My 350 was rebuilt at least 10 years ago. I've treated it rough and now it's time to rebuild or replace it. I want to go with a lot more power though. I'm looking a two different options now. 1.Rebuild or build another 350 with beefed up internals so that it can handle an carbed ati procharger system (possibly with an intercooler) or 2. Buy a Motown 415 small block crate engine (460hp, 490torque, 9.5:1 compression). I was hoping i could get better gas mileage with the supercharged option. Please tell me which you think would be best or if you have any better ideas. I want to stick with a small block, i want lots of power, reliability, and gas mileage is a concern too.

 

I say stroke the 350 to a 383 with a turbo system and drop a 3.73 posi 9" rear-end in it. And if you want good mileage, drop in a 700-r tranny 4-speed overdrive.

 

go with a crate and call it a day.... you can always add on a charger or turbo later....

 

I agree, I'd go with the crate engine, and maybe later I'd add some type of power adder.

 

Do the crate motor. You'll have a hard time coming up with something comparable for a cheaper cost that makes equivilant power, unless you work at an engine shop yourself.

Now, if you want to go forced injection, make sure you let the folks who will be building the crate motor know. www.strokermotor.com is a good place to start.

 

Heads/cam lt1/ls1 with nitrous=badass in a 1st gen.

 

theres just something cool about that isnt there!

 

**** the crate engines and the ls1's or lt1's builkd a 406 or build a 383 with alum heads big victor intake msd ignition grab 500 horse and drive it everywhere and be reliable!
All my 383 sbc customers drive to the track and home(over 50 miles one way) on street tires run in the mid 11's running 120+mph and drive it to every cruise night around during the week!What more can you ask from your muscle car.

 

Yea, thats good and all, but what kind of milage would you get, maybe 10 if your lucky, throw a head/cam ls1 in there and you can make your 500hp and still get in the mid 20mpg on the highway, carbs are good for raw power but fuel injection is just as good if not better for power plus it is more driveable and gets better fuel economy.

 

Actually we have yielded great highway and around town mileage on a three speed trans of up to 15 mpg..And if you throw an OD trans at it you would easily be around the level of an LS1 LT1...
Dont get me wrong I love ls1 lt1's but not in old cars,I very much believe if its old it needs a carb set-up/..

 

if moneys no object then do a TT ls1 if budget minded do a crate engine with a nice cam or rebuild the one you got with good heads and cam

 

yea, i had a 79 camaro with a semi built 355, carbs are good and all but i'm just saying fuel injection is the best of both worlds, my 95 is faster than my 79 was and it gets over 10mpg more.

 

bring it to my shop and ill change your mind!

 

lol, yea i sold it before i got my 95'. It all takes money, whatever route you go its gonna cost you in the form of cylinder heads and valvetrain, the two parts that most influence how much power a motor is capable of making so i guess a better question for the original post is how much are you willing to spend. Once you have all of that figured out you can decide on what parts will work together to maximize the power and still keep it to you original requirements. BTW, sorry but i don't need any shop to do my work, i have allready built an engine and am going on my second this summer.

 

If you can afford it LS1 is the way to go no doubt, if you cant afford that i'd say LT1. Fuel injection i believe is MUCH better than a Carb. Technology has increased over the past few decades so you should take advantage of it if you cant. LS1 +6 speed +basic mods = Fast old camaro with REALLY good gas mileage.

William