i have a 4th gen camaro no motor no trans the rest is bone stock and i wanna race in autocross this year, i cant decide what motor to put in the car, the engine that was in the car was a 3800 series 2 but it blew up, what would be a good motor for both autocross and street driving?

 

for autocross you are gonna want to stick to the 6. I ran my z28 last year and was horrible... I was running the fastest time in the class a full 10 seconds behind the 6ers and the miatas... (god i hate miatas... ) Strip the weight you can, and then go with a lightweight 6, and tune the hell out of it. you will dominate.

 

see thats the same thing i was thinking because the 6 is a lighter engine, what would ur opinon be on deleting weight? but i also want to use the car for daily use

 

strip out the back seats, the carpet, anything you don't really need. Unfortunately in autocross the lightest quick accelerating car is the winner... this usually means little tiny 4 bangers... ive seen some competitive 6 cyl camaros, but you gotta stay in the right class or your gonna get stomped on.

I would strip the interior down to the essentials and then have a removable spare. if you want functionality you sacrifice looks and comfort.

personally i would say worry about your suspension and the motor, weight reduction can come later. get your motor handled make it as powerful as you can, take it on some acceleration runs, (your not looking for top speed) tune your trans/differential. get all of that set up then tune your suspension. if you do it like that you will be a force in autoX.

 

All you have to worry about is how well your car pulls in second gear in all of your power band because that is basically the fastest you will have to go. And coilovers+weight reduction along with swaybars, strut mounts and a couple of other body rigidity mods should be enough for suspension. Get some slicks and learn to drive your car, for example: late braking, and you should be good.