I'd get a chevy s.b. for the endless combinations. I was eyeballing a rocket on ebay and a wiser man than myself told me they're expensive partswise. Sucks, because I wanted to have an olds camino beings it wasn't numbers matching to start w/.
Olds 350 with a 5 speed possible?
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titanica217 said:
Yes, if you buy the low-end Chinesium parts, the SBC parts will be cheaper. If you buy quality parts the cost is much closer.
It's not just cheap Chinese parts that are much cheaper. In the end, I would expect to have close to $1,000 more in an Olds engine combo than a Chevy when you take into account the costs of aftermarket heads, intake, etc. That stuff is available cheap on the used market for a Chevy, but more difficult to find for a SBO. Now, this is somewhat offset by having an Olds to start with as you do not need to swap brackets, pulleys, accessories, wiring, etc. when going to the Chevy. I did a Chevy with my car because I had some leftovers from another project, and I was burned by doing an off-brand build that cost a lot of money and did not deliver the performance expected ( 1979 AMC Spirit GT with a built 1973 AMC 360/ Torqueflite 727). I love off brand stuff, but mainstream gives you the best bang-for-the-buck unless you really know what you are doing with your oddball of choice.
Money aside ... the inherent problem with the Olds 350 is finding a manual transmission that will A) bolt up and B) be strong enough to handle what I need.
Unless someone can find a compancy to mount up a Tremec to a Olds 350 ... then I'm going to have to go with the SBC.
Unless someone can find a compancy to mount up a Tremec to a Olds 350 ... then I'm going to have to go with the SBC.
That would likely be the best decision as manual trannies for SBC's are easy to find. I have an Olds 350 that I am getting ready to swap in to my LeMans. The only two factors in choosing it were I wanted something different from a SBC, and I have a nice BPO pattern TH350 sitting in the garage and the Olds is probably the best of the BPO small blocks to use with it. So in my case it's more economics than anything else with the Olds, but the SBC route usually gives the best bang for the buck when starting from scratch.
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Have you tried Keisler or Forte's Parts Connection? They specialize in Tremec adaptations to other engines, even AMC's.
depending how cheaply you can get a 4 speed bellhousing for an olds, i see them around every once in a while, you can buy a plate that bolts it to that but still isn't nearly as cheap as a sbc. i think they run around 200-250 bucks. idk i personally like the being different so im going to just buy a mcleod shatterproof for like 415 bucks and bolt my t-56 to it.
joe_padavano said:
"Chinesium" - haha I have to use that Joe.
I'm going through that at work. There's been a big kick to get our tooling from China. Big-wigs upstairs love the cost savings (initial) and don't think about WHY the quote is so cheap. Us in engineering and manufacturing have to deal with the "actual" cost and the "equivalent" steels, aluminums and coppers that are used in the dies. Ends up costing just as much if not more if we used the shops up the road in the first place (many times we have to use them anyways to correct the issues with cores, mold and die bases...).
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