Hello everyone, I was wondering if a 496 motor would fit on the regular camaro motor mounts. also i would like to know which in the long term is better, just to get a smaller motor pusing more horse power or any of the ls series? let me know. and where should I get parts.


this is for a daily driver.

 

If you want a higher horsepower motor and it be a daily driver lsx would be the way to go. Power is easy to make and they get pretty good fuel economy.

 

There are stickies in the top section of this forum on both BBC and LS swaps. You should spend some time going through them. I know it is a lot of reading, but it'll take you less time to do read through them than it will to do either swap, and you'll have to live with the results of the swap for a lot longer.

I've never had a big block bigger than 401 cubes, but I can't imagine needing more power for a DD than an LS1 produces. It's easy enough to get in trouble with stock LS1 power (even with the 8% power loss at mile high altitudes). The LS will also get much better fuel economy (even if you don't think you care about that), and the lighter weight will allow for better handling. And, you don't need a cowl hood for an EFI LS (and you will for a carb'd BBC).

There is adequate aftermarket support for either swap, but I'd say the LS aftermarket eclipses the BBC aftermarket (in the 3rd gen DD market, at least).

 

I was trying to get the links in the BBC swap sticky to work and i couldnt.. is there something i am doing wrong?
thanks

 

I've had the same difficulty viewing that sticky, but reading a few of the 454 threads covers most of the same stuff. I disagree about the 8% at mile-high, the weight of air at sea level is 14.7 pounds per square inch, at my elevation, of 4400', it's closer to 12.45. So that's 84.7% of 14.7, so there I'm losing 15.3% of my oxygen and 15.3% of my compression. How am I not losing 15.3% of my power? You can bolt a 496 onto 305 mounts, no problem. Cubic inches are very fun if you're daily-driving, especially with a modest cam, tall gears and a tight torque converter. But you can't enjoy driving you can't afford to do. So find an LQ9, do a modest cam, do a 3000-stall, and enjoy!

 

Don't want to derail the thread topic, but the effect isn't linear. 8% is probably a wee bit of an exaggeration, even. http://www.nhra.com/competition/altitude.aspx Used to be 8%, but they adjusted the correction factors recently.

As for parts sources, TGO sponsor Hawks Third Gen can handle pretty much all of your LS needs. I got my mounts, crossmember, and headers from them.

 

Spent the last hour just thinking, and my conclusion is your 8% figure is accounting for effectively-reduced aerodynamic drag. Still a net loss of performance as elevation increases.