383TAGTA

I have an 87 GTA with over 140,000 miles and all the freeze plugs need to be change because they started to leak. The car is out of commission now so rather than band-aid the engine, I have decided to replace it with a brand new GM Crate engine.
I have decided to order the Goodwrench 350 92-93 Caprice/Fleetwood replacement engine from Scoggin Dickey for $1545 but with a cam change. I already have a modded 383 AFR/Miniram Third gen so I want to keep this third gen extremely driveable and reliable, must pass CA emission, but I want some respectable power around 300 to the flywheel would be nice. My main goal is to run mid to high 8's in the 1/8 mile. I'm in a budget so here's the choice I have explored.

I want to change the measly roller cam this replacement engine comes with. These are the choices I have looked into.

Production LT4 cam from the GrandSport Corvette made 330h.p
(spring upgrade required) Recommeded by Scoggin Dickey said to be proven to make 300 horsepower in an upgraded TPI setup

ZZ-4 Crate motor cam
(spring upgrade required)

Ram Jet/383H.T. crate roller cam because no spring upgrade is needed.

Crane 2032HR cam, no spring upgrade required

Scoggin Dickey would ship the engine with the cam change so that the only thing I need to do is bolt on my intake and exhaust and accessories.

Having no money leftover for intake and exhaust mods nor chip tuning what cam would you select to meet my goals?

I'm eventually going to change the lower base, upgrade to larger runners, do exhaust and burn a custom chip for this setup but not now and I need to do this swap ASAP.

vwdave

IIRC, the caprice motor might have had swirl port heads, I'm not sure though. If you get a L98 motor (I bought mine for like, $1900/core) you have the L98 heads which will not require spring changes. You also will not need to have the computer programmed for it.

-edit- I was talking about putting a LT4 cam in there.

DJP87Z28

That Goodwrench 350 may not be the best buy when you consider the poor cam and heads that come with it. And depending on the intake it is going to be nowhere near 300 HP.
My opinion.

Hasselhof

Hi.

If all thats wrong with the engine is leaking freeze plugs, I would fix it, since it costs almost nothing. My engine L98 lasted over 200k before it broke. So drive it as long as it lasts and save up money for better parts.

regarding cam, When I had my engine rebuilt I got the Crane 2032 cam, Best performance (mild) cam I have tried, very pleased with it. good in the 2000 to 5500 rpm range. Idle still very good and it runs perfect on the stock chip, if you bump fuel pressure a few points up.