I recently bought a 78 elky, with the v6, I am purchasing a 350, and want to know if it is possible to use the old components e.g. air conditioner, alternator, regulator and such, or will i have to buy a whole new electrical system?

In general, the accessories themselves will be the same for V6 or V8 cars, so they can be reused. But you will need the accessory mounting brackets from the V8 to make them work.

Exceptions to both statements based on the specifics of the year and equipment in your car and the one the V8 engine came from. But the research is the fun of these mods...

Ok, thanks will do

I think I will need at least a new distributor right? what about the alternator, or starter?

Distributor will not work, alternator will be fine as long as you don't start adding accessories like a BIG power amp for a stereo system.

thats good new as I am on a budget. What about the starter, will it be strong enough to turn a v8 over?

I don't think the starter will work, because of the different fly wheel. You can get one cheap at a junk yard or local small motor shop.

Look at it this way... For all practical purposes in this case, a Chevy V6 is a Chevy V8 with 2 cylinders whacked off. Most of the external parts of the two will interchange with each other as long as the mounting location is the same, an example if the power steering pump on you Elky is on the driverside on the V6 then it will be on the driverside on the V8 if you use all the same brackets, alternator on V6 on the passenger side same on the V8. External parts that will not interchange are intake manifold and exhaust manifolds. Internal parts that will not work are crank, camshaft, distributor and heads. Internal parts that will interchange are oil pump, valve train components (with the exception of roller lifter engines vice non roller lifter engines), and connecting rods(if same size bearing journals) and pistons but only if the two engines have the same stroke and same bore and of course in which case you'll be short of everything by two. Chevy uses basically two, different style automatic transmission flywheels, in their internally balanced engines (the 400 ci is an externally balanced engine and has a weight on it that makes it not useable for your needs, there are cases where it may be used (building a 383 out of a 350) but it's a complicated matter and to lenghty to explain here). The two flywheels concerned are 153 tooth and 168 tooth. You have a 153 tooth flywheel on your V6...as long as you use a 153 tooth flywheel on the V8, you will be able to use the same starter. Some older high performance 350s' did use 168 tooth flywheels. So in answer to your original question and so I didn't totally confuse you, you can use the water pump, steering pump, alternator, pollution pump, all the drive pulleys, cooling fan and belts and all the mounting brackets, and the starter will also work (this should be shimmed correctly). Make sure that when go to drop in the V8 that all the holes are drilled and tapped on the V8 cylinder heads in the same locations as the heads on the V6, otherwise you will not have the bolt holes in the right locations to bolt all the brackets up to hold all these accessories on. This sometimes happens when the heads get reinstalled on the opposite side of the engines cylinder banks. Also do not use the Harmonic vibration dampner from the V6 on the V8...I recommend you get a new one for a 350 as these do wear out with age and can also be damaged if not removed properly. And as "greywolf" said there are exceptions...do you know the difference between a one piece rear main seal engine and a two piece rear main seal engine? Are you confused yet? Remember, there's a wealth of knowledge here on ECC, if you run into a problem, there's usually someone who will be able to answer a question you may have within a relatively short period of time, so hang in there and oh yeah, have some fun! One day you'll be able to show off that Elky, and say "I did that" :lol: