Okay My 1983 Berlinetta Is my Drag Camaro now...
I had put in a '68 350, Thinking this would be my daily driver, and it ran Very Strong, i never had an exhaust system put on it, well when i did, I put dual exhaust on it with long flow headers, and it smoked like a ****! Blue smoke... More so when i reved it up.. even at idle it'd through a blue cloud... So I was thinking valve seals? and then a month later i came across a 1988 Camaro.. and never touched the 83, but now i am getting back onto task.. I need to Rip out the engine and Rebuild it.. All gaskets and bearings, Hopefully a Cam, I want Quite a bit of power, at least 300hp.. Then i can add a turbo/super Charger later on.. and not have to worry about trashing something inernal, like throwing a rod or something.. Ive looked at hundreds of kits.. But dont know which one to get... Do i need a new crank? I was told i have a steel crank.. but what do i know? also, my block has 2 bolt mains..

Any help would Be great!!

 

First off, if you want this thing to pump out decent power its going to have to be purpose built. which means if you want to later on pound 20psi of boost in it your going to have to rebuild.


If you plan on keeping the 2bolt block you should get it all cleaned up and everything machined back to spec. get the main caps splayed to 4bolt caps which is going to be plenty stong for a future blower.

For the crank the stock cast one (unless its on its way out) is plenty good for a 300hp n/a motor. If you want something thats going to take the boost and spray later on a forged 4340 crank would be optimal.

For rods and pistons, once again the stock pieces will suit you fine until you want to get into the boost or spray.

Cam choice will depend on heads used and induction, once again this would be best to swap out to a blower/nos specific cam if you got that way down the road.



So what im saying is if you want a N/A motor build it, if you want a blower motor build that. Everything needs to work in harmony or you'll end up with a motor that doesnt make its full power potential if its N/A or blown!

 

Well, I might get forged pistons, theres a bunch of kits that supply those.. But you really think i can use the stock rods? So basically all i need is a kit that has all bearings, rings, gaskets and a Large Cam, Hi- Rise Intake with a 870cfm 4bbl Carb? or two 670's? and everything would/should hold up? i dont think i will put a blower on this project.. Unibody.. and it has t-tops, i plan on getting a 6-point roll cage and Sub frame Connectors..

 

Stock rods should be good for 300hp unless you want to spin this thing to the moon (6000+ RPM)


once again you cant just throw a huge cam and carb on there and expect gobs of power.

Its all gotta match!

what heads will you be running?

a single 870 or 2x 670cfm carbs is alot for a 350! Not to mention what a PITA duals can be to set up!

 

Getting pistons for a NA engine means you want a higher compression ratio. Using a power adder like blower/turbo/NOS, means you want a lower compression ratio so that you can run more boost.

I'm to the point now where there isn't a single thing stock about my engine. Even my block is now aftermarket. There just comes a point that stock parts just aren't good enough any more.

Buy a good crate engine and drop it in. It will be cheaper in the long run and the parts will be better matched to work together. It's nice to build an engine and say you did it but there's no guarentee your work will survive especially if you're building a non stock engine and have little or no experience.

 

Heads... i was going to get a set of new 400sb heads.

I have 3 engines... This 350 we are talking about.. and 2 305's.... Should i rebuild them and sell them? I like to do something with them, after all i did get all 3 of them Free...