Background: I recently acquired a 1988 TA with a blown engine, at no cost to me. I plan on ordering a 350ci crate engine from Summit Racing by the end of the summer...I'm wondering, since I want to get this project on the road, what route would be best for my setup.

1. The Summit motor is a 350CI with about everything done to it that you can N/A wise, pushing 320HP/380TQ to the wheels. I'm wondering what the absolute best way to get some more power out of this thing would be...because when it's done it's basically going to be a track car...I'm looking for a blown or S/C setup, but not sure where to even start looking.

2. My dad says he'd be weary about how much power I put down to the wheels, because the T-tops may not be able to structurally handle it, is this true? and if so, whats the best way to correct this problem

Thanks in advance

Which summit motor is it, the evergreen? 320hp and 380 ft lbs is close to stock for your average non smog crate 350, and those are flywheel horsepower numbers. N/A 350's are capable of well over 500 horsepower. A friend of mine has a 350 that dyno'd 527 horsepower at the flywheel and that runs 11.3's at 120 mph n/a and 10.19 at 13X on a 210 shot of nitrous. If I were you I would look at a GM performance parts 350HO crate engine, as it would be better than the evergreen motor you are looking at since it will have a brand new block, vortec heads and plenty of room for improvement. If you plan on running a boost or nitrous, then I would not recommend the GM crate engine or the Summit crate engine, you will want a motor with forged pistons. What kind of budget are you on?

Oh and for the T-top question, I would recommend a set of spohn subframe connectors from www.spohn.net

Heh dang, when I first read the beginning of the post and you said you acquired a T/A with a blown engine at no cost to you, I was thinking forced induction, I about wet myself.

"...ooooh, THAT kind of 'blown' engine..."

Hehehe....I wish it was THAT kind of blown engine too

Budget really isn't THAT important because it's not gonna be done for a while.....it'll be in my dads garage and by the time I get it out...it'll be 400+ HP guaranteed.

Basically, I just got tired of all the crap that goes in with the import scene. People arguing with everybody about everything, so I'm gonna build a domestic since everybody seems to be more helpful.

Thats one cool thing you will notice about the domestic scene. I think one of the bigtime disadvantages in the import scene is that there are too few people that really know their ****. In the domestic world, every other person you meet put their own engine together, or knows how to port heads, or knows everything about getting the right pinion depth on a ford 9" rear end, or knows the ins and outs of setting up the linkage and tuning a dual carb setup. Small block chevys have been around FOREVER, whereas the import scene is relatively new and constantly changing. In the import world i dont think there is that wealth of knowledge out there, especially in small cities, and those who have the knowledge charge big bucks for it. Welcome to the domestic crowd

So true..I mean how many GM cars can a 350 fit in?
Compared to how many cars my celica eng will fit in? One without a lot of work

And look at the third gen f-body... 1982-1992....you don't see longetivity like that in the import world. 'yota makes the Celica for 4 years at a time, then they change every aspect of it.

Wellp, I'll definately have a lot more questions for you guys by the time my project is running

speaking of that.... a rwd celica with a sbc V8......just savoring the possibilites.