Well this winter I want to build a 3rd gen camaro. I am doing it as a project so I can learn. Fast cars have been in my family for awhile, but long story short my family isn't all together anymore. When I was about 10 years old my dad had a 72 chevelle with a 396, my sister (her first car) was an 81 camaro 4 speed with a 350, and my mom was driving a 71 monte carlo, with original everything. We had all these cars all at one time, all being daily drivers year round, even in the winters. Now I am 19 and have some money together to finally build what I have always wanted. Obviously I want to keep the project fairly cheap. This is going to be my year round daily driver. I was thinking an LT1 block, carb'd with a nice cam. I don't care what the car sounds like, I am just trying to get every little bit of horsepower I can out of it. Of course, a nice deep lopey idle sounds cool, but if its not going to deliever horsepower, then I don't want it. Also some headers and exhaust would be good. I need suggestions, I just don't know whats good and whats not. Everytime I find something that seems like it would be good, I find bad reviews on it. Also, a tranny. I am not sure what to do. After talking to my dad, he said the Turbo 350 tranny is much stronger than the 700R4. What would your suggestions be? Sorry for the long post! I just want to get as much information as I can before starting this project. I want it to be perfect come spring time. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

Welcome to TGO.

Do you have a project car your starting with or just beginning to explore your options?

 

I have no project car yet. The guy that is teaching me how to do this is getting the car for me, he wants me to shop for the motor. He said getting the car is the easy part so he wants me to shop for the motor. Of course he will look the motor over before I buy it.

Also, the guy helping me do this build owns an 81 firebird with a 355. His daily drivers are an 80's chevy pickup with a 350 and a newer chevy pickup with a 350 vortech. Hes been an auto mechanic his entire life. I am very happy to know that hes going to teach me.

 

Sounds like you have a lot of planning to do.
It is hard to advice without having all the factors involved such a budget, timeline, etc.

For example, if you have more money than time, then you would definitely want to go with a crate motor, they make some really nice ones at for a fair price.
If you have more time than money, you might want to hit the local junkyard to see what they have for a base to start with.

If you have some talent, get out the cutting torch and toss in a built up big block.

In addition:
Your father is right, the 350 is stronger than the 700R4 and has better gear spacing, but the old school 350 has no overdrive, which if you ever plan to drive the car any distance, then overdrive is truly nice.

Personally nothing I find more annoying than picking up a new F-Body and finding out on the way home that they tossed in a 350 or 400 turbo trans. Sure, its strong, but when I am taching 3000+ rpm at 65 MPH, its just annoying.
On top of this, these cars were originally designed to run hotter, and have an overdrive. So when you take away the overdrive and then drive the car at twice the normal RPM for a long time you can end up with overheat issues?.

Now, others might be able to correct me on this, but I heard that the 4E60 transmission is the modern 350, and has the strength of the 350 turbo but with also an overdrive.
I believe the 4th gen cars had these, I also believe the mid 90s Caprice had them as well.

Just some thoughts.
Let us know what you decide to do.

 

Hopefully, you get a cancer free straight body. If it's not too late, you might want to consider what body style you select. That's very important too! I prefer hard tops, they dont leak and are less prone to flex. But, I also own two t-top cars (they both leak) so, pick your poison. Anyway, before you venture down the full blown motor building road, with all of the crate short, long and complete motors available, it's hard to justify to expense of building a quality motor from scratch anymore. If your on a budget, my advice would be to shop for a newly preassembled late model short block, bolt to your stand and then add the new cam, new heads, new intake, etc. Your budget will dictate the direction you take. You'll have to do your homework here. Go to your machine shop, compare prices and see what it'll cost you to build vs buy. Keep in mind that you'll need to decide how you want to feed this motor?
When it comes to trans selection, well that's a matter of opinion. Everyone has one.

Good luck

 

Well by the time winter comes, I will have about $2,000 in my savings, plus I have been building credit with banks so I can pickup a loan. My budget will probably be around $3,500-$4,000 depending on how much the bank with give me. Currently I have $1,200 in savings so I have been slowly looking for a motor. I had a guy call me last night from my craigslist post trying to sell me a 383 stroker for $3,500. Thats a little high for my budget lol. I told him my plans and how thats just too much. He said hes got a 350 out of a corvette in his garage that he hasnt touched yet (im assuming its an LT1). He said him and his father split on it awhile back but decided not to use it so its just been sitting. He said hes going to call his dad tonight to see if its ok that he sells it and then hes gonna call me back with a price.

Also I am selling my current car for extra money too. I am parting out the system in it. I should get at least $500 for the car and another $500 for the system so theres another $1,000 there. If I really need cash I can sell some junk around here. I am a pack rat with tons of cool stuff that I don't really need lol... Like for instance, I have dual monitors set up on my computer.

 

Well I dont see the point in an LT1 setup but hey to each his own. Find yourself a nice 3rdgen 1st. There are many for sale some cheap some not so cheap. See what kinda goodies the car comes with oboiusly you want a V8 car. Ive seen some sitting in junk yards with 400's installed under the hood granted I never had the cash to pick up one of these "305" builder engines but hey you never know. Use what you have, I love 700R4's nice to be able to stick a set of 3.73's in the back and keep descent rpms on the highway. Your budget is ok but considering you dont have a car yet and parts can gt pricey you might just want to hold off a little longer so you can do it right the 1st time. I cant get any fbody around here for less then 2k no matter what condition but that changes depending on area you live in.

 

I am sure I could find a nice third gen with no motor and tranny fairly cheap. Theres one just down the road with a junk tranny and a 350 thats about to die for only $800. The kid even thinks the cars in great shape too. The LT1 I think is a great motor. They are easy to find and are in my price range. They come with around 300hp out of the box, which is great for a stock fuel injected 350.

 

Agreed.

But, you said LT1 "block" and "carb'd". That doesn't make a lick of sense to me, either. If you want a carb'd engine, get a Gen I SBC. If you want an LT1, then keep it fuel injected - especially if a daily driver.

 

Sorry, what I meant was buy a complete LT1 350 and swap the fuel injection with a carb. Would I have to get the computer tuned and all that stuff with fuel injection? I just thought it would be easier and cheaper to just go with a carb setup. From what I have read, carbs are better for for throttle response. But, whatever you guys think is better. Remember though, I am trying to stick around my budget and get as much horsepower as I can. It will be my daily driver, but I think the only time I will have problems is in the winter. I will have to warm the motor up nice before driving, but I do that on any car I have in the winter, even my little 4 cylinder beaters.

 

there is no point in getting an LT1 and converting it to carb unless you have an LT1 sitting around and are dying to use it (which you dont). IMO the only thing that is better about the LT1 than the gen 1 SBC's is decent fuel injection (compared to TPI/TBI).

build a gen 1 SBC 350 if you want it carbed. cheaper for the most part and more parts available/sitting around. carbs are not friendly with winter and cold temps.

if you want an LT1, swap the engine over, as well as the harness and computer and you should be good.

 

I would build a 350 with vortec heads and a comp. XE 262 cam. You could buy a goodwrench engine and swap the cam and heads. Look around there are several companys selling just this combination right. Check Scoggen Dickie chervrolet, Summit racing and others.