how much power can I get from a chevy 350 and still keep it smog legal in CA I got a...

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Martin G

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...79 Camaro z28 with no eng? I plan on getting a 350 from a junk yard and rebuild it from ground up but I don't want to start buying parts for it with out making sure that it is going to pass smog, and of course, I want to get the most power out of it ......but still,
be able to drive it regularly. I also don't want to spend an arm and a leg, I am in the $3000 - $4000 buck-range...... And also any tips on the transmission?.... it does not have one either and it is an automatic a 350 turbo maybe? or a 700? and what car can I get it from? Thanks for the help guys!
 
Well I'm from NY and from what I have heard and seen our smog garbage is pretty close as far as restrictions go. Being that the car is a 79, I would imagine that you might be pretty well set as far as what passes. As long as your exhaust system is sealed up good they can't hook it to a computer to find out if it passes to my knowledge, unless CA has something they put over the exhaust pipe or something nuts like that. Out of a 350 you can pull a lot of power 500-600+. Port the heads and intake, 750 cfm carb or bigger if you want, mild cam, bored .030-.060 over, header pipes. The list is just about endless. As far as the trans goes the 700R4 is an over drive trans, and being that you want to pull some power out of it I would go with either a 350 turbo or a 400. Those are pretty stout tranys and they will take a beating. Also you could put a shift kit in it maybe with a 3000 stall torque and beef your trans to just be on the safe side as far as power goes and you could have one rocking car. But if you wanted to save yourself a grand or so than the stock trans would probably hold up just fine. If you want ~500 horse roughly then I would probably go with a 400 trans and not the 350. If you are only thinking some where in the 400 horse range than the 350 should be fine. Oh the beautiful thing about Chevy and other GM counterparts. They threw the 350 in just about anything they could. Those things are a dime a dozen, same with the both transmissions. You could go to your local salvage yard and find the one that suits you and have both engine and trans on the back of you truck in a day maybe 2 depending on what you get into. Hope that helps and good luck with the Camaro, make it live up to their name.
 
Well I'm from NY and from what I have heard and seen our smog garbage is pretty close as far as restrictions go. Being that the car is a 79, I would imagine that you might be pretty well set as far as what passes. As long as your exhaust system is sealed up good they can't hook it to a computer to find out if it passes to my knowledge, unless CA has something they put over the exhaust pipe or something nuts like that. Out of a 350 you can pull a lot of power 500-600+. Port the heads and intake, 750 cfm carb or bigger if you want, mild cam, bored .030-.060 over, header pipes. The list is just about endless. As far as the trans goes the 700R4 is an over drive trans, and being that you want to pull some power out of it I would go with either a 350 turbo or a 400. Those are pretty stout tranys and they will take a beating. Also you could put a shift kit in it maybe with a 3000 stall torque and beef your trans to just be on the safe side as far as power goes and you could have one rocking car. But if you wanted to save yourself a grand or so than the stock trans would probably hold up just fine. If you want ~500 horse roughly then I would probably go with a 400 trans and not the 350. If you are only thinking some where in the 400 horse range than the 350 should be fine. Oh the beautiful thing about Chevy and other GM counterparts. They threw the 350 in just about anything they could. Those things are a dime a dozen, same with the both transmissions. You could go to your local salvage yard and find the one that suits you and have both engine and trans on the back of you truck in a day maybe 2 depending on what you get into. Hope that helps and good luck with the Camaro, make it live up to their name.
 
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