Project:91RS

I have a 1991 Camaro RS with a 305. I want to put a 350 in it but I'm not sure which one. I want it to be as simple as possible but I want around 400hp. Is this possible? Most crate engines I've seen have a carb, could I get one with the TBI set-up but not give up any power or performance? Could I still use the stock 700R4 trans thats bolted to the 305 (bell housing, flywheel and everything)?
Now lets say I get a cheap crate engine(200 something hp for like $1200), put Edelbrock Performer heads and intake on it with an MSD Distributor.
Would there be any use in putting the (I guess I could say "stock") 350 heads and intake on the 305 and save it for another project?
Also, exactly what all would I have to get if I got the cheap engine and replaced the top end as opposed to getting a complete turn key engine?
Any advice would help alot. This is my first project and I want to do it right (without paying a pro to do it for me). I've done some work on a few cars before but this is the most involved I've gotten.
Also, please excuse if I've gotten any terminology wrong (bear with me, I start classes in the fall for my Associates in Auto. Tech.)

Fyrstorm

iTrader: (1)

Firstly, welcome to Thirdgen

What do you have now? Carb or ? If you are swapping carb to another carb it's pretty straight forward, still things to remember though even in that swap. If you are going from Carb to fuel injection it's a bit more involved (computers, fuel pump, etc).

The 700R4 mates up with a 350. If you are going to put 400hp in front of it though, it'll wear out much sooner - I am in that situation right now. 23 year old tranny behind a new motor. Not saying it will fall out of the car as soon as you put it in, but you definately can't hammer on it all the time and I've been pretty gentle on it but I can hear something once in a while under there so I'm expecting it to go at some point. If you are going to put that kind of HP in there, you'll probably want to think about a torque converter upgrade as well ($300-1000ish depending, mine was $500).

The cheaper route, has you more involved. You might want to buy the basic motor with pistons and heads already on, and do the rest yourself (all accessories like alt, water pump, intake, carb, pulleys, etc). The great thing about turnkey - all the parts match. But you do pay a bit for that leisure.

There are many options out there, I ultimately went with ordering one right from GM - comes with 2 year warranty and 80 000km and it's turnkey. I splurged though, it was $5300. I'm in Canada so shipping a lesser engine from the US brought me up around that number anyway. They have quite a range of motors on their website:

http://www.gmperformanceparts.com/Parts/showcase.jsp

And then there is the usual sites like :

http://www.summitracing.com
http://www.paceparts.com/

You can try ebay, but read carefully. There are some pretty nice rebuilts on there with decent warranties, but some have too much bling like Five7kid pointed out for me when I asked this same question a year and a bit ago.

Hope that helped! I like the chance to return the help that this site gave to me.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

The cheap Goodwrench 350 has dished pistons and horrible large chamber heads for 8.0:1 compression ratio. Fine for that appliance service van that is abused by the employee who only sticks around for 6 months, but you really don't want to go there.

Even with better heads, the dished pistons will still be a liability. If you put those Goodwrench heads on a 305, compression will be even lower.

A '91 RS 305 originally came with TBI. 400 HP out of TBI is a pretty tall order - possible, but you need to mind your P's and Q's. If you are keeping TBI, check out the stickies on that forum.

Plan on spending about $1000 for exhaust upgrades alone.

Project:91RS

I planned on spending some on the exaust anyway. My main concern with the carb was the cars computer. Thats why I wanted to keep the TBI. I've heared of the tranny having problems when you switch from a tbi to a carb. Is there anyway around this?
Also, to Fyrstorm, good point on the tranny. I had a transmission shop rebuild the 700R4 a few months ago when it wouldn't shift above 1st gear. I've been pretty happy with it since then. Besides an upgraded torqe converter, what else would I need to do to the tranny?

Fyrstorm

iTrader: (1)

If you know someone that can beef up the strength of it for you that'd be great, I haven't looked into that too much so I can't really comment on what exactly that entails but if you look in the tranny section:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...ns-drivetrain/

There's quite a few threads on doing that. There was an "Extreme 4x4" episode online but I don't see it on their site now, that beefed up a 700r4 and showed what that entailed. maybe someone posted that one on youtube so you can see what is done.

Like Five7kid said, have a look at the "stickies" at the top of the engine section to see what going from TBI to Carb needs. Not being lazy but no need to repost it if it's already around

But I did do a quick search for you and here's a couple of threads:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/carb...onversion.html
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/carb...bed-383-a.html