Me and a buddy of mine are in the prosess of rebuilding his 1989 camaro rs.
We have successfully taken the 305 out and are now trying to figure out which direction to go in. We pretty much are wanting and willing to build it from the groung up, and have no Idea which direction to go. We have considered a 383 stroker or just a straight 350 but honestly we have no idea. Looking for any and all advice as far as what kinda engine we should go with. We have all the time in the world to do the work but we are looking to stay in somewhat of a budget. Our overall goal is to get 400-500 horsepower out of it but not completely destroy the gas mileage. We are not lookin to make a fully stripped dragster, just a car we can drive around in, and smoke all these stock 2011 camaros and mustangs drivin around thinkin they are hot **** when mommy and daddy bought it for you.
Any and all comments and advice is welcome and helpful thanks

 

First off, 400-500 hp at the wheels or at the crank?

Also, getting that kind of power, you're gonna sacrifice mpg's. Be lucky to pull 15 on the highway.

 

last point first---------OK

1st point- you do realize that the word "budget" could mean that your "budget" is $20,000 for the project

2nd point- why do kids always toss out the 500HP number like it's an easy thing to do? Do you want drivability? You also mention gas mileage, well, 1st gen technology isn't going to do that for you. You need a modern engine with computer control, fuel injection and even variable cam timing.

3rd point- is this for dangerous street racing and a machismo thing or is this for the drag strip? Unless you are allowed to look under the hood how will you know if the new cars are stock?


points not addressed. To get to 500hp the engine is going to need to put our more torque than your unibody and suspension can SAFELY handle in stock form. let's not even address the transmission which will get grenaded along with the rear end. You will be investing serious dollars to build the engine and then do the suspension/drivetrain/chassis work to handle it.

All of that and you still have a vehicle which needs body work, paint and a new interior

Honestly, if you want the testerone rush why not get a 750cc or larger bike?

500HP in a SBC is not inexpensive nor is it "easy" especially if you think for one minute you are going to have some modicum of street friendly drivability.

seriously, save your nickels and buy one of those vehicles you seem to hate. You can drive all day bumping and with the A/C on, get high 20's on the highway, slap on some drag radials and run 12's and even 11's at the track

Or, if you can't afford that, save your pennies and buy a used 4th gen Z28 and do bolt ons. i think you'd be pleasantly surprised the difference between that vehicle and the 305 you had as well as the L98 powered 3rd gens

 

Ok... First off @coconuts, i was speaking in terms of at the crank. And ya i get what you mean, im not looking to make it a freakin Hyper-miler. I just mean i want to try and conserve some sort of drivability.

@torque-is-good: First point, I dont really have an exact budget, i just meant i dont wanna just throw money at it for no good reason, Ie, putting 10k into it and getting 350hp when i could have gotten 400 for 6k.

2nd point-Learn to read. I didnt say 500+, i said 400-500, which is in no way shape or form out of reach. So idk why you are talkin like im some dumb "kid" who just threw a number out there cause it sounded fast. Also i never said anything about sticking with a gen 1 motor. I was just using examples of ideas we are throwing around. In fact we actually are in possession of a gen 3 LM7, but until today i didnt know anything about it.

3rd point. Its not for any stupid "machismo" bs. I just personally appreciate the work and effort that goes into creating something for yourself. Anyone can go buy a 40,000 camaro ss. And as far as the looking under the hood part, your completely missing the point of what i said.

And as for everything else you said. I am well aware that the Frame/suspension/transmission will need to be changed out as well to go from a 200 something HP engine to a 400+. I'm not retarded and i do have some concept of what the hell i am doing.
Furthermore... Interior, paint, & body work... Completely irrelevant to this post and i have no idea why you bothered to mention them. You in fact didnt even come close to hitting on anything that was at all helpful or relevant to my post. Youre an idiot. I never said 500hp was inexpensive or easy. So idk why you put easy in quotes. And on top of all of that you are completely wrong. My neighbor has a custom built 69 camaro easily pushing 450 to the wheels and it still has perfectly good drivability. So please take your useless ranting somewhere else.

And also, im not looking for a testosterone rush. I'm looking to build a muscle car.

 

He mentioned paint/interior/body work because you're building something that will be run on the street and strip..not just the strip. Therefore there is no sense in spending thousands of dollars into just the engine and drive train and not have a car that looks good else where or is comfortable to drive/ride in.

A lot of of torque is relevant. 99% of the time people come on here wanting to know how to build a 400-500 rwhp car for pocket change, when it simply can't get done. Which, indirectly you said. You want push that power but stay on a budget. You came here asking questions. We answered them with limited info.

If you want a good legit, non-flaming answer, we need to know what the budget is. What engine you're going to use. What tranny, rear end, gears, tires and any and everything else.

 

no need to backpedal. Did you miss his comment?

"Any and all comments and advice is welcome and helpful thanks "

I guess it should have been prefaced with.............any comments based from experience and common sense are not welcome

to "Mycamaro"............I wish you well but I'm done with you. Feel free to read any of my posts and see if I've saved anyone any time or money. Alas, you will learn the hard way; good luck

 

Actually I did. Ha. Must have read right over it.

 

@Coconuts "If you want a good legit, non-flaming answer, we need to know what the budget is. What engine you're going to use. What tranny, rear end, gears, tires and any and everything else."

What kinda engine we should go with was exactly what my question was. And I guess i should have specified "any and all comments pertaining to my question", which was what route we should take on choosing what kind of engine to use. And I guess i should rephrase the entire question. If i am rebuilding a 89 camaro, what would be the best engine to go with for two guys who have never done this before. Forget the budget part. i just meant which engine choice would be the cheapEST choice. Not necessarily cheap.

 

And yes i realize that alot of what Torque said was relevant to rebuilding a camaro. But all im looking for is advice on the ENGINE. Which i specifically stated. And of that entire post all he said about the engine was that for better gas mileage i need a more modern engine.

 

A 383 stroker will get you closer to your HP goal. If that's what your asking.