Which one would be the better/cheaper route? I was just scammed out of thousands of dollars by my own family member for a motor so that put a big dent in my budget. That's why I said cheaper route. My motor runs decent. I just want it to run great with a little more HP. Which route would you guys recommend?
You expect more then alittle more power if your considering a turbo. Will take some carb charges to make a carb work with blow thru, and fuel pump/regulator. 350 as mentioned can handle more power. But grand national Pistons work in 350 engines so there is a small advantage. You need quality oil pressure as the Buicks both have setbacks there then add a turbo to feed also. So system needs to be working well. Do you have a current running engine? Do you have a higher stall convertor and rear gears to help take advantage of the additional power?. Driveshaft in good shape also?. are you just looking to throw a turbo on a used engine and see how it turns out? Go with the 350 then. Do you know how to tune carb and timing for boost so you don't spark knock the rods out the oil pan? Spark detontation is what kills turbo engines fast. Once you hear it the engine is pretty much scrap. Consider running e85 or ally with boost and a timing retard kit of some type
My current motor is running. It's in decent condition. I don't know anything about a motor. Well I know some basic stuff. I was planning on paying a shop to do it. One of the shops I called suggested putting a chevy 350 in there.
Most want to go Chevy. Parts are cheap. It doesn't take much brains to make it go faster. Wait til Sean makes a comment as to who does a good turbo carb. Then it's just a turbo kit and some other things. You will need to pull oil pan and weld in a return oil drain. But if your stock engine is solid and you run timing on the conservative side you can get 400-450 easy with premium fuel. Don't use anything less.
Eric at Horsepower innovations builds one of the best Blow thru carbs, and you won't find better customer service b4 and after the sale A1000 pump If the 350 is in there already use it, just use the stock manifolds with a merge mount turbo under car or route back up to engine bay up to you do a single 70+mm with a .98 or 1.10 exhaust no need for the clutter of twins 455 will make more power with less boost period. 600hp with a boosted 455 is so simple it hurts, same would hold true for a 350 but would take more boost, which would mean a smaller tuning window. A good Carb hat is a must as is the carb stay away from home modded carbs there is much more to a blow thru than most realize.
Good info there. And your running a supercharged 455 on E85. . Kinda the way to go as technical octane is close too 100 if not better. Who makes a good carb hat?
Roughly what am I looking at for parts? The shop I'm looking at charges $55 an hour. I'm having trouble trying locate a 455.
I am actually doing both right now. My 62 currently is currently getting a Buick 300 (not a 350) with a turbo. pretty much all done with the motor, hot and cold side. Only thing is, I am not running an IC and only running 4 lbs of boost. I Probably have $3,500 in the entire set up; motor build included. My 72 is getting a 455 that in the machine shop now. By the time I'm done, I should have roughly $3,500 in it. So, basically its probably 6 of 1, half dozen the other. Chris
Carb hats in order of power, distribution EV pro hat EV standard Procharcher Pro Then A CSU hat. Pretty sure that's how Steve Morris rates them
I can't find a 455 so either I'm going to have the shop work on my Buick 350 or have them go ahead and put the chevy motor in there.
Yea . A 5.3 swap with a turbo headers available off eBay a decent turbo would be the way to go if your going with a motor swap. . Either Chevy requires a Chevy trans or an adapter that's questionable at higher hp. . Maybe post your location and someone here on the board might be able to help you.. what's your budget like? Have you planned for the other upgrades you will need.?
I'm in San Antonio. My budget is about $500 jk. It's between 3k and $3500. I was told by a local shop that a 5.3 swap would be very pricey.
$450 for the motor or the install? I found a 5.3 on craigslist for $650. The shop was telling me it would be pricey in parts and labor to swap it with the computer etc.
You can get a regular intake and throw a carb on it. And get a module for coil packs. Don't need the fuel injection . .
A decent turbo setup will cost you about 5k. I don't care what anyone else says. They haven't done it. That's not with labor included. You can buy twin manifolds, or you can have a shop cobble something together for a single kit. Either way it ain't gonna be cheap. A decent carb and hat is gonna be just south of 1K. That scratches the surface.. Not many of us have done it for that reason.. If someone wants more detail I can give you some figures of what it REALLY costs to start from scratch.
