'95 Z28 Drag Build HELP!!!

Hi All!
Aquiring a '95 Z28 soon and i am goin to park her in the garage and let her sit while i build her piece by piece.But i am new to the high HP V8 world and need help badly.
First of all,something i cant find,all i find is numbers and letters that i dont know what they mean...is what transmissions are used for 500-600hp and torque drag cars?they dont seem like manuals when you watch races cause their seems to be no clutch action happening....just wondering...and where online can i look up and research these trannies?Another thing out of Summit Racings Bare 350ci blocks is a good one to start with,i plan on pitching the 200k engine thats in it and building a fresh monster?I think the aluminium blocks are KINDA expensive.I know 4bolt mains are a must,and siamese cyclinder setups are good,anything else i should know?what exactly is siamese cylinder config?thicker cylinder walls right?
So everyone knows and can better help me...i THINK my strip goals are gonna be something like 11-10 second 1/4 miles,with room for improvement when i get adjusted to the High HP.Would the engine be better suited for drag as a Carb or Injected engine?Which would you prefer?I dont want it SOOOO tilted towards drag that i cant rumble her around town once in a while.what kinda HP&Tq would i need to be puttin up a 10.5 sec 1/4mile?How does one go about using a stroker crankshaft?does the block or cylinder head need to be special?what are the advantages of a stroker setup and should i use this approach?What kind of suspension and motor mounts should i look into?I have never been involved with puttin this much HP to the ground so i need some BIG info on the suspension.What are some basic DO's and DONT's of building a strip car?i have blabbered on my newbie questions long enough...i just really wanna get into some big numbers,i am so sick of my honda and working hard just to get under 200hp....very un rewarding.I am an apprentice at a Auto Shop,but ust started so i am still getting my feet wet,but cars are what i LOVE,and i hope the nice people here can help me get my feet wetter in the drag car sense.The biggest thing i cant understand is what tranny's and torque converters and trans brakes and rear ends to use and what they do?!And what kinda Compression ratios V8 are safe to use with Nitrous....MAYBE a supercharger as well.I know with my honda if i wanted to boost it i would have to drop my CR to like 9.0:1 to be SAFE.When it comes to rippin out the old engine and installing my newly built motor,what stock components should i retain?such as ignition,timing,ecu's,fuel pump...should i pretty much strip the car bare of everything?Would i be able to BASICALLy bolt in this aftermarket beast...what about all the externals(alternator,P/S pump*maybe*),will all this stuff mount to the aftermarket block as it does the OEM block?Any info on Poducts ya'll gimme would be REALLY helpful if ya had online links to buy or look at em...thanks alot
P.S.-what about roll cages....how do they install them...do ya just strip the interior and weld them to the chassis or what?and how can you intercool a roots type super charger...and can a roots type SC be used with fuel injection?

another question....i'm looking through these crate engines and MOST of them are externally balanced,and some of the expensive ones are internally balanced...which should i get?if i bought a bare block and bought the crank,rods,pistons,seperate what would it take to balance them?
Hope to get some replies soon
thanks

if you have 10,500 dollars to spend you can buy a 1000 hp motor all assembled and ready to go... and umm roll cage, i am thinking of getting a roll cage too jsut to stiffen chassis and hook my harnesses up to, but as far as i know you just pull the carpet back bolt or weld the roll bars in there appropriate mountsing places and cut carpet to fit around the bar. and you will ned subframe connecters and upgrade your rear control arms, get a nice posi rearend with like 3.42 gears or up. bigger disc brakes, strut tower brace, some pretty wide rims in the back with drag radials, driveshaft safety loop, aluminum driveshaft, and automatic trans, like maybe a built up 700r4 or a built th350 or th400 with a shift kit and like 3400 stall converter or something (dont know much about stall converters), and stiff loweringspring and some nice shocks and struts, pace performance sells lots of nice engines. depends on how much your lookin to spend, cause its gonna take a lot of $$$$$$. i think like almost any 350 block will have most of the same mounting points and stuff. if you got 5000 bucs heres a 350 that makes 400 hp outta the box.
well good luck

oh yeah, heres the link, http://www.paceperformance.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=73192

1st question... why throw out the lt1 block?? why not rebuild it to what you want... lt1 blocks are great for making power and great for handling it...

lol, i didnt notice he was talkign about a 4th gen, well yeah, keep the lt1 and pull it get it put in a hot tank or whatever to completely clean it out, get it bored and get some nice heads and huge cam and msd ignition, new crank, port out intake manifold, plenum, and get a bigger throttlebody, bigger fuel injectors, higher flow fuelpump, fuel pressure regulator, roller rockers, headers, cold air induction, 3 inch exhaust, ummm forged internals and some NOS??? or turbo it or something.

lol, i didnt notice he was talkign about a 4th gen, well yeah, keep the lt1 and pull it get it put in a hot tank or whatever to completely clean it out, get it bored and get some nice heads and huge cam and msd ignition, new crank, port out intake manifold, plenum, and get a bigger throttlebody, bigger fuel injectors, higher flow fuelpump, fuel pressure regulator, roller rockers, headers, cold air induction, 3 inch exhaust, ummm forged internals and some NOS??? or turbo it or something.
I just figured with the high miles it would be better to buy a new block nd heads and start from scratch.I was lookin at some Dart 350 blocks and they arent toooo expensive for a cast iron type....but if ya'll say the engine in it will work fine,i could give it a shot...how much can you bore an lt1 block out?How much power wiyth the listed stuff above could i be lookin at once it is finished?would doing all this require me taking it to a Pro Tuner to have it tuned right,or could i beef up the internals and all that without having it tuned?
One thing i really want is a way to learn the ins and outs of this magnitude of Drag racing....short of apprenticing under a racer ya know....theres gotta be a way to learn all the basics of building this kinda car.
thanks for the replies guys...keep em comin
I have found some other camaros for sale a little cheaper....if i was willing to buy a new block...could i then possibly buy a v6 automatic and still throw a 350 and new tranny in it....with the all out mods i plan on doing i could pretty much start with any model couldnt i?

honestly, I would never tear up a z28 to make it a race only vehicle. I'd go with the 6er and do the engine swap and beef up the suspension and chasis.

with making it a drag car too...i agree i would also start with a v6...they are usually cheaper and with everything that you are changing it wouldnt be much different than doing that to a v8...definately would need a better chassis and suspension like stated but im assuming since its going to be a race car anyways you know that...

yeah its gonna be primarily track so i GUEss i could buy a v6 model....then i would HAVE to buy a new engine...might buy a z28 anyway and keep my options open.I just looked up some tranny's on racetranmissions.com and they have a th400 tranny that will handle up to 950hp....but is a th400 really a 3 speed tranny?is this a good tranny for drag racing?i thought at least a four speed would be ideal...but then again what do i know.i figure a four speed would be better for the street driving time.if anyone knows any sites with a GM 4 speed tranny that can handle 700hp lemme know the link so i can check em out.
thanks again guys...
keep em coming

a dart little m cast iron block would be good for this, roll bar is not just welded to floor, a plate is welded to the cage and has bolts going through itand the floor and a plate on the other side(bottom) of the floor pan, or you can tie it straight to the frame, for a 10-11 second qt. a 8 pt cage would be enough, in the topic of carb or fi i would go carb, to get you car into the 10's you dont need nitrous or forced induction, i just built a 396 bbc which im drooping into a 3rd gen camaro thats becoming a drag car and im running a 750 holley double pumper, with a roots type superchrager or a blower, you dont run an intercooler, it is driven off the crank not exhaust gas like a turbo so it does not produce as much heat as a turbo would, for all you other cage and safety needs try and find an NHRA tech guy, one that can tell you what would be safe and what wouldnt be. for do's and dont's, DONT BE CHEAP, dont buy crap, you get what you pay for, dont take shortcuts in building stuff, its you ass on the line is you ever get in a accident with the car, so do things right, i see so many people building stuff like cages wrong all the time, hope i was of some help

for a trans with a small block for a pure drag car i would go with something like a powerglide with a trans brake, if you want to hit 10's or faster, btw between the th400 and the th350 go with a turbo 350, turbo 400 can handle alot more, but a built 350 is alot lighter, i wouldnt go manual in a drag car, they spit out to many parts, if your just getting into dragracing, i wouldnt start with such a big project, start with something small, a weekend bracket car or something, before you spend a crapload of money get to know the sport

wise words from alcoholboy. You need to get your basic knowledge together first. Go to the book store and start reading up. I made a post a while back about a book that i got. The publisher is HP books and its written by John lingenfelter and is called building a performance small block or something like that. Very good book. It doesnt matter whether you get a regular camaro or a z28 everything has to be replaced anyways. I would begin with the suspension and drivetrain and then the engine so that you can research what engine you really want. Also if you get a new rear end and a strong transmission with a trans brake in it youll get great quarter times even with a stock motor because you can get such a huge launch. A LT1 block with forged internals will handle the 500 or 600 horses that your looking for. Stock heads will take you to about 500 n/a. A 383 lt1 combo with some AFR aluminum heads would be one thumpin motor and a pretty easy build. Then stick a procharger on it if you want more. A 12 bolt rear is a sure thing or you can build up a stock 10 bolt and take a chance. The 10 bolt is cheaper but you will risk breaking it if you put slicks on the car and might handle a 11 sec car.

An LT1 with stock internals can safely handle 500+hp.... the stock internals are forged..

are they really?

yeah io agree with 92, a lt1is capable ofmaking the power but here is alot more available parts a a normal SBC, there cheap and easy to make power out of. im also running a 12 bolt, there a great rear end, mine has a aluminum spool, 35 spline gundrilled axles, C Clip eliminators, and a T/A girdled rear end cover, its strong as hell, BTW im running a 5:13 gear

I cant imagine what kind of launch you get out of that thing with 5.13 gears. How high does the engine rev?

see... peopel tell me 4.10s are crazy... pussies

yeah io agree with 92, a lt1is capable ofmaking the power but here is alot more available parts a a normal SBC, there cheap and easy to make power out of. im also running a 12 bolt, there a great rear end, mine has a aluminum spool, 35 spline gundrilled axles, C Clip eliminators, and a T/A girdled rear end cover, its strong as hell, BTW im running a 5:13 gear

is this a race only car? if not what kind of gas mileage do you get on the highway?

with a 5:13 gear i would personally go there and slap him if it WASN'T a race only car

with a 5:13 gear i would personally go there and slap him if it WASN'T a race only car

lol, we can do a road trip, we can go together and he can get 2 smacks.

yeah its race only, its not done yet but its a 86 camaro that i backhalfed,m im running ladderbars with coilovers in the rear, interior was totally stripped out, racing seats with 5 pt. harnesses, all autometer gauges, and the 396 i just built, i just have to drop the motor in then find a trans, for a trans il either go with a th350 or a powerglide with a trans brake

Thats a lot of gear unless you are running 32" slicks, depending on whats done to the engine you will be " winging" it pretting good in the lites. My old maxwedge Ply used to run 5.13's at 3600# and finished in traps at 6800, with a 30" tire. I would assume your 396 has more power/rpm potential.

yeah im gonna leave at a fairly high rpm, btw im running a 30" tire