I am looking to turn it into a dirt oval car for street stock and I know it is gonna be a money pit for that but it was my Dad's car and I want to keep it useful so what it the largest iron block V-8 could fit in place of the V-6 that came stock with it I am thinking a 305 to 383 I am not looking to go with the vortec ls's I want something a bit different thatln the standard and for a trans I am looking at an old tranny out of a police interceptor so if anyone has a better recommendation for a decent trans to handle the power from a tuned small block V-8.
And yes I will post updates as progress happens I am not making a whole lot as I am a mechanic who is working for Firestone atm.

 

If your looking to make a race car out of it the engine choices are going to be up too the race track or the class. Most street stock classes have a max cubic inch rule, which is probably either 355 or 358 cid.and might even be 305 cid . Because G body cars are getting rare putting a newer body on the car is happening a lot more often. It's probably cheaper to buy a race car and hang the body panels. Or you will also need to find a frame to put the car on or custom design the car with a different sub-frame to hold the engine and build the same for the rearend. If your thinking about keeping it FWD you'll either need to buy (V-8 Archie's) or make the adaptor plate to bolt the trans to the engine because the bolt patern is different. Hope this gives you a idea of what you need to do for the project. Good luck

 

FWD or RWD?

Keep in mind that the engine doesnt change externally in size with larger cubic inches within the same family. But assuming you're planning a RWD swap, it will all be custom fabbed in so you can literally go any engine size you want. Dunno I'd do all that work for an iron 305 though.