Good luck. I'll need to see the dyno slips, with the appropriate outside confirmation, of course. If it gives you 375rwhp, I'll concede. I seriously doubt it, though. I could give you many reasons why you're going down the wrong road, considering you mentioned both a T56 and gas mileage, but I'm guessing you won't listen. So, good luck.

 

well lets hear what you have to say at least. I think the T-56 could give great gas mileage. Ive heard of MANY people who have used that tranny and had great results as far as gas mileage goes. with a 0.5:1 final overdrive you wont get better economy out of a 350

 

You haven't clicked on my page, have you?

I've been running a T56 in my '80 since early '95. I get 18/25mpg out of a Qjet. You can see that my engine is mild, and a low-budget build. In a lighter '88, I expect I'd go mid-13s. Here are some thoughts-

If you REALLY want gas mileage, you're going to have to tame your (naturally aspirated) power wants. A 500hp Gen I/II small block is not going to "like" the street. At all. You'll end up with a motor that will REQUIRE more octane than you'll care to put in it, and 6th gear will be largely useless. You can't lug a 240*-cammed 350 around at 1500rpm. They don't like it, at all.

Do you have an engine, and what's the budget? Let's start there.

 

i dont have an engine yet-what's in my car now is a newly rebuilt 2.8l (15k miles on it. it was new when i put it in last year) and a rebuilt 700R4 (about 1000 miles on it sinse rebuilt). Id like to build this engine and put it in before the parts in my car lose their value due to mileage.

The budget all depends on what kind of money ill be making once i start my new job this summer. I'm aiming to make about 65-70k a year once i get good at it. at start i'll probably be running around 40k per year. more specifically, i think i'll be getting.... if i had to guess, compared to the other guys and how well they work, i'd say i'll probably end up with about 900 gross a week at first. so count on that, and I'm basically just gonna use that money to piece together all the parts i need until the engine is done. i'd like to spend 4 grand or less on the engine

 

'88 Camaro and no engine. Hmmm...

If you want to build an engine-

Remember, torque is king with a T56.

1. Get a roller block ('87-95). A good hydraulic roller cam will help build street power.
2. Keep the compression around 10:1.
3. 383 rotating assembly from Scat or Eagle, with decent lighter forged pistons.
4. Zero deck the block.
5. Something like a Comp XR276HR cam, at the most. Again, don't lose the low-end torque for 6th.
6. AFR 195s or Etec 200s for heads. Good springs to match the cam (1.43" at least, or beehives).

Figure spending about $1000 on machine work. Then, you have to acquire a decent block ($250), and all the parts. Keeping under $4000 will be a challenge, but doable. Not with fuel injection, though. Holley's kits are $2000 all by themselves.

You have another option, one that not everyone has taken-

Get a junkyard LS1/T56 combo, and drop that in. Both can be had for around $4000 or less, and figure another $1500 for "incidentals" to get it in. LS1 is a 3rd gen is a monster. AND, the 5.7 LS1s -do- have the potential to lay down 400rwhp with heads/cam packages. They are that well-designed.

Bone stock LS1 in a 3rd gen will take you into the 12s. Heads and mild cam and you're in the 11s.

Think about it.

Oh, also think about this- your car is likely to have MAD wheel hop with some power. You'll need better control arms/bushings for the rear axle. I know this, because I used to own an '88 Camaro.

Todd

 

thats basically exactly the same setup that i've already picked out. cept Im not gonna go for a 383... remember, gas mileage and build expense are factors. I first started lookin into a 383 but I couldnt find a crank that was made for the single piece rear main seal block, and secondly, it just got to a point where it wasnt worth the cost of the build anymore.

I still think im gonna give my setup a shot. I cant find anything that would seem to fit my needs better and still be within reason

 

I hate to be negative, but if cost and gas mileage is a concern, don't plan on having a 499 flywheel HP 355. You would have to rev it pretty high. This makes an engine real expensive. Fuel injection doesn't guarantee great gas mileage either. Tuning can be difficult with a big cam, and this doesn't help gas mileage.

As someone stated above, you can't use sixth gear of a T56 with a wild 355. I have to agree with this statement. I have a big cam LT1 with a Vortech, and I rarely even use 5th on my T56 because the motor doesn't run well at low rpm. 5th gear can only be used on the highway. 6th is useless unless you want speeding tickets, because you can't use it unless your doing 85 mph or more.

450 HP with the AFR 195's on a street 355 is a very realistic number. 499 HP is unrealistic. Unless you really know your sh*t, have alot of money to spend, and have alot of access to a dyno, trying for 499 naturally aspirated HP, is setting yourself up for failure. I have seen a 355 with AFR 195's that made 524 HP, but it was built by a well know engine builder (I want to say it was Joe Sherman but I can't remember, I know this doesn't help my arguement any) but this was after a YEAR of swapping solid roller cams and other parts, and tuning, tuning, tuning. Keep in mind, 524 is the max HP number a very experienced engine builder could get out of a pump gas 355 with AFR195's and no custom parts besides camshafts.

Eagle does make a cast steel, one piece rear main seal, 3.75 inch stroke crankshaft. Try the 383 setup. The increased stroke will help driveability on the street with a big cam, and will help HP out as well.