Which engine?

[Zking427]

I am about to graduate from high school so i will finally have time to work on my Nova but now i am not sure what engine i want to put in it. These are my three options:

1: 383 sbc with lots of lightweight forged parts

2: 427 bbc from a 69 corvette(Could this make my 69 Nova worth more? Maybe Yenko Pro-touring clone?)

3: 6.0 truck motor with L92 heads and L76 intake. This combo would have to wait though because i would have to save up to convert to FI. (I can get the a complete totaled out truck for like $1,500 from a customer that i know from the shop i work at.)

I want to put about 400 hp to the wheels. Which one of the engines will be the most fun to drive, most streetable and how much flywheel hp is necessary to put that much hp power to the wheels?

Zach

[dstryr]

Go F.I. I'm in the same position but i built a 355 and I wish I would have done an ls1 / t56 swapp :?

[Lowend]

Two big questions

1) what's the budget?

2) what's the use for the car (daily driver, weekend car, race car??)

[andrewb70]

3

Andrew

[Zking427]

I will have about 25k to spend on it. I've been thinking carbed ls2 with cam swap and a few other goodies or maybe that 6.0 truck motor with a carb. Keep in mind I won't be paying any labor so that should make the ls engine swap cheaper. I would like it to handle really good so suspension mods are at the top of my list.

Zach

[dstryr]

I will have about 25k to spend on it. I've been thinking carbed ls2 with cam swap and a few other goodies or maybe that 6.0 truck motor with a carb. Keep in mind I won't be paying any labor so that should make the ls engine swap cheaper. I would like it to handle really good so suspension mods are at the top of my list.

Zach

Graduating from high school and have 25 G's to spend? Strong rich kid in this thread haha.

Its taken me a year to get this far on my budget. I have like 8 into the car now and will probally have 12 when finished. Good luck.

[Zking427]

Not rich just a kid who works hard for the things he wants. If I was rich this project would have been done along time ago. I've saved up about 7k and my mom will be helping me out but I will pay her back. Also plan on buying the smaller less expensive stuff as I go. If I were rich my choice of engine would be a ls7. Put all the local rich farmer boys with their big bad diesels to shame. It's insane how powerful some of their trucks are?!

Zach

[Adam's 55 Chevy]

For 9k you can get a mad big block from Shafiroff all done and dyno'd.

[Lowend]

With $25K in the war chest an LSxx is surely in order.

If you ask me an LS2 crate engine could be your best bet. For $7K you can get the engine new with the ECM and all of the sensors you need.

That's more than enough power to make a mess out of an X-body chassis and you get the lightweight of an aluminum block