I have a 80, the engine is starting to leak oil and I think I want to put something new in there, I just don’t know what we be the best choice. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Leak from where? If just valve cover gaskets or pan gasket then not sure its worth the effort for a whole engine swap.

The health of the engine is determined from a compression check, leak down check, oil pressure, and steady vacuum. Leaking gaskets does not make a bad engine.

If you want more power then that is a different story. Lots of options from a head swap, to camshaft swap, to crate engine, to a more modern LT/LS engine swap. there is no single recipe so tell us what characteristics you are looking for and how much money you have budgeted?

 

Lots or factors come into play, mainly budget. From there you need to narrow down to carb or fuel injection and skill set if you plan to do the work yourself.

 

Make sure that you check the emissions standards in your region before making any modifications to your drivetrain.
If you are happy with the performance of your car, then repair the leaks and be done.
If you can modify to obtain better performance, there and many upgrades you can do to gain better performance over replacing the engine with a new one.
Research all your options.

 

If it's a 350, rebuilding it into a 383 isn't astronomical as an LS swap, most all accessories would be reusable as well as the brackets. Headers would be possible. I'm not sure about emissions in your state and what would be needed for it. Look at some of the speed parts stores for a price range. You're basically putting a 400 crank in a 350 block. There's more involved but you get the idea.

OR....

You can just rebuild your motor with new pistons, rings, all bearings, intake and cam for around $2500 including some light machining. Add another 800 to a grand for new heads

 

Plan to keep it for a few decades? Got the budget?

LS Swap it. Great hp, great torque (including broad torque curve), great MPG. Great longevity and can support your desires for more power going forward.

Search CL for LS engines; you'll be surprised what you can get an LS1 for.

Adam

 

Lots of good questions being asked here that need to be answered to give you a good response. Having just done the same thing to my 1980 4 speed C3, i will add to it this. Whatever your budget is, plan on going over ! There will always be something that goes something like this. "While i'm here doing this, i should probably do that as well"... been there done that a hundred times.

 

I was where you were at just a few years ago. I've built many smallblocks in my life, and my goal was to pull the 190 hp (yawn) Ralph Nader L48 out and build a solid 400 hp smallblock.

But then I began asking questions about what my goals were.
The numero uno goal was I wanted was to drive, and do it a lot.
It needed to be dependable, leak free and make at least 400 hp. Then I got to thinking I still have the last three Silverados I bought and they all now have over 1/4 million miles, dont leak oil and still get decent fuel mileage, something I've never been able to brag about with a Holley carburator.
So...
I started with an LQ4 6.0 iron block (gives you a 4 inch bore with a lot of choices) and topped it with LS3 heads and an LS3 intake. That gave me well over 400 ponies, started easy and well behaved and offered 17 mpg.
Then, just when the getting was good GM recalled all those ZL1 and CTS-V superchargers, replaced them and istructed the dealerships to destroy the replaced superchargers with sledgehammers....
...which I presume not many ever were, and dadda bing! They started showing up on fleabay, and with that 6.0 liter 4 inch bore, it's a bolt on.
Now, where else can you get 700 hp, can drive it on the Hotrod Power Tour with the windows up getting 17.6 mpg @65 mph with 3:73 cogs and an overdrive? Indeed...

Cant do that with a smallblock

 

If all you want is a stock replacement and arent concerned with power look up the goodwrench 350 from summit. Dirt cheap and new they sell a reman version to I think.

Dont have to worry about a 350 leaking most will, its when they stop leaking youve got trouble.

Where are all these cheap used LSx engines? A high mile needs everything 5.3 is still $1500 on craigslist, most of them probably stolen.

 

There are two or three in South Florida for less than $1000 right now.

 

depends on your location, $1500 up here in yuppy ville

 

Years later, about to buy one of these in great condition running for 8k.

I have another 3k budget for engine. Shops around here in TN are pretty cheap. Without doing a whole swap and getting into that headache, what would you do to this 350 that comes in the 1980 Stingray to get another 50-70HP?
Swap cam and heads? That'd be about $1500 in labor for just those two things. What cam and heads could I throw on this without a lot of fuss?


Here it is; I'm going to have the car claybarred and paint restored if possible before having it repainted.

 

I started to ignore this because it sounded expensive... but it looks like you can get the block and heads and intake for $4,000.

This seems like a $1,500 swap in (labor). So for $5,500 I have almost 500HP. Am I way off on that labor?

I'm deciding between swapping the heads, cam, and pistons for $3,000 with labor or the LS swap you just did for $5,500 (if that's realistic).

 

Factory blowers are the way to go!!!
A basic rebuild with maching is now over $4k....inflation sucks

 

Happen to know of an entry level supercharger that'll fit under the hood of a stingray? I could research but I figured this community probably has beat this topic to death.

 

dont know about the factory ones...even a procharger that looks like a turbo has a hard time fitting... I dont know of anyone that has one of the new ones yet... But as low as they are a small block with one might fit under a big block hood...definitely an L88 hood...

 

heres an LS7 thread....no supercharger thou

 

heres one but you need a L88 high rise hood...https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...r-install.html

 

this guy did it with a Holley 144 blower https://www.digitalcorvettes.com/thr...-10-12.161032/

someone stuffed one of these under the hood but the top of the super charger was the issue https://www.summitracing.com/parts/v...make/chevrolet

 

found one but with the aL88 hood again....https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...rocharger.html