I am very interested in restoring my 1979 Z28 and I heard this is the place to ask questions. I know very little about restoration, so please help if you can. I want to buy a 350 crate motor with approx 300-375hp, and new automatic transmission to go with it. I assume I need to also change suspension and exhaust... so what should I buy for student-limited money? under $10,000CAN if possible? Any advice?

how much are you looking to spend..

Going with summit prices, you can grab a 385 fastburn motor (350 with 385 horse and 385 feet torque) for $4400, a TCI turbo 350 for $700, carb for $240, headers for $100 and figure anohter $600 in misc parts.

Thanks for responding. I am looking to pay no more than $10Grand Canadian ($8000US) in total for everything. What transmission bolts up to the Fast Burn? And do I need to do any work to my differential, shocks, leaf springs, brakes etc to handle to extra power? I was originally going to sell my Z28 for a new (fuel efficient) car, but I would rather pay less money and just upgrade my camaro to be more efficient while also more powerful. Is the Fast Burn alright on gas?

I truly appreciate your help in this Camaro75LT.

You can do quite alot to a car with 8 grand USA. I bought, re done, and built my whole 1988 camaro into a 12 second street monster for $8,056.64 (yes I keep records down to the last penny)

As for the fast burn 385 any norm. chevy trans will bolt to it and work. (th-350, th-400, 700 r4, 200 4R, powerglide, t-5, t-56, M20, 21, 22, etc etc)

You will always come out better off building your own engines.. You'll get more power for the money, becuase you don't pay the labor on the rebuild. Doing it your self and shopping around, look to spend about $1,500-2,000 for your 300-350 hp, around $2,500-2,800 for 400 hp

but if you don't have the skill or time to build your own, then the crates are a good way to go.. I will recommed a diff one than camaro75LT, because of your budget, goals and wants

The GM goodwrench 350 H.O. for $2,400 is a good one for you. 330 hp, 380 ft lbs tq. You'll need to add an intake, carb, dist, damper, fuel pump, and water pump to this engine..

edelbrock performer or performer rpm intake $116-135
edelbrock 600 cfm carb $235
summit HEI dist $140
parts store 6.75" or 8" damper $40-60
parts store fuel pump for a 70 or 71 camaro LT1 350 $12-15
parts store new water pump $24-30

Then your transmission.. You could buy a new one like camaro75LT said, or if you have a trans now that needs rebuilding you can find a good shop and take it to them and have it rebuilt for performance use for $475-550, if it don't need rebuilding then you could use as is for now, maybe upgrade it with a transgo reprogramming kit

The exhaust should be changed out for headers, dual pipes and free flowing mufflers. This you really can't put a price range on cause theres so many diff ways to go, but for a cheap great exhauast system then look at..
summit headers around $70-80
summit X pipe kit $90
2 summit turbo mufflers $30 for both
2 summit 4' long pipes $20
6 exhaust hangers $18-25

If you have a welder or know somebody that does then you can weld this up your self in no time, or go to a shop and have it welded up.

suspension and brake upgrades are always a great thing, not needed but it will make the ride so much better, safer and plus give you better traction and handling

The differential in these cars are strong, but you may want to check to see what gearing you have. For good street performance use you need something in the 3.23-3.73 range. If you have 2.XX gears you have have to get new gears installed, also a limit slip unit or locker would be a great upgrade. It will help traction alot

Wow... you do not know how much that has helped. I personally would not trust my ability to put an engine together. I know the basics, but I know none of the secrets.

I have written all of what you said down and I will start looking immediately. I can't believe you took so much time to give all of that information to me.

Two questions I have looking at the parts you listed.. 1. Will that engine fit under the stock "fake ram-air" hood, and if so would it be smart to cut that scoop out to make it functional for that motor, and 2. do I have to change my cooling system/ electrical system in any way?

What a positive outlook I have on all of this now. I will be sure to post further questions along the way as I move towards a better Camaro.

James

Whenever building any kind of performance car, it is always a good idea to upgrade your cooling and electrical system. I would get a tranny cooler and possibly go with an electric fan set up. I have the taurus fan on my car and it doesn't cost very much to do.

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Just some SLO ISH
350 HO "deluxe" Crate
4.10 gears, Vigilante 3000 stall converter, 200r4, CC XE268, Holley 3310 750cfm carb, Performer RPM intake.
14.12 @ 97.47 with 9.1 1/8
Best 1/8 8.8 @ 74

thanks for the advice. I know an upgraded Rad can tun up to over $500US... would a brand new reproduction rad from say, Classic Industries, do alright or does it need to have better cooling power to cool the more powerful engine? I hear the benifit of those too is that they supposedly bolt up directly with reproduction brackets. Is that true?

Also, I have been investigating the brakes. I was thinking about putting duel disks, and the set I was looking at was Stainless Steel Brakes Upgrade System (front and rear) on summitracing.com (Item# SSB-A180-M & SSB-A125). Anyone know if these are any good? Anything better/cheaper?

Thanks

jameskitzul... Your welcome man.. We all are here to learn and to help each other out right? I feel blessed and lucky that I had older guys to show me the ropes when I was a kid, now I like to take the know how I have and pass it along to other new comers, and anybody that needs the help

Yes that engine will fit under the stock hood. Should fit fine with a drop base air cleaner and a 3" tall air filter.

And yes is would be a good idea to open up the scoop and made an air pan to go under the air cleaner and seal up against the hood scoop. Cold air intake is worth alot for power. 10* drop in air temp is worth 1% in power.. Feeding the engine cool outside air is alot better than hot under hood air. The diff in temp is roughly 80-110*

Now for cooling system... Power is heat, more power you make the more heat you will also make. Some have lucked out and got away with stock cooling systems, others havent. I would upgrade the cooling system alittle just to be sure though.

A summit alum. 2 row 1" tube 19" x 31" rad is $180. That rad. will out cool a 4 core HD brass/copper rad. It's not a bolt in rad like the be cools and other brands, but very easy to make your own mounts and bolt it in. I used metal plumbers pipe strap from the hardware store to mount mine.

Now these rads don't have the auto trans cooler built into it like stock does. This is a good thing IMO. I feel like the fluid to fluid of a trans cooler inside of rad will heat trans fluid up more than an add on cooler mounted in front (grill side) off rad.

The B&M super cooler is good trans cooler P/N BMM-70264 $50 This will be fine if you run a lower stall speed torque converter, but if you get in the 2400-2800 range you may want to run two coolers, that one plus a smaller one.

Now for a fan, some will say stay with the stock clutch type fan, some will say go with elec. I myself like stock elec fans from the late 80's 3.8L ford taurus. It's a dual speed fan with shourd. A very nice unit. Plus you can pick them up in junkyards everyday for under $25, I also heard the 4th gen elec fans are good too.

Your electrical system should be just fine. If your gonna have a big amp/radio set up or a bunch of other elec. stuff then you might want to look into an alt. upgrade. I like the stock CS-130 105 amp alts. Those are easy to find in junkyards or buy new at parts store, easy swap and good amp out put

Thanks a lot night rider. I will use this information that you have given me thus far and see what I am able to do. I have contacted a high performance store here in Canada for prices on the things you have suggested.

This is a really great site because I don't know how else I could get information like this without either paying for it, or getting ripped off by whoever will be doing this work.

If I have any further questions I will make sure I come back here to ask you.

James

Here is the real secret...

Buy a nice car with good body and paint, and decent mechanical for $5-6000 that someone lost interest in but spent a lot of money on. It happens all the time. You get the car a fraction of what they have into it.

Put the rest of the money into making it perfect.

James... Your welcome. If you have any more questions just ask away. Alot of helpfull people here

nice work night rider!