Ok I wrote about this before but wanted to write about it again.
I have a 86 ss everything stock from the day it was made. Car has 49000 original miles and is very clean. I am looking at either a 350 long block set up from summit racing it comes with everything. Rated 330hp- 380 torque. I also was looking at 383 with like 420 hp. My question is if I use the 350 chevy motor I can use my stock transmission. I was told if I went with a 383 I would have to change it to a stronger one. Is the chevy 350 330h 380 torque a good quality and fast performance motor. I looked at prices on summit and the 350 with everything is under 4000.00. I am no racer by any means and just drive the car on the weekends to the shows to hang out. I just like to hit the pedal and go.

 

Yes your stock tranny should be fine, but if you can find a turbo 350 tranny for cheap it may be a good idea.

My advice would be to find a 350 4 bolt main from a wrecker for cheaper than buying a new one from summit and save yourself a lot of money, with the money you save you can take your time and clean and paint the block and heads, and buy a lot of extra performance parts such as an intake, carb, headers, exhaust, chrome dress up kit, cam and still have money left over. The summit racing motors, do not come with everything needed to run, they still require a lot of parts. Not knocking them in any way I'm sure they are great, and if you are going to be racing, or having a show car that may be the way to go, but if you just want a daily driver that has a lot of get and go.......

 

If I went with a turbo 350 tranny would that be a direct swap from my stock or would I have to do anything to the drive shaft. Would i also have to change any of my suspension if I went with a 383. I don't know anything under the hood of a car except changing my oil and cleaning my carb. I just want more power not looking to go crazy under the good just want something sweet under the fenders

 

This link may help you determine what you need to do to your driveshaft, if anything.
Find your stock tranny and then the tranny you are considering and note the length.
click--->http://www.tciauto.com/tc/trans-dim
When I swapped out my Th350 tranny I ended up having to get the driveshaft shortened as the "new" Th350 was a long tail tranny(came out of an S-10) and not a short one like the one that was in it
Here is another huge bit of information about transmission swapping click---->http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/Auto...issionSwap.htm

 

Anytime you are upgrading the perfrmance of your motor it is not a bad idea to upgrade your suspension in the rear end, as the extra torque and power will cause the rear end to squat down when you hit it hard, the stiffer suspension, while not improving ride quality will help with launches, I don't think you need a ladder bar suspension or anything, but if you've ever seen an older camaro with the slap bars underneath the car, these are to help with traction of the line and to keep the car straight, same principle applies with any car, but beefing up the suspension isn't a bad thing, depending on how much you are putting down, also wider tires on the back, I personally used to run 295/50/15's on 12 inch wide rims, and could spin the tires when I wanted, but when you heated them up by doing a burn out they would stick better, and if the suspension wasn't beefed up when I launched the rear of the car would just squat down and risk wrecking the fenders, unless you plan on cutting and tubbing the frame, but I don't think you are going to go that far on a weekend/daily cruiser. Read through what Barbara posted in the links they will answer a lot of your questions

 

with Ken about the suspension too!!

 

Mad for the tires I have the stock wheels which I like would be able to go wider and use the stock rims. Like I said I am just a cruiser not racing and not flying.

 

Rims and tires make or break a car I used to have an 81 regal with a done up 350 jacked up rear suspension and would run the cragar ss rims with the 295's on it. The car was my daily driver, but would almost lift the front tires off the ground when I raced it but the tires on the back looked sooooooooooo awesome, just make sure you buy a deep dish rim, meaning the rim goes out to the fenders instead of in towards the frame, other wise you will have problems with the tires rubbing on your exhaust pipes, I also had the Monte ss exhaust on my car. This was just one of many cars that I have owned over the years, I would run the same rims on my camaro's and firebirds, etc. etc.

If you keep the stock rims, be careful as if you have too much power turning them, you will just sit and spin without the extra width of the tire, which is fun, but is also costly after a while. There are shops around that used to widen stock rims for people, but I'm not certain if they still do this, but worthwile looking into for what you want to accomplish, which will allow you to run wider tires and still have the stock rims

 

Speaking of firebirds I am looking at a beautiful 78 formula bird black with gold trim but I can't have both. What should I do lol

 

If you are looking at the Firebird, first thing to check is the rear frame, they have a big tendency to rot out, a lot of guys weld pieces over them to fool people but a lot of garages won't pass them for a safety, another trick I have seen used is when they fill in the rotted out pieces with bondo and then paint them black and then go down a few dirt roads. If looking at those cars, Camaro's as well, take a magnet with you. The wheel wells have a tendency to rot out and people (myself included) put rims and tires on them that stick out past the wheel wells and then when they get their friends in the back seat the tires hit the wheel wells. Door handles are notorious for breaking as well as door pins and bushing, the doors in these cars are extremely heavy. If it is a t bar roof car, make sure you drive through a car wash to see if the roof leaks, also pop out the roof and look for rust around where the t bar's sit, and down along the a pillar, front part of the metal that runs down the side of the windshield and into the door. Also floor pans, ensure they haven't been pop riveted in, another old trick where they pop rivet in a piece of sheet metal and cover it with tar, at one point it was considered legal, but not anymore.

The cars are underpowered, by this I mean, they came with a 403 motor (the 6.6 L) and it doesn't have anywhere near the horsepower you would think it does, so keep in mind you will probably also want to modify the engine at some point. Also the dashes in the firebirds and Camaro's are notorious for lifting up from the sun beating down on them and the glue let's loose and it literally lifts up. Make sure you thoroughly inspect the trunk floor pan as well, they also have a tendency to rot out, so ensure you lift up the trunk carpet and give it a good once over.