Help Me Build My Beast...

[madyak]

Hello everyone. I recently bought a third gen camaro from a friend. I would like to build the fastest meanest third gen ever. My goal is to drop a stroked lt1 (383) into it. I want about 900 to the wheels, yes I know I need forced induction so i'm planing on a supercharger. I have a fairly deep budget.

Thanks

[1992RS]

900 at the wheels huh? For that many ponies I would go with a big block. But that's just my opinion. Unless you just want the LT1 block I would not go with that. So here is what I would do for some deep pocket horse. Get yourself an unmolested 454 and stroke it to a 496. They have kits for it. But make sure you get the best bearings, and rings. I would go with a forged crank and rods. Brodix makes some pretty powerfull heads, I would get the best brodix heads you can afford, I think they require longer push rods. Also you will want to get them port and polished to match your intake. You'll want long tube headers and figure out a true dual set up that's right for you. Now for intake you can go a few different ways. Edelbrocks victor series is a serious intake, set a holley 4500 series 1050 cfm carb. Or dual quad tunnel ram would rock some socks too, a set of holley 750 dubble pumpers will liven anything up. Or you can go with the supercharger. The cam is another extremly important matter. but it depends on what induction your going with. When you order your other stuff get some suggestions from the techs at jegs, summit, or your local speed shop. Well that's a quick down and dirty, if you need more just ask.

[Hypsi87]

Thats going to be hard to keep 900HP streetable and remain up to safety standards for NHRA and IHRA. be prepared to to run pure race gas as well.

[1992RS]

Oh, I didn't think of that. Do you want to keep it streetable?

[Hypsi87]

A engine with that much horsepower is not realiable at all. Also be prepared to fix alot of stuff.

Not to start anything but, have you been in an engine before or anything like that??? I'm just wondering because that will be a big factor on weather or not you want this car. I'm assuming you have not bacause your unfimallar with what makes a engine perform. I could be wrong, I'm not trying to bad mouth you or anything like that. It's just something to consider. Also consider what tranny and rearend your going to run.

[1992RS]

yeah tranny and gearing is a huge factor. You seem to know quite a bit hypis, what would you suggest for a 900hp beast. I'm thinking powerglide with 4.56 gears. You could go with a TH400 with 5.11 gears, but I think the powerglide would be a better choice.

[Hypsi87]

hmm good question... I would say a TH400 with a ford nine inch rear end. As for the gear.... That kinda depends on the size tire that you would run and how fast you want to spin the crank... I would not run a 5.11 gear on the strip. If I where doing this and had a deep budget, I would put a twin turbocharged setup on it. This one lady at a NHRA meet in cali. that ran a twin turbo 355 ci all steel body camaro in the meet (I can't rembember what class she was running in it was either super comp or super street something like that.) but anyway, she was running low six's at 220+ MPH with a steel body . Anyone who knows dragracing knows that that is alot of power. I would say a 900 HP car is not going to be able to get on the street much. Yea it might be streeable but will it be a street car. Plus you will need to put a roll cage and subframe connectors in. If im correct thrid gen f-bodies have a serouis problem with torquing the body to hell and back

[1992RS]

Holley jesus that's a ballsy camaro. There are ways around the body torque on a third gen..I learned the hard way. All you have to do is welld a couple extra cross members onto the frame to keep it from twisting. I have a feeling this thread is gonna take up some time. But I wouldn't go with the 400 because of header restrictions. you can't use long tube headers on a third gen camaro with a 400 tranny. That's why I sugested the powerglide. But if you don't mind the shorty style headers then the 400 is a pretty good choice. Another thing to consider is that your gonna have to fork out at least 4 or 5 grand on suspension. All the ponies in the world aren't going to do you any good if you can't keep the sticky to the pavement. With 900 hp you could run pro street. but I wouldn't put it on the sreet. Like Hypsi said, ford 9 inch cut down tubed out and some mickey t's. Look into an adjustable torque arm as well. Since your going to have to get a new one anyways I would pay the little extra and get one you can play around with. And don't by any means get an aluminum driveshaft. You'll just be waisting money.

[89IROC&RS]

hmm, well, just cuz its got 900 dosnt mean its nessessaraly unreliable. if you use quality parts, and and dont skimp on little things like reputable shops doing the work, it should be ok. but i wouldnt drive it every day. i would say, steer clear of the LT1, the ignition is the main problem, the inner bearings get hot, and the distributor melts on the front of the engine, you loose timing, and boom engine like that would be toast realllly quick. i would say stick with the one peice rear main small block. old school. you can make a 454 small block pretty easy, use a 400 block, a scat billit crank, they go for around 2200 bucks, not to bad as far as billits go. carrilo rods, and i have heard good things from JE pistons, for forged units for that application. comp camps xtream energy cams are pretty good, but i dont know if they have one with enough lift to get what your after. but youll have to look into that. of course roller cam and lifters, and jesel shaft rocker system would be worth while. put in a crank scraper, thermal coat the chambers, piston crown, exhaust port, and valve faces. obviously headers are in the recipe. and a free flowing exhaust, ive always wanted to see someone put a used nascar exhaust sidepipe on a third gen to see if it would fit. contact muscle motorsports if your interested. an accell super ram intake system, i would go with a speed dencity system cuz youll have to program all your own fuel maps and spark curves. or youll probly hear from alot of people to go with carbs, but eh, thats so passe. powerful ignition say, crane cams fireball HI-6 with PX92 coil and a hi performance distributor. also, think about using baby bearings on the connecting rods, they are 1.889 vs 2.1 rod journals, so you can even offset the crank a bit with it, by .211 inches and the smaller bearins reduce friction and heat build up and.... horsepower maybe dry film coat the piston skirts, bearings, and such. remember friction is your worst enemy when your goin for hp. as far as heads, look into airflow research aluminum 220cc heads, or edelbrock E-Tec 200 heads. those flow more than the gm's fastburn 23 degree heads. have them ported and polished and put in oversized 2.02 1.6 valves. for induction, if you are looking for more power, i would go with a twin turbo setup, VERY complicated, and probly expencive, but ive found from research that turbos do make more power, (sorry all, im a recent supercharger to turbo convert.) as far as drivetrain, yeah, i seriously doubt that the 700 will take it. go with a buiilt TH400 and a solid 12bolt or ford 9in rear end. built with name brand parts and at shops that know exactly what they are doing. its really not that steep of a request unless you are looking to drive it everyday, or be street legal. you need the best, most precice work possible.

[1992RS]

Leave it to Iroc for the best information. This cat knows what he's talking about. small block guru.

[Hypsi87]

Well realiable for running down the track yes but to go dwn the road all the time = wear and tear

[1992RS]

Well if you drove it all the time you better drive it like it's the last car in the world.

[Genopsyde]

put a blower on it

[madyak]

wow, thanks for the quick respones. I'm kinda anal about these things and want to stay with a small block. I've been trying to do this on my own for a while, but I get nowhere. I'm looking into some AFR 220's, i'll get them ported and such. then I checked into a Superram intake, they seem to do really well. Then I was looking into a nice supercharger a while ago, I think it was a ProCharger D-1SC Stage II Supercharger. My question; is the supercharger compatible with the superram? It's the bottom end stuff i'm worried about. I have no clue what to do in terms of pistons, rods ect. In terms of gearing and such i was hoping for a manual with a set of 4.11's. And yes I want this to be streetable. I have no problem wit emissions and such, i ave connections.

[1992RS]

Well I have to agree with Iroc, for that much hp you should probably go with an automatic, and 4.11's arent' going to do squat for you. You'll just be waisting horse power. Superchargers are great, but I think twin turbo will be your best bet. Although I have heard good things from prochargers. I would go with bowtie or vortec heads though, they tend to flow better. But if I was you, I hope not to piss anyone off here, but I would go out and get a super chevy magazine, look at the articles and see what other people are doing. We can give you numbers and advice all you want, but that way you have something to actualy lay your eyes on. But if it's small block you want, then listen to Iroc, havn't seen any thing but great advice from him.