alright, im planning a 350 swap into my 86 camaro. im looking to build the 350 up to around 300 hp. what would be the cheapest way to get there? also how much would a t56 transsmision build up cost me? sorry about starting a new thread on this, im shure someone els has done it. but ive looked and i cant really find what i want. Thanks, josh

What's in the Camaro now?

right now its the 2.8l v6 with the 5 speed manual tranny. i know it would probaly be less work to just get a v8 car, but i kinda want to stay with this one.

I to went from v6 to v8. Its defintily easier and possibly cheaper to just buy the v8.

is it really that much harder? ive kinda been getting mixed responses on this.

Well youll need to get your motor mounts set up and lined up right for a v8. Manual it would seem, so youll need a flywheel, bellhousing, clutch, pressure plate, fork, transmission all for a v8, and I guess thats the main parts.

First, let's move this from Tech to Engine Swap, since that's more of what you've got going on. And, you can read the stickies in the top section of this forum that apply to the various options.

Going from V6 to any V8 is certainly more involved than going from 305 to 350. But, that doesn't necessarily mean "a whole lot harder".

Now, 300 HP and T56. Easiest and probably least expensive? Get an LT1/T56. If not 300 HP, easy to get there. Certainly more HP than an advertised 300 HP crate engine. Plus the long-term advantages of EFI. You can get a good used complete set-up for less than it would cost you to build a reliable 300 HP Gen I SBC. A good T56 set-up is going to run you about $1500, so an LT1/T56 for twice that is a pretty good deal.

A step up from that in expense, difficulty, economy, and power is LS1/T56.

alright, thats probably what i will go with. but i kinda wanted to get the experiece of building the engine. and i wanted to go carburated. all the prom tuning and fuel injection stuff just seems a little over my head. also how much horsepower/tourque would a lt1 have? and would a automatic transmission be any cheaper then a manual? thanks for the info by the way.

If you can post on this forum, you can learn to do PROM tuning, especially the later ones.

LT1 HP is around 275 stock - that's net flywheel HP, with the engine running the accessories and intake & exhaust system as-installed in the car. Torque I don't recall off the top of my head, but in the 300 range.

Auto will cost less than T56. If you want the experience of building an engine, find one that needs refreshing and build it (just make sure you pay less for it).

how much less expensive would it be for the automatic? also there is the avalability problem of the LT1. how hard is it to find one? and how much of a price difference between a carbed 350 with the same hp as the LT1?

Autos go for anywhere from $500-$1000 less than T56's.

Do a search on eBay for completed listings. One guy scored a complete engine/PCM/harness/accessories/4L60E for less than $1000. Another complete Roadmaster engine/PCM/harness/accessories sold for $255. Another w/T56 sold for $3200 - a bit steep, if you ask me, not sure if he was happy with the deal because he hasn't left feedback yet (might have gotten the whole car).

Keep your eyes open, you can find a decent deal.

if its realy that much cheaper i think im going to have to go automatic. if i used that extra 500-1000$ to build up the 350 would it be any better then the lt1?

anything? does anyone have any suggestions on how to get a 350 to about 300 hp?

Depends upon what 350 you're starting with.

Good heads, then headers, cam, intake. Poor heads, like the majority of 350 heads out there, the heads, headers, cam, & intake.

im most likey going to just get a motor with all the accsesories out of a truck or caprice. what cam would go good with the vortec heads and an edlebrock preformer rpm?

Something in the XR260-ish range. Depends upon whether you modify the heads for more than about .450" lift. Figure on new valve springs at a minimum.

i would want to modify the heads a little bit. something like a mild porting job and new springs, but the new springs would have to stay in the stock spring socket. i know they are available, from scoggin-dickey. do you know how much more lift i could get with these?

ok i did some more reaserch and this is a setup/plan that i found.
start with a reliable 350 shortblock
a rebuild kit from northernautoparts.com with pistons/cam
vortec heads with new valve springs good for .05'' of lift
edlbrock preformer rpm intake
holly 650? 750?
what cam whould go with this, im looking for something agressive. would a

comp extreme cam with 274/286 duration and 4.9'' lift work
or a comp extreme with 268/280 duration and 4.8'' lift?
also what pistons would i want, dish of flattop?
sorry for all the questions, and if anything is rediculously out of preportion. im still learning.

If you get a 350, then get Vortec heads, reconsider. The best deal you can get for Vortec heads is one of these http://www.sdparts.com/categories/en...dHeadKits.aspx .

Either cam you listed will require modification to the heads for more lift. Just springs or some eBay "kit" for more lift won't cut it. You need to have the guides cut to get the lift needed. sdparts does that for you with the modified Vortec kits.

650 would be the smallest carb you should consider, 750 fine especially with the larger cam.

Pistons depends upon the compression ratio, which depends upon the deck height and head gasket thickness. 12cc dish/relief piston with .040" total quench height with 64cc heads will yield about 9.7:1 compression. For comparison, stock 3rd gen V8 compression was 9.3-9.5:1 (except early LG4, which I won't count).

if i do get the vortec heads from scoggin-dicky,the holly 750 and one of those cams, how much hp would i be looking at? also would i want the commpresion any higher or would any higher not be able to run on pump gas?

question about this scoggin dickey kit you mentioned. I was just reading it over and clicked on the one for an upraded roller cam set up. It says the kit comes with everthing you need including gm stamped steel rocker arms. Are these rocker arms good enough for say a compxr282hr?

hey man i am building a 1977 pontiac firebird esprit. it has a 69 chevy 350, and a 85 T5 borg warner tranny i drilled new motor mount hole and was good to go although i had to get a little tricky for the engine tranny mix but i did it.
So basically my point is with a certain amount of effort you can do anything.
Plus you can get over a 1k horse out of a 350 its all in how you build it

that doest sound like a strange combonation. how much hp/tq are you making with the 350? would this kit be better for building my engine? http://www.sdparts.com/product/E2098...TofTorque.aspx
it just seems cheaper and easyer then peicing together a setup.

The heads are decent, the intake is practically a legend. The cam is the weak part - it'll produce the peak numbers they claim, but it'll get out-run by a modern grind that will make the same peak numbers because modern grinds make more power at lower RPMs.

so would you recomend it? or could I get them to send a differnt cam with it?

alright, if you are going auto, i need your pedals, master, and slave, and whatever hoses and lines you have, please, lol, ill pay for parts plus shipping, please p m me if you plan on selling those. i just got a 5 speed and cant afford the new master or slave and especially cant find the pedals.

ok, to do a v6 to a v8, i just told someone esle this, you need to cut the floor, cut into the firewall, and cant use the trans thats in there now with a v8 of any sort. but good luck, for performance, go for a carb, intake, timing chain, try a spacer plate for the carb, maybee a 3/4 inch or a 1 inch is good, get a distributor, headers, new mufflers, dont use cats, shhh, no one will ever know, they dont even test theese cars anymore. and afraid bout beeing pulled over, yea, good luck getting under a camaro, especially with sideskirts, yea.
this is what i paid for what i did

headers - 100 from advance auto

timing chain - 35 from swap show

timing chain cover - 20 from autozone

wires - 35 from autozone

fuel pump block off plate - 8 from

spacer plate - 5

carb - i got it for free, but it will run you from 150 new

intake - traded for bbc valve covers(single plane holley, wow!) marked at show for 50

distributor - $50- accel, used from person i know

just keep your eyes out, youll find stuff cheap, and do as many things as you want, just stick to a budget

Let me know who you told that, because it's completely, totally not true.

That's not technically true, although it certainly isn't recommended to use a V6 T5 behind a V8.

What exactly are you trying to say here? It has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

perpetualjoshie, the kit will come with the cam. Like the Mexican restaurant, "No substitutions." If you want to use another cam, you'll be buying it separately and selling the cam that comes with the kit.

how much would you pay for the parts, or i could trade you for v8 parts? and i wouldnt be taking theses parts out until late spring or summer. i think i will just stay with that cam because its simple and will still make power. or is it so bad that i wouldnt want it?also what transsmission would i want, i was thinking a th350. how much modifacations would i have to do to it to make it withstand the tourque from the engine?

The cam isn't "bad", you can just do better.

Building a TH350 to take that power is pretty simple. With the cam in the kit, though, you'll want a little more stall, like 3500.