be 2.56's.

The Omega ran consistant low-17s, and even dripped into the high-16s. I ran a best of 16.92 and my brother-in-law ran 16.89 later in the day.


The ol'305 has served me well, since it's swapping with the original 250. I just wanted a motor with a little more pep' to it.

The tear-down begins. I had an old driveshaft I found at the wreckers some time ago, and I got Ian's to cut the U-Joints so we could use the front piece as a plug for the TH350c.

My neighbor Amanda came over too, to lend a hand and to help out!

Everything is pretty disconnected, guess it's time to yank it out. I decided to pull the Engine & Transmission together, as I find this to be the easiest!


I begin to assemble the Engine Hoist as Ian tightens down the chain on the block which will be used to lift out the powertrain.

Up, UP! and AWAY !!


As we begin to lift the motor/transmission, we hear a pop and the old motor/transmission slammed back into the engine bay.

THANKFULLY!! - No one was hurt. The bolt holding the engine balancer to the hoist let go, shooting out from the balancer nearly taken Ian out, whom was leaning on the passenger fender. I was glad we moved the nova out of the garage, cause it woulda taken out the quarter glass.

As you can see ... the threads let go! I replaced it with a Grade 8 bolt and double nutted it. CLOSE CALL!!


We finally cleared the Motor/Transmission from the Omega and rest it on some tires I borrowed from a local tire recycling pile.

Drained the block, and the 305/TH350c will now be heading to my friend Glenn Evan's place where he will swap it into his 49 Business Coupe. The Coupe currently has a seized 350 in it.

The 305 was a, and is still a good motor. Probably would change the oil pump, as the oil pressure was never great but she ran well and used little oil.


2009 Pictures Menu
Page 1 / Page 2
Next

Back to Story Section / Pictures 2009 Menu