You guys and your silly carbs.. lol.. I'm still not convinced it's a cheaper route compared to the plentiful GM EFI stuff out there.

Ohh.. the G-bar and Fays2 deal sounds nice...

i've heard enough about the 5.3s already. maybe its becouse of where i live, not sure. you should build a 6.0 with a 4.8 crank and whatever rods you need to make it work. some L-92 heads and intake. be cheap, run balls out and be unique and cheap.

Two words to influence your project Steve....
 

...Trans-Am:yes:

Keep it sinister and keep it simple...:unibrow:

Is this the car you were telling me about last week?

Yea, it was the covoluted eBay deal..

OH YEAH!!!!!!!:thumbsup:

Find me a 67, 68 vert like that please

build
 

steven
i like the #1 idea if it matters..love to see your build of the 5.3 fi
how about that fairmont with the 5.3 turbo ?....DAMN
i just picked up a 5.3 pullout for less than 250.00
i already have the camaro intake ...i made a deal for the rest of the ls1 injectors and rails along with a f-body pan/pickup/tray that i needed anyway.
i will probably throw a cam in(after reading how much they pickup)
gonna clean it up and paint it ,gonna get the rambler going sooner because the ls1 is all apart and takes more $ than this to get done.
yes, i said going...not draggin ass anymore...
back to your build......love to see you do as much non-bling ,creative build ..scrounging up good used deals (ebay or forum classifieds)and making paint your friend.


radrambler

My thoughts exactly... trans am style without all the frills. Clean, functional, minimal expensive stuff (billet hinges, etc). Oh yeah, and how bout a carb'd LS3 under the hood?

Seconded!! a clean, back to basics look with awesome track look & capabilities. Modern day Trans Am car with large dia Minilite, 3 piece replicas:thumbsup:

A sinister sort of lower budget all blacked out track car would be cool... except maybe one thing, can you use your special "magazine powers" and get GM performance to 'loan' you a LS9!! That would be something to see new and different.:unibrow:

I'm all for #1. I just picked up 2 Gen III 5.3's :woot: one for my 80 and the other we'll see! If it works out ok maybe for the 67. Do a Carb intake! That is my plan and will consider FI in the future!:thumbsup: I would like to see an article done on the Gen III and a carb setup similar to Reggie Jackson or Dale Jr.'s carb setups. A budget build would be great!

Well, the intent would be to later install a TBI/FAST system with a cowl plenum intake alah early Chevelle or 67 Z/28 with a flat hood Yunick style.

x3. Simple, clean, and functional. For $30-35K tops.

Unless I missed someone else guessing the steering box.... http://www.mamotorworks.com/corvette-1-302-1363.html
http://www.1320video.com/img/HRMFair...2_73.sized.jpg
I'm with the others here on the turbo :D 5.3...
http://www.1320video.com/img/HRMFair...6_77.sized.jpg
http://www.1320video.com/img/HRMFair...4_75.sized.jpg

Good call on the minilites. :thumbsup:

I agree to keep it simple. A 5.3 would be a cool engine and should be relatively low cost to get. Keep it on a budget that the AVERAGE guy can build. Don't cut up the body, floor pan, etc to make stuff fit. See just how good you can get it to handle with the stock frame using available aftermarket add-on's like A-arms, spindles, etc (like several have suggested). I'm not sure that I agree on a $25000 budget. I bet you could build a nice ride out of that car for less than $20,000 if you shop right, buy used when possible, etc.

Just my .02 cents...

GeoffP
68 Camaro LT1/T-56 4.11 (soon to have the FIRST set of 12.19 Wilwood 6 piston brakes) :)
87 Camaro IROC-Z LT1/4L60E 3.23

Steve, you really got these guys thinking!!

Budget build eigh? Yeah mine started that way too!! :lol:

:lol: yea, many builds start that way.

But I have Penny in my garage if I have the urge to wax something. Besides, I can build this car one for $28k, test it, and they throw all the NICE stuff at it see what gain in performance there was, if any.

As for the "budget".. some will argue that it should be $10k to build a car.. some would say $50k.. It's really an individual deal.

I think anything under $30k is a "average joe" budget, especially for a Camaro. The Fairlane it at around $36k right now and most people consider that an realistic build. Also, we are talking about a build using all new parts that can be duplicated and not the "I found this stroker at the swap meet/junkyard for cheap" sort of deal.

Also, I could build the car for $15k but it would look like crud.. I want the car to perform and look cool as well. Something the average guy would be proud to cruise or run at the track.

Steve build for the average guy:D i think that 30k is a good number to keep the quality and still have some money left. i was thinking 15k for my car and now its going to be about double that so i hope you 30k dosent turn into 60k lol

No.. I will budget for $25k and that way I will spend $29k lol

One place I will not skimp is on the wheels.. wheels make the car and someone wants steelies then they can duplicate the car even cheaper. lol

My goal is not to build a rat rod. :yes:

Call it "Bad Pony". 3 shades of Black and all business,"Bad Business".JMO

Steve,

You're right that $15k won't cut it, but I really think $20k will. I actually have less than $15k in mine right now and get all kinds of thumbs up's when I'm out driving it. It's not perfect by any means, has a little rust and a wee bit of primer, but it still looks really good. I have to respectfully disagree that $30k is an "average joe" budget. Maybe it's because of the area of the country I live in that shapes my opinion (Georgia BTW). Or maybe it's because I bought mine at a really good deal (from my brother) to keep it in the family, so maybe that has skewed my opinion as well. In your defense (I'm not much of a debater am I??) I have to remember that 67-69 Camaros are getting to the point that the car purchase by itself would break most average joe's budgets. Thanks for the comments. I'm sure you are right - $30k is much more doable with new parts.

Good luck with your build. I am sure I will enjoy tracking it start to finish.

(edit - flow of my post didn't look right - had to fix it!)

GeoffP
68 Camaro LT1/T-56 4.11 (soon to have the FIRST set of 12.19 Wilwood 6 piston brakes)
87 Camaro IROC-Z LT1/4L60E 3.23

Putting a carb on a Gen III ruins all the fun of having one of these engines in my opinion. And besides, it's expensive too. Car Craft just did a story on a 5.3 build and they converted it to a carb. Cost them $1116 to do it. Stupid. And unnecessary too.

Why would you say something like that? :question: I picked up a brand new 5.3 (2 of them) it did not come with a fuel injection setup! I have the carb and I'm going to buy the Edelbrock setup for $650 ~ $700 how much more will FI run me? Minimum would be $2,500 to buy an off the shelf setup...

Some of the motor guys I've talked to state the carb will provide better power over the FI and still have great mileage. There are pro's and cons to both. I love FI, but not in my plans at the moment! I read some articles on a Carbed LS2 a while back and it produced better results than FI. It is all in what you are looking for and what your budget can handle.

Nope.. you could have bought a used LS1 intake and fuel rail for a couple hundred bucks. Most LSx engines you buy from salvage yards will come with all the stuff you need and then you just need to rework the harness and flash the ECU.

Is that 650-700 for the carb set up counting the Carb, Intake, Electronics, and Harness? Everytime I add it up I get at least $1000... :shrug:

Then you have to tune the carb.. and if you change big altitude you have to re-tune the carb.. If carbs are so great then why don't new cars run them anymore? lol

And while I do agree that a carbed LS motor will make more power it's at the sacrafice of drivability and fuel economy. :)

The REAL cost of doing a carb:

GMPP carb intake 88958675 Scoggin-Dickey $369.75
Fel-Pro intake gasket 1312-1 Summit Racing $22.69
Fel-Pro header gasket 1438 Summit Racing $26.36
MSD ignition conversion 6010 Summit Racing $312.70
MSD extension harness 60101 Summit Racing $184.10
Carb, Holley 750 0-4779 0-4779C $415.95


Most likely I will do both and show which one makes more power and which one costs more.. sort of a shoot-out with myself. lol

I have the Carb, The link below is for the Edelbrock setup with harness and controls the coil packs. $699 (709.99 shipped) I'll still need the gaskets. If you were to buy a FI setup off the shelf! you would pay in excess of $2,500. Even one out of a salvage yard would be more than a couple hundred bucks. I didn't buy from a salvage yard so I didn't get all the extras. The 5.3's I picked up have Zero miles on them. I have no harness, manifold, injectors, MAF, fuel rails and so on... I thought the carb would be the budget way to go! If you can hook me up with a FI setup under $700 I would go that way, but I've not found anything that is in that range. I'm definitely going to look as I would love to be Fuel Injected over a Carb.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/EDELB...spagenameZWD1V


This is how I received my motor!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/151/3...6e46a0c1_o.jpg

This is with the Edelbrock setup

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/3...06871c1d83.jpg

it is very clean and from what I'm told very streetable. If you can point me in the direction of a FI system that would be the same price I would go that way. Thanks for the info I look forward to finding a budget FI system....

Just because you have a carb doesn't mean that cost shouldn't be factored in. :) -- if someone want's the Carb deal it's $1,000..

And there's no need for an "off the shelf" EFI deal.. used GM stuff is perfectly fine.

And the carb deal is cool, I have nothing against it. I just want to point out that it's not the dirt-cheap option to the "unaffordable" EFI.

Really :)

Oh, and in your case you were at a bit of disadvantage since your engine came without any EFI stuff.

BUT... a used GM intake and TB is cheap.. as is a fuel rail. They you need a cheap Vette regulator/filter deal and some mods to a stock fuel tank. Lastly you need an OEM harness (again, from a scrap yard). You can mod it yourself with enough effort or pay $400 to have it done. They have the ECU flashed.

Done..

Or go with the cheap MEFI4 option like Turn Key offers.. 5 wires and you're golden. I bet I could put EFI on your long block for $1000... maybe $1,000.

But I have to admit... the carb deal looks very cool. :yes:

Thanks Steve, I'm giving it some thought. I picked up 2 of the 5.3 motors for what I had paid for an LS2 that never materialized. I still had some change, but not enough to buy new EFI setup. The carb setup looked less expensive. Since my post earlier today. I have found an LS1 intake setup going for $150 - $400 on ebay also found a harness at $465 an ECU at $100 so it could be possible to do something for around $1,200 ~ $1,500 with a used intake. I will keep an eye out for the parts as I've not comitted anything to a carb. I have to look at the write up Tony was talking about.

I would also like to know why GM would put a Carb version of the LS2 out if there wasn't something to it.

I love the BOSSEFI approach, but again $2,700 for just the carb/FI setup. I love the look of the Victor Jr. intake on the LS motor.

Anyway I'll follow your build no matter which way you go with it. I'll be putting the first 5.3 in my 80 Camaro this summer and decide if the other will go in my 67. I'll start a post on the parts I come across for the 80 project and we'll see how it comes out.

My only suggestion is to keep the billet to a bare minimum, ideally none.

Ron....GM offers the carbed LS2 primarily because it's easier to put in a classic car than the FI is. There are still a lot of "Old School" guys out there that don't want to mess with the computer stuff. It's just an option that caters to another segment of customers.

And like Steve said, they will perform a little better then the FI motors. It's focus is probably more towards Drag Racing then road racing. I doubt I'll miss the few horsepower I'll lose for the convenience of the PCM and Fuel Injection.

Because the carb is cool, many people fell more comfortable with a carb, and there was a demand for this sort of set-up.

Plus it does make a bit more power.


The key to doing EFI with these engines is to use as much GM stuff as you can. If you can find it used even better. Once you go aftermarket then the EFI approach gets REAL expensive really fast.

I will most likely build it both ways so we can see exactly how much it cost both ways and the power difference. I think that would be useful info.

Yea, I agree.. there really isn't THAT much on Penny.. the taillights and hinges mostly. Damn, black hinges would be SOO sweet though... lol

First go around will be to hit budget target.. Once I get that done I can add some higher end components.

I started doing some math and building a PT Camaro is tough to do..even on $30k.. but I think I have a plan.

Thanks Tony, I love the look of the Carb setup, but I also like the way the FI feels (love the milage also). You guys have me thinking and will do some more home work! Thanks for the advice. I've had the LS1 in my 98 Formula I loved it. I only did a few mods and it was fast!

Thanks Steve, I'll watch your builds and continue picking up parts along the way. I hope to have the first one in my 80 this summer (It's still in California and I'm now in Michigan). I'm looking for parts now and will post what I find and a what price so you can use the numbers for reference!

Any chance you can do a comparison of a Victor Jr that is FI using fuel rails and a throttle body the setup looks like a carb but is FI. I would be interested in possibly doing something like that. Do you know if you can use the stock harness and ECU with this type of setup?

I started a new thread here https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=13490 I don't know if it is in the right section (Engine), but I have asked for help with the parts I'm going to need to do the FI.

I purchased an LS1 intake off of ebay for $127.50 so I'm on my way.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=160207177177

I appologize for hijacking your post.

Thanks for all the great input.

i am with alot of peaple make is car low dollor,use the stock sub frame,use 5.3 with carb set up, you could use 200r4 for the trans,ls1 rear brakes,and use the hotchkis suspension set up for the car,that my .02 cents

camaro
 

20 years ago the seller would have asked 500.00 bucks for that car and I would have passed on it. Looks like a good clean car.