I just bought a 89 camaro rs for 300 bux! 350 engine carburated and 350 turbo tranny!! any sugestions on what i should do to my engine before i put it in. any commennts on a 383 stroker?? i want 350-400 horspower.

 

300 BUX ??? must be a real gem . how deep are your pockets ? with enough money you can do alot . with a small pocket not much . good luck .

 

Maybe a diamond in the rough, but regardless its winter time depending on where the guy lives so now is a better time than any to rip apart the car and start ordering parts with all the big holiday sales.

If you are thinking 383 stroker, all I can tell you is there are many ways to go about doing this, over 100 are on the top of my head. Depends, but your goal of 350-400 hp is realistic as long as you are ready to get spendy.

 

You can get 350-400 horse out of a 355 and for less money then the 383. First list exactly what kind out motor you have. Stock, Modified ? And what is the cars purpose.

 

yea its actually in good shape i got the body for 300 i bought a 350 n 350 turbo trannny for 600 that comes from a 69-79 truck. havent found out exactly what year. the guy i bought it from builds hot rods i know the engineis rebuilt and i cant remember how much its bored over. anyway i want to do all the work on the engine and tranny before i actually put it in the camaro. I want this to be a street legal car thats going to pull on some ls1 camaros and mustangs. i have $1000 right now. CAn i get 350-400 with one grand? Any suggestions

 

If that motor is anything close to stock in those years then you have a smog junk motor. You will need a lot more than a grand to get to 400 hp.

 

Nitrous if you are looking at DIY work and $1,000.

If you are thinking 383 stroker I'd count on $2,500 - $5,000

Some peoples opinions may vary, but the least amount of money I've ever seen anybody spend on big HP was installing a nitrous setup.

 

 

Plan on a lot of work, that tranny wont bolt up to a stock camaro.. 400rwhp is a lot of work considering a LS1 is alread 300+.... They put exhaust intake and a 75 shot to get 400rwhp... you have to beef up your rear end and hope that old tranny will hold. SFC, boxed LCAs, diffrent torque arm will be in session sooner or later too. I wouldnt put on any sticky tires till you but some moser 28sp axles in and a good posi. Even them you might be pushing your luck, Im not sure.

 

You better keep saving up or buy parts that you can afford now. Put them away in some corner and keep adding to that pile of parts when money is avalible.

 

well, the th350, will bolt up, all you need is a pre-84 crossmember, there is a company, that makes a tailshaft housing for the th350 with the torque arm mount($35), whether yall think it or not, a th350 is a very stout tranny! most people underrate them. if the motor has been freshly rebuilt, slap on a set of vortecs, as far as a useless "smog junk motor" all i got to say is the heads are, all the bottom end has to do is hold up, if its been rebuilt i doubt they put dish pistons in it, prob flat tops.. watch ebay, some times vortecs on there for less than 200.... a decent solid flat tappet cam, 10-1 compression, good air/fuel set up, and ignition and you'll be close to 400 flywheel ponies. along with a good stall converter and some 4.10s, you'll have a handful...

well, i dont condem the man for trying, some people make more jokes then be helpful, and they way people spend money around here, they get ripped off!! 1 grand for nitrous, you've got to be kidding me, I could do 2 foggers that! and if you havent noticed the man said i have a 1000 right now, dont mean he wont have more later, if you use brains versus the wallet, you could get along way, hell dont know if any of yall who read the hot rod article about the 10.2 pass on a $2000 home built fox body....twin turbo.... a hot rod is home built not something you buy on the lot...

 

Actually smog junk isnt limited to just the heads. Your talking the whole top end. Carb,intake,heads and even the cam. And anything from a hot rod article referencing a budget build is a complete joke.

 

well, i really dont think he plans reusing the carb/intake from it... but! if its been a rebuild, no one knows what hes got, the bottom end serves one function, your heads are your biggest power factor brother.... even if he does, I've seen some stock q-jets run pretty strong on a good combo

as far as the hot rot article, my point is, brains go further than money... a lot of money can be wasted on a poor combo... show the brother some love

 

if the tranny came outof a truck it should be a long tail shaft and you wont need a special cross member. only a spacer and a stock 700r4 tail cone.If it is a short tail shaft you will need the cross member. The actual tail cone on a 700r4 and a short th350 are the same length. But you need a long shaft which the over all tranny length is the same as a 700r4/T5

 

yea appreciate the support. anyway i know the engine is not stock. it has an elderbrock intake and elderbrock carb. anyway the guy i bought it from is straight forward so i know its a good engine. he was just hooking me up because he saw the interest in me wanting to fix up a camaro. Any way i have one grand right now. What im asking is i plan to put 2000 grand into the engine n transmission, now i know i can get 350-400 hp. im just asking for opinions on the cheapest way to do this.

 

FYI.....Keep in mind that a carb'd 89 will never be truly street legal.

You might have a buddy that will put a sticker on your car, but the car won't really be legal.

 

If you want that kinda power for that little money, your gonna have to find good deals on used parts

 

oh im not worried i am a state inspector hahahaha

 

What about your inspector License? Where are you? Some states can revoke licenses & pull a whole stations license, for repeat offenses.

 

Not true. The location of the tranny mount doesn't change with the tailshaft length. While the 9" TH350 is the same overall length as the TH700/T5 so that they use the same driveshaft length, the location of the TH350 rear mount is different than that of the TH700. http://www.tciauto.com/Products/TechInfo/trans_dims.asp

 

I can tell you from personal experience that a stock ten bolt in good shape WILL hold up to 350/400HP. At least for a while. I have a stroker with 475HP in my 84 Z/28. The rear end has a minispool but is otherwise bone stock. I'm running B F Goodwrench drag radials in back and run it on the street, racing and daily driving, and its held up for over a year now. I drive it to work every day and on friday and saturday nights it street races 8 or 9 paces per day. Now I'm not saying it won't give out, actually I'm sure it will, but I don't think it's an instant problem. It will wear out over time. Unless your running slicks on a track then it probably would come apart pretty quick. If your gonna run it on the street with regular tires then put your money into the motor and start saving for the rearend for the future.

 

If your spending a grand only on the engine then look into Patriot Performance heads. I bought mine bare for 500 bucks, the other 500 hundred could go for valves pushrods,and lifters. I got my intire valve train from COMP Cams ( cam, lifters, pushrods,valves, and 1.6 rollerrockers ) for 580. Now I did buy them direct from Patriot and COMP! It's cheaper that way. If you know how to put it all together yourself then that can be done for $1100.oo or so. It's a little more than your grand but you could save a couple hundred pretty quickly I'd imagine. Just get on the phone and start making phone calls direct to the manufacturers. It'll save you serious bucks.

If you only got a grand to get the car running then use the grand for exhaust and whatever you need to get the engine/trans in and running.
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Post some pics. I'd like to see what your working with.

 

The more work you can do yourself, the more money you will save. The TH350 (IMO) is a good trans, held up in my friends trucks just fine and there is one in my camaro. I would put your money into the motor. But before you start going nuts with the top end (replacing valves, springs and everything else) check out the bottom end. Doesn't matter how straight forward the gentleman was, YOU don't KNOW what you have until you see it for yourself.

 

Yes i agree with you man. i want to rebuild my engine and bore it out. i want to work on the tranny first cuz its going to be the cheapest. then bottom end of my engine,cam heads headers. etc. IM decieded i want to put 5 grand and build it slow. this is going to be my first project and is gonna be the one i keep for ever. IM exited just got a job at a full mechanic shop. Lots if learning to come. im 19 and want my own perfomance shop. LOl sorry ill end it here
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one year and a half my goal to have a mean machine. i dont care about LOOKS im a gear head lol!