How much power?

[Paddington]

Maybe a strange question but how much power is right for a PT 70-73 Camaro?
I will if I can afford buy an engine from Nelson Racing Engines.
But wouldnt want to much power so its just wheel spinning everywhere and ofcourse not to little either. Planning on getting the car mini tubbed so i can fit big enough tires.It will be mostly street driven but will be taken to the track from time to time for some fun.
I will put a 6 speed tranny in, is the T56 the strongest one?

[Lowend]

Well - I suppose that there is no real right answer to this question....
Most car owners are more than happy with a real 400HP engine, but the real key is torque, there more torque the better.
My car has 450-500HP from a 383 smallblock, and honestly its more power than I can use 95% of the time.

Very few people bother mini-tubbing 2nd gen Camaros since you can fit so much tire under them in stock trim (315/35ZR17 on a 17x11" wheel).
The T56 is a very nice tranny no doubt, and should stand up to a mid 400HP engine no problem. If you want the best than you want a TKO 5 speed ( http://www.classicchevy5speed.com/ ) these are rated to over 1000HP and will install pretty easily into a 2nd gen Camaro

[yody]

i would shoot for 500 horse, that is more power than you should ever need, and will always have some extra left over. I am a little confused on lowends comment about the TKO being rated at 1000HP, i know the torque rating is 600ilb but what 1000hp engine only has 600ilbs of torque? An LS1 T56 is good to about 500 horse while a viper t56 is good for 600+ horse.

[TwinSting]

If you are looking for a strong manual trans take a look into the G-Force trans.

[rocketman]

i've got d&d t-56 in my z28.it's as bulletproof i could find.works really nice and smooth.thats d&d performance.

[yody]

i don't think he was talking about a motor with so much power he needed a G force tranny. Sometimes i think people don't even read the post?

[WELTERRACER]

425hp is plenty in a daily driver... which can be bought in many crate motors for $4000 not including carb and exhaust..

if you want 500hp build a 383 or a 400(406) make sure yoiu have good aluminum heads..(dart/AFR etc.) A roller cam helps make alot more power and TQ too..

[Paddington]

Cool didnt know you could fit so much tire there
Anyone know how much you can get in front?
I have kinda decided that i want an all alu engine actually, I spoke to Donovan about it and they gave me a price but said I should talk to some engine shops who build those kind of engines a lot.
It is not going to be a Daily driver i just bought a new Mitsubishi Lancer for that...
My old engine should have had 300Hp, but i would guess it had 250 maybe hehe.
So yeah 500Hp sounds nice.
Here in Norway we have 98 Octane gas so maybe the engine builder can take some kind of advantege of that aswell?
If anyone else has lots of tips on how to set up a 2nd gen Camaro most welcome to share

[JLM]

My daily driver makes 460rwhp 490rwtq...I don't actually think it's enough. I LOVE power, it makes getting through traffic especially merging quite easy.

I would say it's hard to put an actuall number on it though. Obviously a 500hp engine in a 4500 lb car isn't going to perform like you'd think a 500hp car would. For a car in the 3500 lbs range 450rwhp (around 525 at the crank) should be more than plenty. Enough to get the car down the track in under 12.99 but still not so much that driving it on the street isn't fun anymore.

[Lowend]

My best tip is to go here
www.nastyz28.com

[Paddington]

My best tip is to go here
www.nastyz28.com

I am there a lot, but they dont seem to keen on the PT movement.
Anyway Nelson Engines answered my question yeasterday since one of the engines they make can be adjusted with turbo pressure from 500-1000 Hp. Thats just perfect.