PAFORM350

I am going to be working on my 1992 Formula 350 and I guess this will serve as a "diary" of sorts of everything that takes place.

Intro:
I purchased this 1992 Formula 350 from a guy in Virginia that I had previously sold my immaculate ridiculously low mile 1988 Formula 350 to. I called him out of the blue and asked him if he wanted to sell me my car back and I wound up buying this one. I've had this car since 2005. I kept it mostly stock but then added some bolt ons. They included:

1) Dyno Don's 1-3/4 off road headers
2) SLP Cold Air Induction
3) Boss Hawg 3000 Stall Convertor
4) NOS 5151 Wet Kit
5) MSD Wires
6) Flowmaster Exhaust

I took the car to Richmond Dragway completely stock and it ran 14.43.

After the bolt ons I took it to Virginia Motorsports Park where it ran 12.41 at 109 mph.

Her's a video of that on You Tube.

PAFORM350

Here are a couple of pics from that day at the track

CharcoalBird

iTrader: (4)

I love Formulas. What is next?

Javier87z28

iTrader: (1)

Wow nice improvement! What are the plans for the bird?

PAFORM350

So fast forward a couple of years and I moved to Florida. I was driving the car home from work one night and it felt a little sluggish. I gave it some gas and something didn't feel right. This is the end result of that:

PAFORM350

So I guess I went through what many of us third gen owners had to do. What now? I thought of probably all the same things many of you have. LS1, LS6, stoker, options, options, options. Well I finally decided I wanted to try to keep it as close to the original engine as I could. So after many trips to ebay and dealing with a seller called FParts out of Bristol, PA, I finally bought a 1991 Corvette L98 with 44,000 miles on it from them. They are actually a business called Contemporary Corvette. These guys were absolutely fantastic. I paid a great price for the engine and I'll post some pics of it.

Javier87z28

iTrader: (1)

Nice how much did you pay for it if you dont mind my asking, and 44k is not bad mileage at all lol wonder why they took that motor out the vette in the first place

PAFORM350

Here is a pic of the way I got it. The second pic is with all the Vette stuff removed

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Holy crap, only need 2seconds and no revving to figure out the rods are knocking.
That sounds like more than 1, good work! lol .
Don't run it anymore if your going 4 a rebuild. (it could be 2 far gone now)..

On the Vet motor, if you end up not using those plug wire separators and dizzy let me know, I need them for a clone build.

PAFORM350

Heres a pic of the engine on a 'picker ready to go on the stand

PAFORM350

Well here's a couple of side notes:
1) Gonna have to change the oil pan (will be using a Canton)
2) Going to need a new water pump (gonna use Edelbrock 8881)
3) Had to buy a new balancer. Here is a pic of the reason why, as you can see the rubber ring has come apart in a few places.

I ordered a new GM replacement

PAFORM350

So now i have a ton of stuff to do before I actually put it into the car.
I am going to painstakingly detail the engine and paint it with the POR15 kit. I plan on using the Vette valve covers after I fully restore them. Then I need to take out the "knocker" and detail the engine bay. Ill keep posting with the progress.

PAFORM350

I paid $1800.00 for the engine. It was out of a rear collision Vette that was written off

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

You're going to need to get a adapter harness for the distributor to run it in the bird or just use the stock dizzy from the bird..

PAFORM350

Here is the website from the company I bought the engine from. They sell a ton of F-Body parts. Mostly 4th and 5th gen Fbody but also have some stuff for C4 Vettes. They also have a ton of LS1 stuff.

http://www.contemporarycorvette.com/

PAFORM350

I saw that piece about the distributor. Do you know where I can get a harness for it? I was going to try to figure something about with a harness from MSD as I plan on getting a 6AL box

PAFORM350

I also plan on having a T56 Swap done by Bruce at Hawk's Third Gen.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Its something like this.
http://tpiparts.net/inc/sdetail/6845

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

What exactly is that rubber ring for?does it have a purpose?

raynehr

The rubber ring reduces viabration. If that ring weren't there, when you torque the car, you will feel the balancer at your feet. Not good for street use, I have ran some without the ring on a couple drag cars and they feel like they are gonna beat you to death..