Greenhorn, new to the site yes, new to engines and Camaro's no... And yeah the spacers are very real, and they are for the Vortec style heads.

a 327 turning 10k garage built no oil leaks... last I checked that was pretty high RPM's but that was in a first gen running a Rock Crusher 4spd.
(that's my step-Dad's old drag car)
he likes RPM's I like torque....

I'm glad you got all the parts together, I have a spare v-8 84 Camaro S.O, i use for parts, you could prolly pick up a v-8 car cheap like I did under 400 bucks... and it ran when I parked it beside the garage. swapped 3 motors in 2 days and got a pretty good working combination... a spare 4 bolt main in the building, a 70 chevy truck with a 305 and quadrajet, LOL, and the current motor I run in my car. I have done all the work to my car under my budget. just don't roll over and have somebody build it for you get dirty.
A car is rubber and iron you can't do anything to it to get it beyond repair. unless you catch it on fire roll it down a hill and have WMD's dropped on it.
You'll appreciate everything you do yourself much more.
Oh and make a budget, this is crucial!!! we all love our cars but you have to know what you want to put into each area... 1k in the motor, 300 in the trans, 500 in rearend... 750 in body mods... just an example but keep it in mind and play it close to the chest or you'll end up with a car that wont run because your too broke for a hot carb, LOL

 

i actualy got a deal at auto zone. a buddy of mine is gettin me a 350 w/ 700r4. and all parts inculding performance computer for 2600. 100 more then i wanted but hell. cant beat that.

 

Yea my poor little junkyard $500 engine job only lasted about 5 years of abuse and nitrous and a couple transmissions. I could of done a better job and spent several thousand but thats kinda hard on 8$ a hour and bills to pay. You can criticize all you want but when you don't have money to spend you get creative and cut some corners to get what you want.

Back in the days of the muscle car it was a common thing for a bunch of guys to get together and do a v8 swap in a weekend for little to no money. I can get a 4 bolt 350 block for little to nothing and go out and hunt for the parts and get them pretty cheap. Of course its not going to be a blueprinted engine with a fully balanced rotating assembly with all the bells and whistles, but it will run and if it cost 1/5 what a "built" engine does then fine by me.

The difference between blowing a $500 engine and a $5000 engine is the guy who made the $500 one will be back next weekend.

 

i got a 4 bolt 350 engine for free running with roughly 100k on it(kilometers not miles) complete with carb and everything off of my buddys dad and im easily into $500 plus just rebuilding it

 

You must not have ever opened the nitrous bottle.You WILL NOT convince me you did a $500 rebuild and sprayed it regularly for 5 years.I have a hard time believing you did a $500 rebuild and it lasted 5 years,unless you rarely drove it.