First off the car I am building is an 80 el camino. I currently am running the nearly stock 305. It currently has a edlebrock 650(to much) on it. I have added knn air cleaner,full length headers to(3in) into 2.5 true duals dumped after flomasters just before reared. Th350 reared currently. My dilemma is I want to upgrade all drivetrain soon. I want around 400hp/tq, 4 speed, and to upgrade reared. I am on a budget and looking for the best combo. I have an old 4 bolt main 350 and possibly a 200r4 to upgrade and build, or go with a new transmission(jegs) and sbc from blueprint(carb) my other option is getting a ls based truck engine from justchevytrucks.com and transmission and doing all the mods and changing headers to make that work. I know the ls option is more work. I don't know if the stock 7.5 would be worth building. I want to go 3.73 and limited slip or posi. I would love the 9in you can buy but either way the g body reared seems expensive. What are your thoughts? I am in Texas and want ac. I have gone back and forth and researched until I'm blue in the face. Someone win me over on budget and performance.
Torn old school or new school
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I have to say I love the old school but ls is the way to go...that being said If I was starting again and on a budget I'd drop an ls1 in bc they are relatively cheap, ls3 would be my next choice if I had a little higher budget. Still can't beat old sbc for parts availability though
That's really not a bad sounding combo to start with. Junk yard 350 with some decent cams would be a budget approach to make some extra power. save your money on purchasing new parts and have the engine and your th350 rebuilt maybe add a manual valve body or source out a junkyard manual trans and that elky would be a blast to drive.
I love old school primarily as that's what I grew up on. Secondly I know nothing about LS motors. Now heres the important thing. Budgets well let's just say they tend to be loosely defined. I blew mine 7 years ago. Just remember it always seems there's never enough money to do it right the first time but yet there's always enough to do it twice
If you are on a tight budget i'd get the 350 4 bolt. The costs will be bigger than you budget, but not as big as the LS swap.
This all depends on several things. Is the 350 in good shape? Can you re-use the rotating assembly and "just" swap in heads cam and intake? Does the 200r4 work?
If you need to start from scratch, obviously it would be better to go with the LS engine. Also, you dont necessarily need headers, and you can fabricate much swap stuff if you are handy, drastically lowering the costs.
It all really depends. The only thing you can be certain of is that the LS is superior in every way but simplicity.
This all depends on several things. Is the 350 in good shape? Can you re-use the rotating assembly and "just" swap in heads cam and intake? Does the 200r4 work?
If you need to start from scratch, obviously it would be better to go with the LS engine. Also, you dont necessarily need headers, and you can fabricate much swap stuff if you are handy, drastically lowering the costs.
It all really depends. The only thing you can be certain of is that the LS is superior in every way but simplicity.
My 78 Malibu 400 sbc runs fine, gets about 10 mpg, mid 14's in the quarter. My '96 Impala SS gets twice the gas mileage, has run 14.7 with headers, cat back etc, has no problem smoking those big tires. I had a 4.3 V8 '94 Caprice for a winter car. It's driveline( trans, harness, etc.) plus a 5.7 LT1 long block will provide the next driveline for the Malibu this winter. Maybe not as good as an LS, but you can buy a 94-96 B body car for under $1000 these days and with the Malibu 4-600 lb. lighter it should be a nice driveline. It should be capable of 13's in the quarter and get the same gas mileage as my Olds Silhouette van. I have done a couple of LT1 swaps (62 Pontiac, 56 Ford) and this one looks easier.
Pete
Pete
If you are on a budget I think you already know which way to go. I bought an LS a few years ago and it's still just sitting there. The 350 and parts are cheap. I bought an L-82 at a swap
meet for $100 - a $90 re-ring kit, 2.02 iron heads, big flat tappet, w/ a Vic Jr and a 750 and it pulls 450HP. I wouldn't throw any money @ that 7.5 especially w/ a stick. Seeing your in Texas I've heard that the Mexican Monties had Dana 44's in them.
meet for $100 - a $90 re-ring kit, 2.02 iron heads, big flat tappet, w/ a Vic Jr and a 750 and it pulls 450HP. I wouldn't throw any money @ that 7.5 especially w/ a stick. Seeing your in Texas I've heard that the Mexican Monties had Dana 44's in them.
Get your hands on a 96-2001 350 vortec motor out of a truck or suburban and just freshen it. These have the very good vortec heads 906 or the 062 castings and the only thing needed differently is the intake. You can find these used for around $100 and your all set with a lot of power from the stock hyd roller cam. These motor with only cam upgrade can make 400hp and TQ and still run on cheap pump gas. One thing that I would do is to reuse the stock pistons with the lite metric ring package. Even motor with 200,000 miles still don't have a ridge on the top of the cylinder and some have the cross hatch in the bore yet. Less drag means more power. Or get the heads and reuse the old block but the complete motor is the way to go with the hyd roller cam set up.
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