Okay I'm in possession of a 91 Camaro RS, TBI 305. It has 165,000 miles, and the engine has some mild smoking. Nothing serious, and it only does it when the engine revs quickly in neutral. Even when it revs up to 4000 steadily there is no smoke. Considering this, I figure the engine still has some time before it blows. It doesn't knock, doesn't tap or anything, I've had it for about a year and I change the oil every 1500 miles. Maybe I'm picking knits, I don't know much about the internals of an engine.

That's really not what this post is about, so I apologise for putting you through that paragraph, but maybe I can get some advice on that as well. Was thinking of putting in some slick 50 or something.

I would like to swap the engine with either a 350 or a 454. The 350 sounds nice, but I would like more power. I hear that the 350 is a really common swap, lots have done it, and it's relatively easy in comparison to other swaps, due to the plethora of information about it. At least that's what I read from the stickies.

I've seen 454's and 350's for sale for pretty cheap in my area. I know that the T-5 tranny definitely can't handle a 454(or maybe it can?), but I'm not sure about the 350.

The 454 has always been a dream of mine, friend of mine had an old truck with one, and even with it's age it had ungodly power. 305 can't even compare. A camaro with such an engine I couldn't even imagine. I've never driven a car with a 350, but I imagine it's similar to the 305.

Would there be much of a cost difference between whats required for a swap with a 350 or 454? Maybe the front suspension would have to be beefed up to handle the big block, probably a bigger transmission as well. I don't mind a straight up carbeurated setup or try to snag a cheap computer. Whichever is cheaper. I'm hoping to do this whole thing for under $2000, I don't plan on buying brand new parts unless neccesary.

I think I'll need a tranny, new wiring harness, distributor, carb, maybe new suspension and...that's pretty much all I can think of. I'd like to go carb, unless it's way cheaper to stick with TBI or swap to fuel injected. What kinda cost am I lookin at if I go thrifty? I also plan on this car being my daily driver, if that makes a difference. Doubt I'll build the new engine too much, maybe some bolt on stuff. Looking to pull around 300-350 hp.

Would appreciate any advice, and I'm missing any necessary information please let me know. I know I have a lot of broad newbie-ish questions, but this is the best place to get answers, you guys definitely know your stuff.

Thanks in advance.

 

I assume $2000 is above and beyond the price of the engine.

350 - yes, doable for $2000. You'll have to baby the T5. You will need to learn how to program the computer.

454 - no way for $200, unless you never, ever give it full throttle. Since you talked about having more power, that doesn't sound like what you had in mind. The T5 would be shrapnel in no time. The rear end is another weak link, and getting one that can handle a 454 is going to cost you that $2000 by itself. Exhaust is a big expense. You need a cowl hood to handle the extra height. Not sure what you were thinking for induction, but since you mentioned "computer", I assume the TBI the later truck 454's had. You can put that in if you get the whole system, but there will probably be plenty of harness compatibility headaches. Assuming you do all the work yourself, plan on at least $5000 to install the engine with parts that can handle the torque, plus the cost of the engine itself.

 

As your car sits:

A vortec 350 with a mild cam would be great for you, it would be day an night. You would be happy if you never had one, BUT for some, it is not enough, never is. If you have driven 500 HP and were not happy, maybe a big block is for you, but over 500 HP will cost more than 2000$ total.

As for drive line, your T5 will be fine with a small block 350, i beat mine to death with 500 HP, BUT my secret was stock clutches and radials. NO SLICKS.

As your sits now, a 454 with your T5 and one wheel peel rearend would last a LONG time, because when you stand on it it will not go anywhere, just boil the open diff on one side(passenger side).

Big block not gonna happen for 2k. 350, yep.

 

500 hp would be crazy amounts for me. More that I look at it and listen, the 350 sounds like a more viable option.

I'm running a purely stock 305, which has about 170 hp 255 lbs of torque. When I say "more power", I mean more than that. ;P If I can get 500 hp out of a 350 I'd happily go that route.

 

Would you guys have a recommendation whether to go carb or stick with the TBI?

Also, someone mentioned a vortec 350, is there a specific type of vehicle these engines came in? Or better yet, how much do those cost new? I could drop maybe $1200 on a new engine if it was worth it.

If I could get 350 hp or above I'd be happy. Torque I'm not so worried about because the 305 has plenty of it imo, and this isn't going to be a straight up drag car.

And when you say "baby the t5" do you mean just don't dump the clutch? No slicks will be on this car. Will probably keep my one wheel wonder rear end if possible.

Thanks all, advice is much appreciated.

 

You can make the stock setup TBI work with a 350. A 454 might be pushing things as far as performance capabilities go... Im not sure they make injectors big enough for a hot 454, but I suppose there are ways around that. It's been a while since I looked into it.

But you will need to learn to tune the chip. If you want more performance, you want a motor that needs a significantly different tune than what you have now.

Most people just convert over to carbs... do some thinking and researching about how badly you do or dont want to stick with fuel injection.

A vortec 350 comes out of a 96-98 C/K truck with the 5.7/350. A new crate shortblock + heads will set you back at least $3k in general.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...1&autoview=sku

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...T&autoview=sku

Conversely, you can just buy a 350 shortblock for around $1500, and get a set of Vortec heads for around $300-$700 depending on how much money you need to dump into them to make them work for you.

Engine swaps cost money. Even if you got a running pull out of a truck, it's still not really a great high performance engine, it just has potential. Plus you'd need to do a lot of work just fit your existing EFI or carb setup onto that truck motor.

 

I'd much rather to go carb actually. I don't understand much about a TBI, I've dealt with carbs before. My idea of the 454 will be something after I hit the lottery, I'm pretty much set on the 350 now.

However if the TBI I have is compatible with the engines you linked, it would be a much cheaper alternative than converting everything over to carbeurated, or would it?
I've heard the TBI the 305 uses is pretty crappy as it is, so I'm thinking it wouldn't give a crate engine the fuel it needs to get all its horses.

If I go with the 330 hp crate engine you linked, plus some of the suggested parts, I'm lookin at around 3k-4k total, buying the carbeurated setup that is "suggested." However this is not including shipping costs. Sounds pretty doable to me.

While I was reading further down on the page I also noticed that it says this engine should only be used in 1979 or earlier cars due to emissions. Erm. Would this seriously be a problem? I live in Tucson, Az, and I don't think the emissions laws here are that strict, not 100% sure though.

 

Well, for you budget, i would say buy a used vortec 350, get the vortec carbed intake and swap it out to carb, install a small cam and you will have over 300 HP easy and close to 375 FTLBS tq, that would probably make you smile till you get tired of not being able to launch at a stop light and race because one tire is in the makings of a mesqito fogger.

Elgin makes some nice roller cams with low lift so it would be a sinch to keep it roller for cheap, about 2500 or so you could have a pretty repectable driver, but no monster. Then again a nitrous kit is pretty cheap

 

Take a look at the "budget 350" sticky on the TBI forum. It is tailor made for you.

 

Don't know if you thought of rebuilding the 305? Crazy I know, the money you save on having to buy a different engine you can put into parts. The problem with the 305 is the smog heads and the cam. The 305 can be built into a decent little runner that would surprise a few people.

Dave

 

I just swapped my 305 carb to a 327 .040 over carb. I searched for a few months and found this engine. 1979 block from a blazer but cleaned up nicely. Engine was never installed and is running very smoothly now in my car. Dyno of an engine built almost identical put out 431hp. I bought the engine for $2500 and probably spent $500 for starter, filters, fluids, and unecessary things just for looks. Could have cut this down to $250. I added up the parts through a summit catalog and he must have spent atleast $4000 to build this engine.
In my opinion, I got a steal. If your hesitant on the crate engines out there, shop around a little bit. What I did through craigslist is highly risky but I saved a lot of money. I made sure to take the heads off when i went to see the engine and I would never have bought it without looking at it first. I know there are other great deals like this somewhere so you could consider this. JUST BE CAREFUL