Looking to beef up my base model and make it a sleeper. I'm looking to swap in an lt1 or a crate 350. Im a young kid on a budget. Im not looking for insane performance though an ls will be nice eventually.
Ive read through a crap-ton of information, but nothing is really straightforward. Someone please tell me what my best cost effective component options are across the board to do this swap. Again I have read through stickies and thread after thread and still havent gotten what I need.

 

The gen 1 carb'ed sbc (like the crate 350) would be the easiest and cheapest swap.
You didn't say what year yours is, but it really don't matter, bout the same on all of them.

Change engine mounts on Kmember to auto part store V8 replaments
Get a carb'ed V8 and a V8 transmission. 700r4 or th-350 long shaft, and torque converter.

Bolt engine/trans together, and drop into car

The ECM harness on pass side will not be needed, all the wires needed are already there on stock driver side harness.

Your driveshaft will work.

If it's a stock or mild engine, you can use the stock in tank elec fuel pump and just install a $90 mallory adj. high to low fuel pressure reg and set pressure to 5 psi. Put a block off plate over the engine's mech. pump boss.

If your looking for 350+ HP then you will need a better fuel pump.. You can install a better elec in tank pump and again use reg., or you can replace the pickup/sender with an early third gen carb sender/pick up and use a block mounted mech. fuel pump

Or you can just remove elec. pump and replace with a length of metal line, compression fitting or hose and clamps, and run block mounted mech. pump

Use V belts on engine as the brackets, pulleys and belts are cheap.

The third gen V6 to V8 is not a hard swap at all.

 

If you go the carbed route, and want to keep everything functional on the car yet (gauges, etc) you will have to do a bit of work on the wire harness as well. What year is your car, is it currently an auto or manual?

 

That's really not true. I done more v6 to v8 swaps than I have fingers and toes, and the factory wiring v6 wiring will work on the carb V8 and all gauges will work (if you install senders into v8 engine.. If the car has a tach, it will read wrong, thats the only prob)

You do have to extend a couple of wires, and will not use a bunch of wires..

 

Actually looking to go the fuel injected route. From what I understand carbs really aren't reliable, and I would much rather have the added power. What would be my best option with that?

 

Considering carbs have been around far longer than EFI, that's not a very good statement to make. Wait until you have some engine sensor fail on you preventing the engine from starting.

Both systems have advantages and disadvantages but to say carbs are unreliable isn't very fair. People who have carb issues either don't know how to set them up properly or they're trying to use a 30+ year old worn out, second, third or fourth hand used carb that should be just thrown in the garbage.

 

It's the other way around... Carbs are MORE reliable than EFI.

EFI is more tuneable, and more 'set and forget it', but a carb will never has a bad wire connection, bad sensor, etc and not work.

The carb was factory installed on many more cars than EFI (so far).

Don't get me wrong, EFI is great and all, but don't count a carb as unreliable.

In fact just a few days ago, I jumped in my carb'ed truck to go get parts to fix our dead EFI car... Idle air sensor went bad, idle at 2500 rpm.. Couldn't drive it as it pulled through the brakes at idle.

 

Depends upon your definition of "reliable", but I have found both to be about equal when it comes to need for attention (repairs, parts replacement, etc.). Personally, I prefer EFI, but I haven't had a factory 3rd gen EFI system.

Since you're starting with a V6, either way you're going to be starting from scratch, as the V6 stuff is worthless for a V8. That being the case, you're probably better off getting a complete takeout from a donor vehicle if you go EFI, especially from the "budget" aspect.

For carb, it's easier to piece it together with aftermarket parts. Factory carb systems are computer controlled.

 

The only downside to using a carb as I see it is if the car sits for long periods with fuel in the carb. The other thing is that fuel mileage will not be as great as efi. If you are a college kid on a budget (like me) you will visit the fuel pump often if you drive it often. It's great for power and diagnosing. If you do go efi, I just pulled my old harness in favor of LSx. PM me if you need it.

 

I run a 496 big block 550+ hp and still get 240 miles + on a tank in my 91 Camaro if I don't put my foot in it. that equals out to 15 miles in town. and I run a 870 holley so its all about how you tune your car. and I run a/c here in fl. but I don't think that is what the original question was. yes my car had a 3.1 v-6 in it. yes it was an easy swap. I used the harness that was in the car just removed everything on the computer side of the harness. used all the sensors to make everything work only had to get a buffer box and trans signal output for the speedo. also got my tach recalibrated for 80 dollars. so yes it can be a very easy and cheap swap if you want it to or in my case a very money consuming because of the buildup off good parts in the engine I did not go cheap. also used a pressure regulator for the fuel pressure drop just had to go to a 3/8 line on the return do to the amount of return fuel and lower RPM's that the engine was not drinking :0 that's why im grateful for 1.98 gas right now so who cares its fun to beat the hell out of rice burners and see there face. because the no replacement for displacement!!!!!!!!!!!!