So I have a 91camaro rs tbi in great condition, just some minor work that I can do myself. I been having some problems with it lately (red/brown clay like in the radiator, the rpms are running at 2500g at idle and 4g at 70mph, the throttle body needs some attention, and I have a exhaust code on and off) I love the car and I cant part with it. Now my question, I want about 500hp And I have 4,000$ to work with. Would a swap give me what im looking for or mod the 305?

 

lol man... I know you are new so I won't bust your chops too bad, but I will just inform you that yes 500 HP is do-able, but you will not do it with a 305 and you won't get close to a 500 hp car with $4,000. Add a 1 in front of that 4 and you MIGHT be able to do it ($14,000)

The engine is just 1 minor part of a 500 HP car. The rest of the driveline, suspension, chassis can not handle that much power and will fail very soon after 1st drive with a 500 HP engine, so all must be changed.

I'm at that power level and I will just say this.. My rear end, trans, and suspension cost me 1.5 times your budget and that's parts only as I do all of my own labor.

The top end of my engine (heads, rockers, cam, lifters, push rods, intake, carb, etc) ran close to what your total budget is.

Here is my advise to you... Don't loose sight of that 500 HP goal but work up to it. Do a larger V8 swap like a 350, have fun with it, start prepping the car for high HP, etc.

Doing a vortec 350 pull out swap will net you 300-350 HP and run you $2000 or less.
Grab a used running 96-00 vortec 350 from a wrecked full size truck/van/suv, swap the correct intake, induction system onto it with correct ignition system. Do a performance cam swap on that engine.

Put you a set of headers and good exhaust on it ($500-900)

 

You can get a 383 stroker motor for about $3200 give or take and get about 400hp out of it, and then there are the extra's. That is to say fuel injectors, tuning, replacing new sensors, which I would do just to make sure there's no issue with old ones. exhaust, etc. Depending on your driving habits as said by the other posting drive, line may be a problem at those hp ratings because it's not made necessarily made to handle that. Look on line or talk to a local machine shop that has been building these engines, a good price might be right in your back yard. If you do this and don't change things like the differential/axle assembly then jump on it, you'll be sitting with a 500hp ride parked in the driveway due to breakage. So be careful, plan accordingly, save your pennies, but most of all don't get anxious, it will come.

 

Thank you!

 

I don't want to bust your chops, either, but I do think a reality check is in order. I have two examples of "improved" HP vehicles - approximately 400 HP in a 3rd gen, and approximately 500 HP in a '57.

The 3rd gen is an LS1 swap that has basically been turned into an LS6. With headers and emissions delete, higher stall torque converter and gears, it'll move 3300 lbs down the track to the tune of 12.0 elapsed times at sea level. It takes around 400 HP to do that. It is streetable, and I can say is it's all too easy to get in trouble with it.

The '57 is a stroked LS combo that is now 403 cubic inches, and dyno'd at 435 HP to the rear wheels - that's a good 500 HP at the crank. It, too, is streetable (I drive it to the track), but its 3850 lbs still get moved down the track to low-12's at our higher elevation (which is 11.4's at sea level - but I haven't run it at sea level to date). Really easy to get in over your head with that car on the street.

So, my real question is, "How did you come up with 500 HP?" And, is that at the crank, or to the wheels? I know it's a nice-sounding number, but what are you going to use the car for? If it's you're daily driver, you probably don't want to fuss with a 500 HP car (even if that's at the crank).

As the others have said, $4k isn't enough to get even close to 500 HP (I paid that much in the '57 engine just for upgrade parts and machine shop work - the engine and heads came before that, and the gaskets, transmission upgrades, rear, exhaust, injectors, etc., all came after that).

But, $4k is plenty to get a decent swap going. One budget issue is TBI is really limited HP-wise, so just upgrading that alone to handle more power is a budget-sucker. Converting to carb is a common method, but that introduces some issues that need to be resolved (but usually still cheaper than upgrading EFI).

And, my general rule of thumb is, "Budget at least as much to handle the power as you spend to make the power." You've already gotten a pretty good hint of that. TBI exhaust is horrible, so plan on a complete exhaust upgrade, regardless of what route you take (good headers and a cat-back that bolt in will run you at least $700).

The LS engine platform is pretty sweet, but it will cost some coin. Many "budget" swaps have been documented, but those often rely on sweetheart deals or dumb-luck parts finds. Getting an LS1 4th gen f-body donor car can often be the most cost-effective, because you can use a lot of stuff off of the car, and pay for what you need to buy by selling off the rest of the 4th gen. Exhaust is one hurdle, because the 4th gen system won't swap over to a 3rd gen without modification (but you can use a lot of the 4th gen system).

Hope that helps. Again, not trying to bust your chops, just trying to impart some "be-there/done-that" advice.

 

I can't agree more with the above posts.

Upgrading the chassis and suspension alone will run you over $2000. (Torque Arm, Sway bars, Pan-hard, Lower control arms, good shocks, wonderbar, strut tower brace, Sub frame connectors) and that's just in parts, not including labor unless you do it yourself.

Just as an example, I spent $4500 building a 330hp 350 on just the motor, machine shop and assembly. I installed it myself. I have then spent $1000 on a new rear end, $2000+ on the suspension and not to mention all of the small costs. Oil, fluids, new hoses, etc.

Oh yeah, $2500 on a trans build to hold the added HP.

As is often said on here. Spend the money to do it right or you'll spend it again fixing what you broke because you didn't.