Hey all,
I'm new to the domestic scene - previously owned a twin turbo car. But I have always loved the 60's Camaros. Recently I have been looking to buy an SS, and the question of supercharging came up.
Is it safe to supercharge a stock SS engine? If not, what components do you need to replace before supercharging - and what are the parts that you all would recommened?
I believe the SS engine is a 396, but i'm very new with this cars so any help would be appreciated.
Thankyou for your help,
Jason

 

Check out www.vortech.com or www.procharger.com . I don't think it's advisable to SC a stock engine. I'm not an expert, but I think a complete rotating assembly is a good start. SCs will help poor flowing stock heads, but you need to know the cam specs. Especially seperation. Don't forget about the transmission and everything else behind the flywheel/flexplate. Then there is the cost of superchargers for carbed cars. Vortech loves the mighty Demon. Procharger/Demon doesn't recommend using Demon/Procharger. 4150 for procharger is recommeded with procharger. No AVS for either.
Intake manifolds, fuel pumps, ignitions etc, etc, etc.

Just a thought.

Plan it before you do it.

Simcerely,
A very car parts poor 67 RS owner.

 

It can be iffy to supercharge a stock motor, but it depends on which engine you have. Off the top of my head, I think the cutoff for 4 bolt mains on the 396 was the 350 hp and up versions. If you have 4 - bolt mains on the one you are looking at, and everything is in good shape, I think you'll be fine. The 69 I have has been a drag car since 83, and I have never had trouble with the bottom end. And it obviously sees some pretty good abuse. Other than a bi-yearly cleanup of bearings, rings, and gaskets, I haven't touched the bottom end. It is all stock parts.

 

I was thinking about supercharging a 454, then dropping it in the camaro. What would you *recommend* that i do, to be safe.... ??
I'm guessing a sc'ed 454 would put out around 700hp? am i close?

 

You could get a 350/300 hp engine, 396/325, 396/350 and 396/375 hp engines in the 69 SS Camaro. If you were going to supercharge any of them, you would need to build the short block to handle it. If you were going to drop a 454 into a Camaro, you would still need to make sure the bottom end can handle the extra hp. Then the transmission needs to be beefed up as well as the rear. The car would need subframe connectors to keep it from twisting. The stock rear suspension won't be very good at trying to hook up 700 hp either. Were you planning on running a carb or EFI?

 

you can do it with a stock bottom end BBC. The one thing I would buy is forged low compression pistons, good rod bolts, main stud kit. If you're going to stick with stock BBC heads, look around for some 781 casting heads, unless you're going aftermarket.

Now, if you want to spend some money, buy a forged rotating assembly, while you're at it, aluminum heads, ARP everything.

 

unless your getting a good deal on that 396 SS or it's not a numbers matching car I personally wouldn't want to do that. Just for the fact that eventually you're probably going to destory the engine and the numbers matching blocks are getting harder and harder to find. I don't know...just make sure the numbers don't match up for a high engine 396 (like 350hp+) those are getting rarer by the moment.

But do what you like...if you want to buy a yenko camaro...rip out the 427 to put in a 2 cycle motorcycle engine in it. If you'd be happy...go for it, but don't send me the pictures! lol