Question: GM crate motor ?

[Marv02]

I been thinking about getting a GM crate motor the 290 HP.
Or am I better off getting the chepper 260 HP and put a Computer friendly aftermarket Cam.
What I read so far the only 2 diffrent things about the 260 Hp and The 290 HP is the Cam, and a $400.00 price differnce.
My Question is is this a good motor to put in my 86 Vett It's a CA car and needs to get passed smog.
I running after market Magna Flow Mufflers Y pipe with Cross tube FIC 22$ Injectors stock Intake.
I don't want a race car but some HP will be nice, I don't want a high reving motor low end grunt and good midrange is what I looing for.
And can I use the stock Auto trany or do I need to up grade it.
I want to put the stock motor in back of the garage and save it so one day it worth the big bucks I still have the stock motor for the car.

 

[vetteoz]

My Question is is this a good motor to put in my 86 Vett It's a CA car and needs to get passed smog..

Buy the cheaper one and swap the cam

I want to put the stock motor in back of the garage and save it so one day it worth the big bucks I still have the stock motor for the car.

Doubt it unless car is low mile , very stock original

 

[BADDUCK]

I don't know exactly which motor you are looking at, but normally the horsepower numbers are for a carbed motor. If you put the TPI back on it it will be quite a bit less than advertised.
My advice, don't skimp now, get all the goodies you can afford. It will be more expense and trouble to do it later.
Your old motor will never be worth much, especially if it has iron heads, get what you can for it now.

 

[boomdriver]

I been thinking about getting a GM crate motor the 290 HP.
Or am I better off getting the chepper 260 HP and put a Computer friendly aftermarket Cam.
What I read so far the only 2 diffrent things about the 260 Hp and The 290 HP is the Cam, and a $400.00 price differnce.
My Question is is this a good motor to put in my 86 Vett It's a CA car and needs to get passed smog.
I running after market Magna Flow Mufflers Y pipe with Cross tube FIC 22$ Injectors stock Intake.
I don't want a race car but some HP will be nice, I don't want a high reving motor low end grunt and good midrange is what I looing for.
And can I use the stock Auto trany or do I need to up grade it.
I want to put the stock motor in back of the garage and save it so one day it worth the big bucks I still have the stock motor for the car.

Remember those HP numbers DO NOT mean much in real HP....They are CrankShaft HP estimates, so you can loose as much as 25% at the rear wheels as BHP like your car was rated.
And GM does have TPI crate motors. They have a couple monsters in the 500 range for tpi. Big $$....
Since the factory has no idea what car their motor is going in, they just rate crank-shaft HP. its not a deception, just a guide. Go big, end up with satisfactory.That 290 is probably similar in output to what you have now. Best thing about a crate motor is that its fresh, tight, and can be altered before its installed and you have specs on every piece inside it. A cam, springs, rockers, intake maybe...you;ll get a good bump.
The stock 86 motor probably won;t go up in value or help keep the car up unless its all under 50K miles...and stays there.
So you might want to consider buying a short block and building on that, or a crate motor to use while you build a killer L-98.

Your auto-trans is probably ok up to 350-400hp. To keep it alive, flush, refill with good Synthetic fluid. Fleet stats report auto trans failures drop dramatically when syn-fluids are used.That trans cost as much as the motor to rebuild.Be nice to it...:cool