'67 - '69 Camaro's

[Seanyy]

Okay guys for those who know about old american muscles, or engines in general,
How difficult and expensive is the process of converting a carburetor motor (like the chev 350) to an electronic injection system?
What power advantages could be expected? Not just fuel economy and reliability?

And also, extra question for engine people, the LT-1 version of the chev smallblock 350 hits 370bhp @ 6000rpm, instead of the Camaro's stock L48 running 295bhp @ 6000rpm, there is no obstacle in doing an LT-1 engine drop into the normal chev350 space right?

[Troy711]

Honestly, you would have much better luck asking on a dedicated Camaro forum. I'd dare say it's been done a million times.

[Reaper]

Easy job. Plenty of off the shelf kits available from the likes of Edelbrock and similar that has looms, ecu, sensors - the lot.

Reaper

[ffestival]

straight swap

[hi_ryder]

year one does complete convertible body shells for 13k USD. they do everything else too. have a poke around, even just for some ideas...

YearOne, Inc.

[Reaper]

year one does complete convertible body shells for 13k USD. they do everything else too. have a poke around, even just for some ideas...

YearOne, Inc.

Lols - my brother has one of them sitting in his factory right now

Reaper

[87RB30VL]

Lols - my brother has one of them sitting in his factory right now

Reaper

I envy him so bad right now Though I'm not a fan of the convertables

[HSV5L]

Im not a fan of convertibles eaither in anything roofs ftw.

[hi_ryder]

I envy him so bad right now Though I'm not a fan of the convertables

dude its all about the rag tops... especially circa 60's

[Seanyy]

Not interested in making a nice tough muscle a girl's droptop, but thanks for the replies reaper and troy

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Honestly, i'd just buy a complete ram-jet PFI crate small block and drop it in. It'll all bolt straight into the place of the carby small block, then the rest of the conversion is the same as any other EFI conversion. Wiring and fuel system, that's all that has to be done.

Having said that though, if i had a 67-8 Camaro (seriously who'd want a 69?) i'd just keep it a carbied small block.

[Seanyy]

Honestly, i'd just buy a complete ram-jet PFI crate small block and drop it in.
i'd just keep it a carbied small block.

-So replacing the L46 with a RamJet would make the conversion to electronic injection a pooload easier?
And why not '69s? haha

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Well, yeh it would make it a hell of a lot easier IMO. That way it's all how that engine would have left the factory (obviously not in a Camaro). In my experience, the more factory parts you can utilise, the better and easier the job will be. There's nothing wrong with aftermarket EFI, but it's just a lot easier to use an engine that was built with EFI already on it.

Just personal opinion on the 69's, 67-68 is a beautiful car and 69 looks like a dogs breakfast in comparison.

[Seanyy]

I would want to keep the 350 in there though, well, replace the factory L46 with the later LT-1, but not actually go aftermarket engine wise.
Parts and components definitely, but keeping the base as a chevy motor would be a high priority

[ari666]

the LT-1's (i think) are just a more agressive cam and taller manifold. getting 350HP out of a 350CI is easy peezy and there are tooooooones of parts out there for it.


but if you MUST, then this has been floating around ebay for ages: CHEV CORVETTE HOLDEN SBC 350 TPI FUEL INJECTION EFI | eBay

i looked at it a while ago, but decided my 327 didnt have enough cubes.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Exactly Ari. 350 HP out of a 350CI engine is a walk in the park, i wouldn't even bother sourcing another engine if he's already got a 350. There is no point getting an LT1, because as you said they're nothing to write home about, just a mild 350 Chev.

All i'd do to a 350 is:

Put a set of lumpy top pistons in it (along with a freshen up)
Bolt on a tidied up set of large chamber heads (they don't really need to be anything special as even small valve Chev heads work quiet well on mild set ups)
A nice cam (not overly huge, but give it a tight LSA to get the nice idle that everyone likes)
A decent manifold, probably something like an Edelbrock Torker II or RPM air gap depending on what style of manifold you want.
A 600-650 Vac Holley.

That's about all i'd do to it (i'm actually looking at building that exact engine for my next Torana). You'd need things like timing chain and all that gear to go with it obviously, but that'd give you an honest 300-350HP all day and be nice and streetable.

Honestly, on a Chev i'd just stick with a carb and manifold.

[ari666]

yeah all that stuff ^^^ except i would look at roller cams (just cos' i have never had one b4 and would wanna play with one) and a quadrajet.

[Seanyy]

Thanks guys, yeah i had planned on replacing all those parts along with some others regardless of if i had the L46 or LT1, i was just wondering how hard the conversion was. Apparently not very
So the upgrade to the LT1 is virtually redundant, just with a higher cam value and larger manifold?

[ari666]

hmm, lt1's are already roller cam.. well ill be damned. learn something new everyday.

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Meh, roller cam is nor here nor there IMO. Nothing at all wrong with a flat tappet cam. It's certainly not worth doing an engine swap just for a roller cam.