Well, its time to move on from the Rotary, so i have a lot of questions, a few at a time tho :)...I am interested in a 3rd gen camaro. I have about 4500 to work with right now, but can/will invest more progressively.It will be a daily driver. Looking for 325-400 hp with minor bolt ons.
I was wondering which way you guys would go...Buying a clean, running, inexspensive camaro and dropping in a crate 350? Build up my own 350 to drop in?(if so, an estimated how much to piece 2gether a 300-325 hp engine?) Or just buy an Iroc/Z and add bolt ons?
Thanks for helping the newbie :P

 

Try and find yourself an 89-92 350 L98 car with dual cats and 4 wheel disc brakes. Those have the most horsepower to start with and the best options. You will pay more for them, however. Or if you want a 5-speed car, they only came with 305's. Just look under the car at the exhaust for the dual catalytic converters.

You're going to spend about the same amount of money on a crate engine as you are in building your own. ( About $3000-3500 ) However keep in mind the crate engines are all designed for carbureted engines, but they do work with TPI. Get yourself an aftermarket TPI intake manifold; Edelbrock sells the cheapest one and they are all almost the same.

 

I agree buying newer 3rd gen would be your best bet. as for the years. the 350 came in cars from 87-92 ( I dont understand why people dont say that when talking about what years to buy)
Most of the 87-88 Camaros stock run 230 hp. If I do remember right all the 350 Camaros didnt get much past 345HP STOCK.

My 87 Iroc 350 is getting 245mostly stock right now. But we are putting on a Holley stealth ram system on her with some bigger fuel injectors. I know I not expecting much hp with out doing a new chip.

Good luck in your search & hope you find what you are looking for.


Oh do your research on each car you look at before buying. DONT go by the words of the Seller. Check vins Via www.thirdgen.org (they have a VIN decoder) If someone says its a 350 double check. Search the block for the Block number.

 

this is the problem with a camaro because they are a bit of a poor mans car. If you actually plan on hitting 400 hp youre going to need to rebuild the tranny with much stronger parts, and get a new rear end either a moser 12 ($2100) bolt or a ford 9", Then as far as your motor your going to have to ditch the intake and heads and replace em with something better, and id say 400 hp is definitly pushing the limit of what you could run as a daily driver on a stock bottom end, personally i think 350 hp is pushing it for a daily driver.

Then obviously all of the other automatic pieces like fuel pumps, radiators, injectors, possibly water pump, all of the things you have to up grade when hitting that kind of power.

Now onto the encouraging side. If you take a stock L98 (87-92 350 engine) youre starting off running about 14.5's. If you invest in headers and exhaust, some rear end gears, and a better intake, you should have no problem hitting high 13's, and you can even get down to the mid 13's with a few other little hp mods. Past that youre looking at getting pretty intensive with replacing the majority of the stock parts.

 

Ok not stepping on toes here. But Where they heck did you get your numbers at?

Stock 87-89 Camaros with the L98 engines run 14.86s that is if the weather is right along with where they are at in Elevations.
I have NEVER seen a 350 Camaro STOCK run faster than a 14.7 on a good day at sea level.

My 87 Iroc runs 14.7s & I have ran one 14.66s due to the fact the track goes down hill & it was early spring so it was COLD as heck out side. Not only that I am one of the fastest Stock 3rd gens at the track.

Now the 91-92 Camaros may get that. But I havent seen any.

 

lol up tight a little? fine they run mid 14's ive heard of em running as good as 14.5's from the factory but never really seen any evidence of this first hand. Regardless two tenths at stock doesnt really make a big difference if your modding it its still a mid 14 second car.

 

I dunno about having to get a $2000 12-bolt for a 400hp engine either. The Borg-Warner 9-bolt will support that very easily and can be had STOCK in '85-'89 cars. You can pick up a 9-bolt from a junkyard for $300 with no trouble (I should know because I did it.)

I do agree that you're going to need a different induction system to get 400hp though. The TPI is just too restrictive up top and the dinky stock cams weren't exactly great either. Do some heavy head porting (or maybe a Vortec swap,) go with a Holley Stealth Ram or a carbed setup, get a matching cam and a custom-burned chip and you can get there on a stock 350 shortblock. Just make sure you have some subframe connectors and get the trans built before you do.

325hp is a lot easier to attain. Pick up a 350TPI car, port the intake, throw headers and exhaust at it, change the cam and burn a chip and you'll be close.

 

Just because you have never *SEEN* it happen, does not mean it doesnt exist. There are factory freak thirdgens out there, as well. Most are high 14's, but there are quite a few mid to low 14 second thirdgens out there.

 

mine ran very low 14's and i've seen others break 14's with a tire and a good driver.

while 4500 is a great base to start for project car or a decent daily driver you will need 3 times that to hit your goal.

 

He'll need $13,500 to add 80-155hp (245 to the 325-400 he's aiming for)? Wow. Wait! Gotta subtract ~4500 for the car. So $9k for 80-155hp. Now it's looking better.

ctx:
You can probably find a nice 350 car for around 3800-4200. That leaves you with a little bit of money leftover. I bet you could reach your goal with around $1500.

 

haha 1500 dollars to get it to those numbers...ummm when i bought my car i spent 1000 dollars getting it up to pass emissions (all work done my self), getting plates, buying the sticker for the plates, an oil change....etc the list continues. Its going to take a lot more then what you have to get what you want.

 

well it all depends but 325-400 rear wheel horsepower i still stand by my price. a true rear wheel horsepower car at that level, especially 400+ requires alot of things to be changed and work well.

sure you could spend 1,000 or less on nitrous and get there but it would last long....

300 rwhp max with stock L98 component driveline with more then basic boltons is definately do able for cheaper but to go higher costs alot more money.

 

Hold on. I said $1500 to get the power he wanted. Nothing about making the car street legal. It might take $7k to get to pass inspection but I still think with $1500 he could get to the power level he's looking for. Anyway, kandied is right about higher power level and you've got to change all kind of crap. Good luck.

kandied:
What motor are you running? Last I heard it was a 396SBC with a Minram. I'm really curious, and someone told me it should run 10's? Sounds good....

-Corey

 

things have changed everyday with the new setup....my last one that was in the car was a tpis miniramed 383 that ran high 13's.....lasted about 1,000 miles too and worth every penny.



the new setup should be a 396 with a highly modded miniram that doesn't look like a miniram anymore. i'm redoing the shortblock and the fastburn heads have been heavily modified. cam choice has changed back and forth from roller and whatnot.....should be done soon though and i'll let you know.

 

on thirdgen.org/classifieds (where you will find many an iroc or regular z28) some dude has got an 88 iroc-z for 5000 or something
it is modded out like crazy and doesn't look too bad
maybe you could talk him down a little if you want (said he has like 13k invested but i'm not sure on that- he might be making it up)
his post is titled something like "88 Iroc modified" or something, it should be on one of the 1st 3 pages

just a heads up, and welcome to the american side of the fence