Hi

I just bought an original owner SS/RS 67 camaro. The motor is not original but its in daily driver condition with some whatever 350 from a 80's truck. The car originally came with the L48 motor and Muncie M21 4 speed.

Is it wiser to track down a numbers matching motor and build it out if i may sell it down the road? Or just go with a LS1 and have some less maintenenced fun in the car? How bad or good would it be drop a LS1 in this car? I know SS/RS is very coveted, but not sure its better to find another non SS RS car and drop it in that....

Curious to hear some input, im sure i am not the first to ponder this.

Thanks, James

 

Personally, I would not put an LSx in that car... it would be different if it was a 'plain-jane' Camaro. IMO.

 

The motor is not right as of now.. Your just never going to find the original numbers matching motor at least your more likely to win the lotto. Anything less than numbers matching is an equal playing field. An LS motor requires significant wiring and adaptation to fit and work in the car. The expense to do that is high compared to just dropping in a new 427 even though the 427 has a huge upfront cost.. But being able to say my car has a 427,,, priceless......

 

You have at least four degrees of value to a car of this nature. Original numbers matching engine (yours is long gone) is worth the most. Then what's worth the least is a plain-jane engine. Somewhere in between would be if you put in a "date correct" SS350 block. It's not numbers matching, but it's definitely worth more than having a plain jane engine. Last is an LS conversion. People may pay good money for a well done one, but I personally would keep it vintage, considering what the car is/was and that you bought it from the original owner.

 

old school rules
my opinion only! if you want a ls engine , buy a car that was designed for one

 

It is your car do what you want, there is no right or wrong. Just don't cut up an original car and save any original parts. That way you can change your mind 10 years from now a switch it back. At this point LSX swaps are almost all bolt in. I think if you go with a six speed you may have to cut the tunnel a little. It all comes down to what do you want out of the car?

My 67 RS/SS is not numbers matching engine, everything else is. Mine has a strong 69 350 in it with about 3000 miles on it since rebuilt. I am thinking about a LT1 injection system with a HEI distributer on the old school 350 and a 6 speed upgrade. Of course the original Muncie and even the original piece of the floor will stay with me. If I go that route I will most likely end up with a custom mega squirt system PCM tuned by the sloppy mechanics.

 

Thanks for the input everyone, that was very helpful.

A couple of days after buying the car, but before I knew the value of the original block, I passed up on a L48 shortblock for $700 an hour away I doubt I'll find another anytime soon. I've also decided that I dont want to go 100% purist restore, spending my spare time scouring for exact number matching parts and pure OEM does not sound like my idea of a fun project. Instead I am going to go back to the original paint code, butternut yellow and keep thing period correct and have some fun from there.

I ended up getting a really nicely built stroker that is full dressed and chromed out. (I'll post some pics soon.) I found a guy on CL that had last minute decided to go with an LS1 and had already built the entire drivetrain including a M21, hurst shifter, cermaic headers, balanced aluminum flywheel, macloud clutch and a high performance driveshaft. It was never installed but test ran and it sounds great.

The car is at the body shop now, I cant wait to get the motor in. First, the engine bay is going to be powder coated and everything gone through and rewired.

I plan to do all new bushings on the front end, upgraded front disks, new radiator and whatever else we run into.

I'll start a thread of the project too, I hope to be done within 6-12 months. The car is really not that bad off from others I have seen so it shouldn't take as long as I would excpect if it were missing alot of parts and getting things to function, the car is a great driver now.

Thanks again and I'll keep it updated!

 

Here is some pics of the car pre body work and the stroker I just bought.