I am new to this site and wanted to reach out to Camaro enthusiast for their expert opinions. I owned a 1976 Camaro in High school and was a sharp looking car but had no ponies under the hood. 30+ years later I bought my second Camaro when I found a fully original 1979 Berlinetta that has 70,000 miles on it and is in excellent condition, no rust very few blemishes on the body and the interior is in excellent condition. The car is cursed with a 305 and is a pooch just like my high school. I want this car to have some muscle under the hood so I am contemplating have a 383 stroker built and have the internals beefed up so it could be supercharged at some point if desired. I would keep the original engine and tranny so they could be reinstalled at some point when my mid life crisis is over.

A question to the Camaro enthusiast out there, am I ruining the the value of this car or am I adding to it by investing in a new power plant for it? I thought by saving the original parts the car could be restored to it original condition some day. Am I over thinking this too much as it's not like its a real collector car as there are a lot of second gen Camaros out there yet?

Honest onions








would be appreciated.

 

It shouldnt be a problem if you swap engines .You just take your stock engine and put it in storage and put in what ever engine you want ,That goes for the rest of the car as well.

 

Agree, your Camaro, your ideas. As suggested, keep the OE items for the next buyer.

 

A second gen 305 car I don't think can be hurt in value by swapping that boat anchor out for something with more power.
You might as well keep the OEM stuff as it's not worth much anyway,even if you sold the car you might get a few brownie points for having it but 99% of buyers would not put it back in.
Looks like you found a real nice example there,not easy to find one in that shape anymore.

 

It looks like its been garaged most of its life by someone who used it just as a daily driver.And kept it up .

 

The car is totally unmolested, still has the original cat converter on it. When I bought it last year it had been stored in an old trailer, the last oil change was 2003.
Thanks for the input, I'm looking for to putting some extra muscle under the hood.

 

Are you sure you want to go as far as a super charged 383. That is a lot of torque and everything from the radiator to the rear tires would need replaced. Your 305 is around 140 HP, a ZZ4 crate 350 will be around 350Hp. Its a world of difference. A Supercharge 383 can twist the Unibody with out any reinforcement, Tearing of the body right where the roof meets the quarter is common with a lot less torque. Of course that assume you can get that torque to the ground with a leaf spring suspension.

 

It take a lot of work to make the car handle supercharging .Its better to start off with a Z-28 .and or and SS .I have a 500 HP supercharged in my 1979 Z-28 .And it has plenty of modifications to handle it.Of which can become very expensive .So much so I won`t add up the receipts I would scare myself.