hi guys. my brother in law has 1984 camaro z28 305 carb.. hes wants to go to a 350 (guess a truck engine) whats the best one to get. That is pretty much plug and play. want to use most of the original stuff if he can. but of course would get what is needed. any help is appreciated.
Thanks

 

Take a look at the GM L31 or L31R Vortec crate engines. About $2,000 delivered you get a new engine with better heads than anything stock up the mid 90s, roller cam, 1pc rear main seal. Pop in a better cam if you want, or wait and upgrade the cam later. You'd need a special intake manifold for Vortec heads, the Vortec heads might not have exactly the same mounting bolts the stock manifolds use (1 will probably be missing) and you probably won't have a provision for the mechanical fuel pump from an 84, but you can install an electric fuel pump and a regulator to get around that. Beats half the problems encountered with an earlier engine, but you get a lot more for your money. No BS cleaning up junkyard garbage, finding out it's garbage, dealing with a machine shop that somehow always loses parts, gets their wires crossed, or holds your engine hostage for 6 months to a year...

 

he is looking for an inexpensive crate motor where he can keep carb and mechanical fuel pump.

 

Sounds like he wants to roll the dice with ATK or Vege. Best of luck to him.

 

If he's wanting plug and play id say a 350 Goodwrench crate engine. Not a real performance unit but WAY better than the 305 anyhow and for around $1500 they have a decent warranty. I would go the L31 route myself but nothing wrong with the Goodwrench engines. A lot of guys i know run emin their classic cars they usually put a lil mild cam in them.

 

Get the L31 Vortec. An electric fuel pump for the carb is cheap - like less that $100. And a Vortec manifold is also pretty cheap.

The engine IS the car. Don't cheap out and get some remanufactured junk.

GD

 

$2,000 for a NEW GM crate engine is incredibly cheap. You can probably make a target master POS work for a bit less money, but they're a crap engine in comparison. See, here's the thing... Under $2,000, you've got the target master crate, a low compression smogger 350 replacement with dished pistons and huge chambers, for your farm truck or El Cramino, a flat tappet cam with no lift, pretty much brand new garbage. Or you've got the TBI 350 truck motor, which is essentially the same thing with swirl port toilet bowl heads. So why the Vortec crate? Because it's a cam change away from basically being the 330hp HO 350 crate engine, with the added benefit of including the roller cam hardware. The few extra bucks for a vortec compatible intake and a basic electric pump for a carb is absolutely worth it for the lack of oil leaks, roller cam that won't wipe the lobes, and really decent heads. It's the most for the money by a damn long shot.

Anything less, you might as well try to find a junkyard engine with some life left in it. Because you'll spend $2,000 rebuilding almost anything, any crate for less money is going to be rebuilt (remanufactured) with God knows what parts and not intended for any kind of performance. It's kind of the recipe for a Farm Truck 350 swap that has been so common since the 90's... Take one clapped out 350 from a 78 Farm Truck, bolt on an Eldlerbock crab and a RV cam, drop it in to replace that "shitty 305" and then get stomped at the cruise spot by stock LG4s. I ain't saying the LG4 is great, or even good, but farm truck 350 swaps are usually even worse.

 

yea i seen the ATK engine in Jegs.didnt know they were crappy

 

the gm goodwrench 350 truck engine at 240 hp would be a good bump for him and he wouldn't have to change anything else 2000 is a fair price. i guess it will be a truck engine