ok, im a full time college student. now that that has been said, ive been thinking latly about what motor to build for my 92 bird. what gives the most BANG for the $$$?

i was thinkin the classic 383 maybe even a 406. what do you guys think?

 

I know how that budget is I'm also full time college student racking in $100 a week.

You need to consider what the purpose of the motor is for.

Also what kind of an intake setup you plan on running?

If you plan on having fuel injection how are you going to tune it?

Do you have access to good 350 or 400 core block?

Lots of things to figure out and weigh in on budgetwise before jumping into the CI decussion.

Has been 2 to 3 years of research and 2 years in the building process for mine and I'm still not done yet. Basically due to budget issues.

 

well, i knwo what i want to do with the car. that is a really mean street/strip motor. and one that would be able to take a hit of nitrous if i was in the mood.

i do have access to both a 350block and a 400 block. also i have a 402bbc.

im planing on running a basic carb intake. nothing fancy.

 

I would say a forged lower end would be the way to go. That's what I did with my 383 build.

What kind of budget are you looking to spend?

Almost 1/2 of my total budget went into the heads and valvetrain.

 

forged bottom end is a must.

looking to spend 3 grand tops.

 

For that low of budget I would probably vote for a 383 IMO. Due to the many companies that offer kits now days prices aren't as outrageous as in the past.

Not to mention a good chunk of that is going to go into the heads, camshaft, roller rockers... etc.

I'm guessing a full rotating kit is about the only way to go. I put together my rotating assembly with off the shelf parts. After internal balancing at the machine shop rotating assembly was around $1600 to $1700.

You're really going to have to penny pinch on a 3k budget.

What gets you isn't the large parts. It's all the small things such as fuel lines, fittings, having to convert EFI to Carb, fasteners, and other little odds and ends you don't normally consider since there low price.

 

have you considered lt1 swap. i am at 2000 and all i need is exhaust, that will runn 300 for a 3.5 all the way back. so my total will be around 2500 for a sstrong 300+ engine. plust the fuel milage of fuel injection.

 

i almost have all the wiring done for the carb setup. and i have all the fuel line, and fuel fittings. i still have to decide on what kind of fuel pump to run, and if im going to sump my tank or not.

so i guess my best bet is to have all the machine work done at a shop, then assemble it all myself?

 

You could also look into a 3 port style return line regulator. Mallory makes one that quiet a few members are running. I have one too just not running it yet. Basically it will allow you to continue to use the FI pump (have to redo some wiring) and the regulator will lower the pressure down for carb standards. The return line will work like a normal, all extra pressure will return back to the tank. Also having a return line is suppose to help with performance slightly due to heat not building up in the line. Some members have had spiking problems with them but most are happy.

Depending on the shop most/some offer assembly service for acouple hundred bucks. That way if you do not feel comfortable doing it or lack of clean area to assemble, like my case I'm using my bedroom.

 

A semi-specific value needs to be placed on that before any semi-accurate suggestions can be made. Also, what do you want out of the car hp wise? Track times? What?

 

 

how much are you going to budget for a transmission?