My car has a stock 350 TPI engine...how do you guys deicde what engine to swap / rebuild or what? Lets pretend that you were going to get an entirely new setup....how do you determine what would be best for the car? I know there is a lot of debate about that, I just don't know where to begin. I know you have to have a goal in mind, and I know you have to know how much you want to spend, but it seems like the research alone would take a lot of time to figure out what is the best for your money. I would like to have something with a decent amout of horses, but can still be driven daily. Any comments / suggestions?

Thanks,
Dave

 

why not stroke and mod it? You've already got a good motor to start with.

Have you considered modding the motor you have right now, instead of getting another one?

 

your current motor has gobs of potential! What is your idea of ''a decent amount of horses''? If you'd be happy with 300 or so.
heads, cam, and bolt ons will get you beyond that.

If you build your motor for a turbo or supercharger the sky's the limit. As far as drivability goes, with a force inducted app. you can achieve that ''decent amount of horses'' you're after tenfold and still drive to and from work everyday.

Do you have any set budget or price range?

Give us a vague idea of how fast you wanna go and i'm sure alot of the guys here will be glad to share their advise and wisdom.

 

Let me just start by saying that this board has help me out immensely (lots of wealth of knowledge to be found on this board) in my quest to build my 1st motor to replace on my 92 RS. It was about 4 years ago when I decided to build my motor (engine almost ready to be assembled) One thing holding me back was the $$ (married with 2 ½ kids, 1/2 = big dog) but with the wife’s help, I have manage to get most of the necessary items needed to finish the motor. If it’s help you need, this is the right board to go to. If I can make a suggestion, I would first spend money on upgrading the suspension, exhaust and drive train. This is what I’ve done 1st. As far as getting an engine, can either go spend money on a crate engine w/warranty or have your 350 rebuilt or stroked. Since you want a decent amount of horsepower and will be a daily driven car, I would go with a 9.3:1 CR on the 350. You could go with a higher CR but then you'd spend $$ for high octane gas. As far as cam goes, I went with a LT-4 Hot cam (an lt-1 cam would work well with you r tpi and should get you over the 300 HP with a set of good heads) with Vortec heads (L31 heads are cheap and produce a lot of power. Check eBay) you will need the special TPI intake manifold to go with the vortec heads.

 

First thought to consider: how much money are you going to put into the engine. You don't want to get into the middle of the changes and run out of money/interest/lifestyle (ask how many guys had to sell their stuff for a wedding, baby, job move etc.)

Second thought to consider: what are you going to do with the car after you spent the money? If it is going to only race dag strips the choices are really different from if you are going to drive it downtown everyday.

Third and final thought: Given my purposes and money how much go can I have? This is where you look at other guys' projects and magazine and book combos that match your intended purposes and budget and verify that you will get what you want and go where you intend.

Generally speaking from my brief searching experience:

1. You are going to be told to change the intake. That will cost on the high side $1000.

2. You are going to be told to do your own programming. That will cost on the high side $800 if you have to get a used laptop.

3. You will be told to get some headers and exhaust. That will cost on the high side $1500. There will be guys that shoot me for saying that, but I suspect that once you buy, ship, and get them installed there won't be much change left. I've never done it so I don't know.

4. You will be told to get some heads. The cheap version is to get some vortec heads, but I don't know how that will work with your intake choice above. They are $800 or less. The middle of the road is where you find aftermarket cast iron heads, which in general are $1000 or less. Above that are the aluminum heads. At that level is where it gets interesting as that is where the heavy hitting power starts IMO.

5. After all that bolt-on stuff you may require block/crankshaft/connecting rod/piston upgrades. I haven't figured out how to spend less than $1000 here. At least $500 will go into making sure you have a clean block with good and straight or perfectly round surfaces. The machine shop is THE crack dealer. This will make or break a lot of your plans/budget as they are the ones that set you up to make sure your stuff fits together. If the choices you pick don't fit many times they can make it fit - for a price.

6. Once it is all assembled (and there's a fee for that if you don't do it yourself) then you test it for leaks, squeaks, and rattles. Then you tune it for whatever gongs your gonger (mileage, emissions, POWER). That can be as expensive as you want it to be.

That's what I think I know. Hopefully it steers you in the right direction.

Jason

 

Thanks guys, my goal is to make my car faster, however it still will be a daily driver......as for as my budget, I'm saying now like 5,000, roughly...I still want it street legal, so emissions and stuff is a concern, I'm just trying to get ideas. The only reason why I wanted to build an engine is because I'd hate to rip this one apart and not have the car drivable, but then again, with the amount of money I have to play with, that doesn't look like an option does it?

 

It is typically more affordable to get someone's crate engine than to do the rebuild thing. The hitch is that if you want specific parts they may not be in your crate. You might be able to work with the person that picks the parts to get your choices incorporated in your engine, provided that you two can agree on the cost difference if there is one. The key is that the power comes from the heads and cam, new heads and cam don't do anything without a better exhaust system.

If you do just the first three you will have done most of the stuff that makes power. The bottom end stuff can wait IF your engine is in good condition. If the engine needs to be rebuilt you might consider a crate engine so you don't get lost in picking parts and getting them all prepped to work together.

It sounds like you saved up some cash to do some stuff to your car which is great. Just like you saved for this round of upgrades you can do it again. Just because you only have $5k now does not mean you won't come across more cash later. If you do the first three I gurantee that you are going to want to do more later. Speed is addictive.

If the car Needs work, and you like the car enough to do some stuff then do what you can and enjoy it. Just because you have to pass emissions doesn't mean that there is no room to get more speed out of your car. It does mean that 1000hp is probably not feasible.

You have to decide how much faster you want your car to go. Do you know how fast it is now? Before you can determine where you want to go you have to know where you are. A test and tune night at a drag strip can answer that question pretty quickly or find a dyno shop and schedule a test.

If you are concerned about the visual inspection then in you search make sure the parts you consider have the CARB E.O. number and plainly indicate how to use the part in line with its certification. If you are just concerned about the sniffer be advised that there is a fairly decent amount of room in the test before you don't pass. I just had a brand new cat, with no A.I.R pump and I passed (Lake County, IN).

What condition is the rest of the car? My car felt a whole lot better just by freshening up the suspension. You have to be able to put the power down before adding power makes sense. If your engine has a bunch of miles on it you probably want to make sure it will hold up under any really major modifications.

If where you want to go is That much higher than where your money will take you then be glad you asked the questions before hand. You haven't lost or wasted anything. Now you have $5k AND a car to throw in the ring to get you something with more go.

You decide whether to swap or rebuild by determining how far away you are from your goal and choosing the most efficient way to get there. You must know your goal first. You must know what you have to work with next. Then you must add up the cost. IF the straight forward route (but brand new parts and pay someone to put them on) doesn't work for you in the timeframe you've decided then determine there are other ways to get there. Depending on your goals it may not take as much as you expect. Take off $1000 for the heads and $1000 for the exhaust and you can get a crate engine. You would have to put it in yourself, but if you can read, comprehend, and follow instructions you can do it. You can save up the money for the tuning stuff while you are doing the swap.

Jason

 

That was very insightful. The rest of the car is 4 out of 5. My father and I just restored it, fresh paint and all. I'm still not sure of my goals, I just would like it to be faster....perhapes to compate (maybe even smoke) the 4th gens / some vettes. Not that I street race or anything, but at the tracks it would be nice. I never went to a test and tune but I'm pretty sure my car would put out decent numbers for a stock engine because it was rebuilt in 1999, I bought the car in 2001 and I only have put about 3,000 on it because of the restoring process (took time to get parts / save money / do body work). And recently I just put in a new distributor (cap rotor, coil, etc.) plugs, plug wires, and oil....this car is running the best it ever has...I also timed it and did the TPS and that other adjustment shown in the FAQ. But it still seems like its missing something...I don't know...I'll have to think about it, thanks guys!

 

If you are trying to "smoke" Vette and 4th gens you will probably end up in the low 12s or high 11s. That means about 450-500 hp. The easiest way is NOS. After that is power adder (super or turbo charger). Last is big displacement. Big displacement is last for you because you have so little time on your rebuild. The power adder depends on your compression. NOS depends on it too, but is more temporary.

In any case a lot of power out of your big air pump is NO GOOD if you can't put it to the ground. There are chassis and suspension mods that have to be done to make the GO effort worthwhile.

Jason