DreamWeaver96

Okay, long time lurker, first time poster.

I'll start with a little bit about me. I'm 20 years old (21 in sept. WOO) doing the college thing, but I commute from home. I haven't had a project vehicle since high school, which was a lifted 4x4 rock crawling jeep cherokee. I've decided for my next project car I wanna go fast.

Here's where I'm struggling.... What do I build? Ok, ok it's not like I have no ideas or plans. I want to build a 350. I want to buy a bone stock 350 and build it myself. I've been thinking of a 3rd or 4th gen Camaro and pulling the engine, building it, replacing it, and building the whole car into a street/drag kind of mix ORRR doing an LS swapped foxbody.

I dont really have a set budget. It's going to be a semi long term build (a year-ish) and money isn't that big of a deal; that being said, I'd like to build a 400ish hp car for under 5k as kind of a challenge for myself.

Basically, what would you do in my shoes? 3rd Gen? 4th gen? or LS swap a foxbody?

Sorry for the long post! Thanks y'all!

JoeNova

None of the LS engines are a 350, so you must be talking about a Gen 1/2 small block.
Do a swap. Make it your own. I'm personally not a fan of 4th gens. Fox body swaps are way overdone. There are probably more LS swapped Foxs out there now as there are BBF foxs.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

If you want to do a traditional 350 (Gen I/II SBC as mentioned above), then you're better off going with a 3rd gen F-body. They are setup from the factory to receive such an engine, and if you want to use a traditional distributor it will be much, much easier to do so in a 3rd gen engine bay.

If by "350" you were just generically referring to a modern SBC and what you're really planning is an LSx swap either way, then it really doesn't matter which you go with (assuming you plan to use EFI on either engine.) Engine R&R will be easier on a 3rd gen, but 4th gens are already setup for an LS/Gen III+ engine so you won't have any swap hassles there. If you don't care much about the condition of the body, then a 3rd gen might be cheaper. But if you want a nice car to start with, finding clean 3rd gens is more difficult due to their age and all metal bodies, so you might have to pay a premium. A decently clean 4th gen might be easier and cheaper, especially if you buy a lower trim level one with a ton of miles but a clean body/interior.

If your "400-ish hp" goal is crank horsepower (not RWHP), then all you would need is a stock LS1 engine with full bolt-ons and a tune.

JD_AMG

Yeah this^^^^
A stock LS1 makes 350hp, with boltons you will be at 400hp at the flywheel, no need to take anything apart, or take the engine out. Then a cam swap and you will be at or over 400rwhp.
And any newer LSx engine is going to make over 400hp stock.

DreamWeaver96

Sorry, should have clarified. My goal is 400ish at the wheels.

Follow up question: how would the stock trans and rear end in, say, an 02 camaro with a 400rwhp LS hold up to that much power?

cookseyb

This is like asking "How high up is" you need to get a PLAN on paper and follow through we can't help much if you are all over the place.

JD_AMG

On a 4th gen the stock trans will be fine, although with and auto you will want a stall.
The rear end depends on hard you beat on it, if you are doing 6000rpm clutch dumps on drag radials then it wont last long, if you are on street tires and not shocking the drivetrain then it will be ok.