Hey guys I'm still kinda new to the whole American Muscle thing. I used to be an import guy but I just recently purchased a 64 Camino. I'm not too bright when it comes to American motors so I was wondering what I should drop into it. Right now it has a 305 and 5 speed trans out of an 80's camaro. It has an Edelbrock carb, headers, and cams. I want a motor that'll blow the doors off most people, especially my friends 383 stroker in his Firebird, yet still beable to maintain reliability and decent gas mileage. I was thinkin a built 350 with an underhood roots blower. Any ideas?

Right off the bat - roots kills mileage. The perfect method for drive-ability and power is turbocharge/efi. Now I don't know what budget your working with but the classic saying is "speed is expensive, how fast can you afford to go" - give us an idea of what limits your working with and we can help you better.

Also read this - http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/tech/engines_drivetrain/cams_heads_valvetrain/0612ch_small_block_top_end_swap/
they get 523hp with a 383 with a $2750 top end on a 383.

I'm pretty fond of that little 383. I have two they're nice hybrid small blocks, produce a lot of torque and very good horse power as a result. Noting takes the place of cubic inches. XbeasleyX is right, speed costs. It costs in gas mileage.

I do believe you can build a setup that gets great off the line starts and decent economy but it's got to be planned. A overdrive transmission like a 200R4, 700R4, 4L60/65e and the 4L80e will help. You have to watch the rear end gears when upgrading. A standard like the T56 it's a 6 speed standard and an overdrive, two overdrive gears the 5th is a .65 (the same basically as most of the above mentioned automatics) and the final is a .50 overdrive.

It's my personal opinion that the T56 is about the best bang for the buck if you are really looking for a great "get it off the line" 1-4 speed and in highway driving it can lower the cruising RPMs very significantly and get the best economy. You can have something like a 4.11:1 rear end gears which will put you over the line very quickly and in normal driving move into 5 or 6th depending on the driving conditions and not feel like the engine is turning so hard it's going to blow up. It is a standard like I said so you have less wasted power being soaked up by the torque converter & transmission.

First step is to build an efficient power plant with good torque. American muscle is heavy metal. Unlike the rice burners it has to overcome a lot more inertia to get moving. So torque is your best friend. Your buddy has the advantage already, his vehicle is lighter than yours and more aerodynamic and probably has a better front to back weight ratio.

I think you can do it and you can do it without all the turbo, blowers and gas (No2). But it's going to be a project that is not going to happen over night unless you've got an excessive amount of cash on hand. Planning, researching and acting.

Well anyway that is my humble opinion.

Yeah I guess you could say his Firebird is lighter than mine cuz its a paper weight in his garage right now. The frame is sitting on blocks, the motor still isn't out of its wrapping, etc. I'm probably just gonna use my truck for my get around vehicle and just build the Camino up to be a beast. I have a friend with a Chevy Monza, he's got a 350 with heads, cams, intake, bottle, and a very strong bottom end and that thing is stupid fast. He has to tow it everywhere, haha, but its rediculously fast.

how much of a budget are you working with Cause if ya got the cash a 572 makes great hp about 800 of em add some turbos or supercharger or nitorus and you could have possibly one of the fastest cars around although the engine alone costs 18,000 lol

I make $1,200 a month. Not much...but nobody said building a car takes a day. It takes a lot of time and TLC right? So with that small of a budget...what do you think I should do?

You know you don't have to spend a boat load of cash. GMPP makes several flavors of crate motors that are dyno proven power houses directly out of the box at a reasonable cost.

"It has an Edelbrock carb, headers, and cams. I want a motor that'll blow the doors off most people, especially my friends 383 stroker in his Firebird, yet still beable to maintain reliability and decent gas mileage. "

Pace Performance parts sells several "Turn Key" packages like the ZZ4 350. It has a dyno proven 355 Hp right out of the box. One of Pace's packages is Pace Performance Exclusive ZZ4 Polished Finish Turn-Key Engine Package for $4,596.95

http://paceperformance.com/ProductImages/manufacturer/paceperformance/images/zz4polished.gif

Over 400 Ft-Lbs of torque, aluminum heads roller cam, high performance small block. This is a great starting point and while you save up your money for upgrades you'll be blowing the doors off of others. A cam upgrade and some other little tweaks here and there and you've got a really strong power house. Best thing about this is, it's GMPP which means it's a totally new engine with all brand new parts assembled and test by General Motors not some fly by night shade tree mechanic.

Some creative work on the rear end and you have a Elky that has it going on.

Oh yeah I like that motor! A ZZ4 with the aluminum Fast Burn heads and the Chevy Hot Cam kit installed. Smoke em if ya got em! http://www.sdpc2000.com/catalog/1578/products/2598/Fast-Burn-385-w-LT4-Hot-Cam-Upgrade-High-Performance-Series-Street-and-Strip-Engine.htm

http://www.sdparts.com/product/12498827/TurnKeyZZ572720R720HP572DragRaceCrateEngine.aspx found it thought it would suit your needs temperarily

Marshall, if you look at the upper left corner of a post it tells you the date that it was written. If he hasn't done something about an engine by now I'm sure he really appreciates your help.