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This was my first car - I purchased it in 1985, painted it and drove it for a few years. It ran very well with 130,000 miles on it but I wanted better performance. I ended up spending an entire summer putting a Buick V-6 and turbo 350 in it. It would bark the tires in second gear, but it always seemed wound up going down the road. Well, I broke both motor mounts and when I was lifting the motor up to replace them I started eyeballing the 400 small block that was just sitting on the floor next to the car. I took some measurements and decided that it would fit. It dropped right in place (with some minor massaging). It took a couple of days of tinkering to get everything hooked up so it would run, but it was a couple of weeks before the exhaust and radiator were in place. The exhaust manifolds had to be swapped side to side (the exhaust dumped to the front of the motor.) I welded up the spider gears in the stock rearend to help with traction.
(180hp 400ci small block + Turbo 350 with shift kit + 3.73gears) + 1900lb car = Lots O Fun.
The car was a blast to drive (but kind of dangerous - the brakes were inadequate for a 4 cylinder). In this configuration the car ran 13.90s at about 100 in the 1/4. After thrashing on it for a while the rear end gave out. I then put a 10bolt axle from a Buick Skyhawk in the Chevette. It was only about an inch and a half wider than the Chevette rear end! After welding up the spider gears and driving it for a while, I found that the taller 2.42 gears provided greater gas mileage. The car would shift into second gear at about 55 and spin the (skinny 155/80R13) tires for a couple of seconds. It would shift into 3rd gear at about 90 or 95 and bark the tires again! It was fun passing people who were poking along at 40-45 because if I timed it just right I would shift into 2nd gear just as I was beside them. I could just imagine the look on their face when they heard the tires bark on my Chevette as I passed them at 55mph.
The car was very reliable and got decent gas mileage. I sold the car with a wounded 305" motor in it. However it would run 14.6 at the track all day long. It would run beside a 5.0 Mustang even with a junkyard motor in it! After selling the car I really missed it - I even passed up a couple of opportunities to purchase it back. This car is what inspired me to build a Pro Street Chevette. Power to weight ratio!
Engine Swap Information
Here is info on the V-8 Swap (to the best of my recollection)
1) The steering rack was lowered about an inch (from the previous Buick V-6 swap). The steering column also had to be lengthened. I do not believe that this would have to be done for the V-8 swap.
2) I had to grind off a small portion of the engine block casting above the oil filter to clear the steering column shaft.
3) I welded some plates to the boxed "frame-like" portion of the unibody where the original motor mounts were located. I also fabricated some solid motor mounts from steel.
4) The passenger side motor mount was in the way of the fuel pump on the engine so I put a fuel pump block off plate on and used an electric pump.
5) I used Chevy rear dump exhaust manifolds. I swapped them side for side so the exhaust dumped to the front of the engine. I had an exhaust shop bend up pipes from the manifolds to the mufflers. I just put 2 glasspacks where the original muffler was and the exhaust exited in front of the rear axle. I can not remember if the exhaust went under the engine cradle, or over it. Actually the first exhaust system was a crossover pipe connecting the manifolds and a single pipe back to the stock exhaust - this choked the motor big time.
6) I did kind of a hack job to put a radiator in it. I used the smallest 4-core GM style radiator I could find. I think the core was 20" wide x 18" high. The radiator would not fit between the unibody "frame rails" so I notched them out. I also had to remove the shock absorber portion of the bumper mounts. I then fabricated radiator mounts. The stock hood sloped down in the front (The 76 - 78 hoods had the grill as part of the hood and it was sloped in the front). The radiator would not clear this so I had to put a newer hood and grill on it. The radiator was completely concealed - you could not see it from the front of the car.
7) I had to put a short style water pump on the motor and I mounted an electric fan from a Citation in behind the radiator.
8) I had to massage the tunnel with a hammer to clear the TH350. I also cut an access hole in the tunnel to reach the transmission cooler lines to tighten them and dipstick. I had to use a short dipstick and check the fluid through the access hole because the transmission was too tight to the firewall & tunnel to get a stock dipstick through. A Lokar flexible dipstick would probably work.
9) When the stock rearend was in the car, I just had the stock Chevette driveway shortened and balanced at a driveshaft shop. They used a special U-Joint that fit the Chevette driveshaft and the TH350 Yoke. They could also weld an end on the shaft so it would take a standard U-joint.
10) I installed a 10 bolt rearend out of a 79 Buick Skyhawk. It was slightly wider than the Chevette rearend but fit right in the car. I had to cut the spring pockets off from the Chevette rear end and weld them on the Skyhawk rearend. I also had to shorten the Torque arm that connects the Skyhawk rear end to the transmission. I had to fabricate a mount on the tail of the transmission for the torque arm. I had to have another driveshaft shortened for this. It is longer than a Chevette shaft because the torque tube of the Chevette rear end was not used.
11) The stock throttle cable hooked right up to the carb after fabricating a bracket for the manifold.
12) I think that I had to cut a small piece out of the heater box and epoxy an indented region in to clear.
13) When I put the V-6 in, I installed front coils for a diesel air-conditioned Chevette. This seemed to hold the front end up enough for the V-6 and V-8.
14) I used a stock automatic Chevette shifter and just fabricated the linkage from the shifter to the transmission.
* The most difficult part of the swap was fabricating the exhaust and mounting the radiator.