The Camaro Club (UK)

Hi,

I have a second gen 77 Camaro with a small block 305 with a TH350.
I'm going to be saving up for a new engine, as want abit more power and more of a V8 rumble.
At the moment i'm thinking off getting a 383 or a 400 small block. I don't have lots off money, so i want whats best value and also which i can easliy add more HP in the future.
Please can you let me know what would be :best value, most reliable, and best for future upgrades? and any other tips which you would think i would find usefull.

many thanks from Luke

There's a lot of variables involved in your question.. Having been through the same sort of thing I can tell you what I did and learnt from my experiences about 3 years ago.

I had an old-ish engine that was showing signs of wear and upon inspection probably wasn't worth rebuilding for the sort of power I was looking for (400 hp).Luckily I had a guy who was prepared to fit a new engine for me relatively cheaply (as he'd keep my old one to rebuild as part payment).

I liked the idea of a 383 as the Camaro is a heavy car so the extra torque seemed a good idea. I assumed a crate engine ready built was the best option, so spent a long time searching what was available in the UK and of course in the US. A friend of mine had bought an aluminium head crate 350 for his Corvette that he was happy with, and they (company will remain un-named for now) made shipping to the UK easy so I went this route.
I bought a 383 with aluminium heads rated at 460bhp, ready for my manual gearbox and shipped it worked out to about $7000. Exchange rate at the time was just over $2 to the £, so it was quite a good deal. I had to add some import/vat to that and get it fitted of course.

The engine went in with only a few small issues, ran well and all seemed good. I had to replace the damper too at this point, as the existing one had started to deteriorate, but I racked up about 4000 miles, including a trip to Le Mans & it's first Track Day (and had to change the shiny chrome oil pan for a proper race baffled one, as oil surge would have killed it) I did a rolling road session and it made 425bhp, so I was happy ..... and then...

The crank broke..
I had the engine stripped down and it had damaged the block, the crank, a couple of pistons and rods. The whole top end was OK luckily.
On more inspection alot of the parts used were not really quality performance parts, cheap standard pistons and LT1 rods, standard cheap lifters. The crank had been balanced by having weight drilled in. I was not impressed, as I assumed I was buying a performance engine with well matched parts.

I had a new block sourced, proper performance pistons, rods etc all added, properly balanced and had my heads, intake and carb all refitted... It cost a fair bit as this was all done in the UK and in quite a fast time, as I had a track day at Spa in Belgium booked within a week, but it all worked out OK. The new engine is great, power is up to 430bhp and have done nearly 8000 miles on the newly rebuilt engine, including serious European runs and loads of track days. ..

So work out your budget and get it built would be my recommendation..

Having said that, I have heard good things about the GM performance crate engines. ZZ4 etc...

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Hi,

There seems to be quite afew building them in the UK, so would be going that route. As you have some where to take it back if there is any problems. I have been quoted £600 for fitting, which i thought was not to bad. I was looking at maybe using some parts off my 305 to keep the cost down i.e starter, altinator, carb etc. and then just give them the rest as part payment. I'm looking for 375-400HP to start with, not to bothered about lots of chrome.

Is there any requiremened engine builders in the midlands?

what's the differents in performance and cost between the 383 and 400 small blocks?

thanks

To be honest thats a "how long's your piece of string" question. It really depends on the spec of either engine. What sort of spec are you looking at & how much are you looking to spend. The price of parts will be pretty comparable for them both. With the 400 though, you don't have to invest in a crank etc to stroke the engine as it comes complete at 400 inches from the factory, so there's likely to be a good saving there. I like 400's as there's no substitute for cubic inches, unless you've got "cubic money" of course

cheers...Nige

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Too much power...not enough hands!!