Do you even drive? Im running my mouth off about an engine Ive done a LOT of research on, as I was planning on buying a first gen Camaro as my next project. Power/weight has nothing to do with the mechanics of the engine, but then I never said it did. I said the 350 was horribly inefficient, and was put in cars that weighed in heavier than planets. If you want a penis measuring contest about knowledge of engines or cars in general, Im game.
And I'm arguing it's not horribly inefficient. You're comment that the engine is inefficient only refers to the late 70's and 80's 350 fuel injected engines. Last time I checked it's 2007 and the 350 is no where near as crappy as it was in the 80's. Those cars are not that heavy either. A fully loaded 1988 Trans Am GTA weighs slightly over 3400 lbs. 3400 lbs is typical for an F-body and even a Mustang. If you bought a fully loaded First Gen Camaro SS back in the day it would weigh about the same if not more. If you're thinking about buying a First Gen Camaro, then what engine are you going to put in it if it's not a 350? A 396? A 427? You want to talk about throwing off the power to weight balance, go ahead and put a big block in there. The fact of the matter is if you're not using a big block in a First Gen Camaro, there is no other better choice than the 350. There are rediculous huge amount of aftermarket supply for the engine, and you can make just as much power out of it as those big blocks. You can turbocharge it, supercharge it, fuel injection, dual carb setup. The only other smallblock option I would ever consider other then a 350 is the 302. Its a powerful high revving engine, but not nearly enough aftermarket for it as the 350.
Edit: If you're looking for a car with good weight distribution, then you should probably take a look at the Chevy Nova. The later 60's models had a 50/50 weight distribution. Plus they were really light cars, like only 3000-3100 lbs with full interior. Only real downside is they are bland as hell looking.
There are two types of 350 V8's you can get today from General Motors. That is the LS1 Aluminum V8, and the crate motor 350 V8, which is essentially the same design they've been using for decades. The LS1 weighs less then the 4.3L V6 in my S-10, and still put out 350 hp, 350 lbs of torque. That is an extremely potent engine. Once again the crate 350 you can buy from GM produces the same amount of power or more. Last time I checked you could get a 400 hp 350 V8 from GM. You go to some speed shops and you'll find crate 350's fully assembled with even more power.
My mistake, I was actually referring to the small block 305, which squeezed out a massive 145bhp from a 5.0L V8. Gosh, how did they manage it?! Rolling Eyes
So now all of a sudden we're talking about the 305. If these 80's motors are what you're doing all your research on then I have to ask, are you retarded? No doubt about it that motor sucked. If the 80's 350 was crappy, then this thing was a pile of shiznit. However the 145 hp 5.0 was not your typical V8 you would see on the road. The 215 hp TPI fuel injected 5.0 was the typical one most people bought. You won't find so many of those weak ass 140-160 hp 5.0's today. Why would you even be wasting your time looking at these 80's V8's if you want a First Gen Camaro? Thats stupid. If you're looking for a fuel injection setup, then they have aftermarket fuel injection for crate 350's. Buy a fuel rail setup, don't go with throttle body injection. If you want to keep the engine light, they have aluminum cylinder heads and intakes. If you want something even lighter and computer controlled, buy an LS1. GM still makes crate LS1's and they are pretty cheap. You can buy all of these motors fully assembled, or just the block itself.
FC RX7, MKIII Supra, Nissan 300ZX, Nissan Skyline R32 GTR, Nissan 200SX...
The Corvette was faster then the Turbo Mk3 Supra, the Iroc-Z/GTA and 5.0 Mustang smoked the non-Turbo Supra, the 80's RX7 was a horrid piece of junk with more problems than even F-bodies, 80's 300ZX(Z31) wasn't a bad car at all but it was still slow (weakest turbo model made 160 hp, whoopee), Skyline didn't exist in America, the 200SX is slower then any of the other cars you just listed. At best that thing only put out 160 hp in the late 80's. No one was looking at that car dude it was the 300ZX people wanted. Like I said, the imports weren't any better off in the 80's. The 80's simply sucked for cars end of story. Things finally picked up pace in the early 90's for both Imports and domestic cars. You had the TwinTurbo 300ZX, the MkIV Twin Turbo Supra, the LT1 F-Body, LS1 Corvette, the Mustang's kind of slacked but the Cobras weren't that bad.
im talking about EFI which didnt really take off in US cars until the mid to late 70's. and back then there was the fuel shortage and the new efi computers that nobody new how to hack and on top of that the new epa regulations. all of those factors caused a chevy 350 that used to have 350 horsepower stock at one time drop all the way down to 125 hp when EFI was new technology on those engines
