hey,
I was wondering about any suggestions about my first car. Also what parts of an engine do you "beef" up to give it more bhp, I just want to learn about how to build the engine up, and more. I love American muscle, my favorite part is when you turn on an engine and the ground is shaking from the rumble of a V8. My dad owned a 69' Camaro, he dosn't have pics be he always tells me about it. I'm really looking for something that looks awsome and can eventually out perform a 07 chevy cobalt ss. I'm not well educated in cars but hope that this is the begginging to a life long path of fun and hard work. thanx. -Evan:)

Evan,

The "sky" is the limit. There are thousands of good candidates. What do you want the car to do?

In today's market, for a high performance streeter, Mustangs seem to be the most popular, as they're cheap and plentiful. Good performance for a small engine, too.

I would lean more towards a "G-body" GM car, and build to suit. A '78-'80 Malibu, Monte Carlo, Grand Prix, LeMans, GrandAm (rare, but really cool), Regal or Cutlass has a full frame, good rear suspension for traction, and lots of chassis goodies for handling. The small block Chevy engine bolts right in, making cheap power available. For the less faint-of-heart (and a larger budget), installing a BBC or large-cube Pontiac in one of those is a lethal combination. We have several out there going in the 11s on 93 octane with no power adders. For a car more driven on the street than the track, the Pontiac is a better choice (IMO). They're lighter and more fuel-efficient than a BBC at the same level. In either case, for a streeter, you want as much low-end power as you can muster.

The F-bodies (Firebird, Camaro) are bringing higher prices these days. They're good road cars, too. Every performance part known to man is available for them.

The MOPARs are good performers, but they're getting rarer and more expensive all the time. SOME of the Ford offerings of the era were pretty good, too, but not in the league of the GM and Mopes. After '73, it's slim pickens for the Ford boys unless they want to use the Mustang.

FWIW

Jim

hey thanx jim i'll deffinitly take your advice. a guy down my street owns an old pontiac, he dosen't work on it but every time i drive by it I can see the potential. just curious..what car did you start out with, and is a 350 chevy a good, powerful engine to start with, or should you go with a big block or whatever, thanx!

You could also go a step further and include the '81 to '87 GM "G" bodied cars in your search. Many of the cars available were "redesigns" of the '78 to '80s. A 350 is a god start. There are plenty of performance parts available for these engines. If you can find a "4 bolt" main engine, that's an added bonus. These are getting rarer everyday. I have a 1970 Chevy 400 bored out .030 with a custom cam and an Edelbrock intake with a Carter 4bbl. carb. I built that engine 20 years ago and put it in a '76 Monte Carlo. It was pretty fast, but not as fast as when I pulled it out and slapped it in a '78 Monte Carlo. That car was much lighter than it's '76 predecessor. The engine now sits in my 1964 Bel Air where it's happy:p
I've owned a bunch of GM "G" bodied cars and prefer them because of the good size engine bay is easy to work in, the cars are full framed, and parts are generally available and less expensive .And the interchangeability of parts between the models helps too.

Agreed on the '81-'88 models, just as an ASE guy, I can't recommend overriding any emmision controls, and the computer is ever-present in '81-up cars.

Late model 4-bolt 350s are pretty rare. Early style (2-piece rear main seal) are still plentiful in most areas. The "driver's side dipstick" blocks are considered more desirable than the "passenger side" versions. Crate motors are "bi-sexual" (they go both ways...).

A 400 Chevy is powerful, alright. Not real durable without major expense, though. Always use a 2-bolt 400 block... Due to where the outboard bolts are in the 4-bolt, the block is much weaker. Splayed-bolt caps cure it.($$$)

Big blocks are among the very best automotive powerplants ever made by anyone. The drawbacks are: Valve train stability (prime reason for blown-up BBCs), weight (HEAVY blocks) and expense. While not rare at all, cores are very high.

350 Chevy is the most popular performance engine on the planet for a lot of good reasons. Plentiful, durable and relatively inexpensive.

The Pontiac makes more low-end power than any of the others, and is relatively cheap to build, too. Gone are the days of bad rods and rod bearings. A 600 HP street engine is commonplace today, at 461 CID. You would save about 150 lbs. over a BBC, too.

Your call!

Jim

sooo,
maybe a pontiac trans am... whats wrong with going with a 69' or maybe 71' around there? whats different compared to the 77'-80's?

Also would you put in a 350 chevy compared to a V8, i think thats what would be fun to start with i'm just not sure what the difference is??

Ok so once you got the car, the engine, what are some little things that can increase performance, or help engines run better...for instance do you have to use supreme? or regular? or any special parts, like on an old engine besides regular maintenance, putting two intake valves on each cylinder, or duel exhaust...

one more thing..(this might sound stupid but whatever) Have you heard of people puting turbo chargers, or super chargers on a muscle car? with a blow off valve or anything? usually thats more of a rice rocket thing...right?

A 400 Chevy is powerful, alright. Not real durable without major expense, though. Jim
If I had a choice I probably would go with the 350. I wasn't advocating getting a 400 over a 350, but I had no choice 20 years ago when I was building an engine to put in my car. 350- 4 bolts were rare back then and for my price range in my budget at the time, the 400 "fit the bill". I really didn't incur any major expense when building it, HOWEVER, I do recommend if you go that route and find a 400 to use, I would beef up your cooling system if you can. I went and bought a 4 core radiator to handle the extra cooling needs of the 400 because of their "siamesed cylinder heads", and the fact it was bored out .030 in addition. That engine is still running strong 20 years later, a testament to the old ,great, Chevy small blocks.

haha you know what... a 350 chevy is a V8..oops