My cars got over 200k on the origional engine and it hasnt been rebuilt or serviced or looked after all that well at all. Engine needs rebuilding from what I'm told.

So, what can I change on the engine without breaking emmisions and inspection laws??

I would like to bump up HP a bit, kinda bored with my L03. No fun hitting the gas. If stock its got about 170hp and 255tq, is it possible to get them up to about 275-300hp and 350+tq???

Some tell me I can swap in a 350 and stay legal cause camaros did come with 350's. Is that an option? I dont think those hp numbers could be gotten without it can they??

I might be doing this as soon as next Tuesday, so any responses ASAP will be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

Dont all reply at once!

Date for rebuild is moved up, tried driving the car today, died 6 times, cant idle in first (its auto, but thats besides the point), and steam blowing out of the back of the engine! The quitting and steam were new today, never had them before. Car is on its way to the garage in an hour.

So back to my question, can I drop a 350 in there and stay ok? What am I allowed to change as far as intake, TBI, hedders, exhaust etc?? And what do you recommend I should change?

 

I had no problems with my swap and I passed emissions....

 

Wow, big sig list. How much all that set you back and any idea how much thats putting out at the rear wheels??

 

LOL! It's still ongoing! I really have no clue as to the HP output is as of yet. I have no clue until I get everything dialed in to my liking.
I have a few tuning issues, and they are being addressed as well. I guess it's too much for the stock chip.... (lol)
The motor was roughly $2000... The install was done for me by sharing the cost with another shop so I got a good deal on the install....
All in all I've probably spent roughly $3000 and that's for the engine, intake, throttle body, and hood...
So it's not such a bad deal.
I'd hate to throw figures at you, because I don't have an ACTUAL figure. Some have posted what they think it is, but I would guess it is more than 250HP...
More to do...

 

Passing smog depends a lot on where you live, I think. I lived in California for 10 years and, up through 1995 at least, you were technically not allowed to swap in a bigger engine than you had before, even if that larger engine was offered in the vehicle model year. That was my understanding of the rules anyway.

Best thing is to make an anonymous inquiry to your state smog inspection department and find out the actual rules -- try to see them in writing -- don't take someone's word for it. You can decide from there how far you want to bend or break them.

I know all about bending them but there is a certain risk involved. Make very certain that you save every smog part you remove. Laws can change and your vehicle might suddenly have almost zero value if it is missing parts. I saw that in California a lot. There was no limit on what you were required to spend if you had removed or altered smog components (this in contrast to the dollar limits for tune up costs at a certified shop to try to incrementally improve your results).

A lot of people in California had (then) their non-smog-passing cars passed by a friend or someone they heard about on the street. When I was there, there was a fairly active effort to catch these shops by using deliberately altered cars. I think the fines were something like $10,000 a pop.

 

This might help you for Virginia:

http://www.deq.state.va.us/regulations/air91.html

You might want to contact some larger sports car clubs in the area that you live.

 

Since the 350 physically looks just like the 350, I doubt they are going to check the numbers on the block which in a crowded engine dept is almost impossible to see.

1. You could run the brand new crate $1500 L05 350 in that car pretty easy. With a Edelbrock TBI intake painted black and complete performance exhaust with headers and 3" cat. The car will pull nearly 250hp at the flywheel and easily pass the emmissions since it is a smogged engine as well. Combined with a higher stall 95+ S10 converter will run much faster than a stock or near stock L03. You may find that the cost of the exhaust, sensors, injectors and chip too much for a higher horsepower 350 if you are on a budget.

http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...id=128&pid=105

2. If you can rebuild the 305 yourself or can get it done reasonably then you could change the heads to either the milled Vortecs or World Class 305 Torquer 2 heads and the LT1 Z28 cam and be at or above the 250hp level with the exhaust and intake and may be slightly cheaper than the new 350 route.

3. You can buy a used 1987+ 350 core from a salvage yard and have it rebuilt with either vortec heads or world class torquer heads or whatever aftermarket head and then a LT4 hot cam or some other good emmission legal cam, intake, exhaust, you get the picture. And you can exceed the 275hp for about the same $$ as option 1.

Leaving all of the air pump crap on and functioning will help the appearance of having a stock engine in there. You would also need the dual snorkel air filter because an open element may fail visual inspection. You could ask an inspection station prior to that change.