Motor swap
 

New guy here. I finally have a Monte after waiting 10 years to be able to afford another one. My first was a 79 Landau I picked up when i was 17 for $500, needless to say it was a total loss after driving it for about 2 months. 10 years later I now have an 84 CL. It's the v6 version and I want to put a v8 in it. I have found an old chevy 307 for $400, but I know nothing about the 307's. Is it worth getting and putting in the car or should I keep looking for a cheap 350 or 305.

If it was me, I'd go for a 350...

I wouldn't even think of anything less then a 350.

If you plan on building a 'grocery getter' a 305 or 307 would be a fairly economical engine, but both lack any real performance potential. If you want more 'get up and go' the 350 would be a better choice. If you want to build something that will roll the pavement up behind it when you hit the go pedal a 383 stroker would be my choice, but you will also need to strengthen the entire drive train so it will stand up to the additional torque.

A 307 is better than a 305 (and not just because of 2 ci difference) but any 350, 2-bolt or 4-bolt main is, in my opinion, a 100% better engine than the 307 or 305. And I've had a lot of experience with all of them. If you can find a good deal on a 327 or 400 small block those are killer engines too. A 327 has a 4 inch bore like a 350. The rule of thumb I go by is stay away from anything smaller than a 327. Good luck oh by the way is your v6 fuel injected? If so you can use a TBI 350 out of a truck and leave it fuel injected. Have to put a v8 computer in it, but other than that it should be just like replacing it with another v6, you already got the fuel pump in the tank, all the wiring for sensors and what not and I think you have to change motor mounts but I'm not 100% on that, you might be able to use your v6 mounts. We've done a couple 4.3 S-10s like this and all we had to do was put a v8 computer in it and change motor mounts. Everything else was plug-in, bolt-on and go.