badnova56

Hey guys, new to the forum. Here is my story. I bought my camaro from an old drag racer that had the car sitting out behind the gas station he owned. Anyway, it came with a 454 big block chevy with a th400 and 4:11 gears on a 12 bolt. I have done alot of work to the suspension and I am finally ready to mess with the drivetrain. Since this car will see mostly street driving and not a track hor. Although I would like to take it down the strip and around a corner at times. I am looking to build the drivetrain so I can get more than 4mpg and yet still have a fast vehicle. That being said. I read the sticky post on budget swaps, I would like to get my hands on a 5.3, 5.7, or 6.0 and I would like to make around 550-650rwhp. Does anyone have any suggestions that I can make this reliably and what you think the cheapest way to make this kind of power would be?

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

There is no cheap way to make that sort of power. Especially when you consider the chassis mods needed to support it reliably.

A cheap way to 500 HP at the crank is to get a 6.0 out of a truck and cam it. Has been done plenty of times. There are even car mag articles on how to do it. Then with an overdrive trans and some higher rear gears your highway gas mileage could be in the 20's. With a milder cam mileage could be in the high 20's. Car will be plenty fast either way.

badnova56

The chassis in my car has subframe connectors, 8pt cage, and a set of caltracs, I am looking at the 5.3l because I saw a certain turbo fairmont build in hot rod magazine a while back, I wasnt sure if I wanted to turbocharge it, but I was thinking supercharger. If I could get my 3600lb car to run around a 10.7, I would be happy. Any other combinations that would be reliable and get me where I would like to be