[92646]

I have had 3 motors in my 1969 Camaro over the last 2 years. The first was a mild 454 that came with the car that ran good but was boring. The second motor was a crate LS6 454 that I built to look like a 396 L-78 at first glance but I wanted more horsepower. The latest motor is a Bill Mitchell 540 that cost around $10,000 to buy and I spent a whole bunch more to make it work in my car. I had to tweak or upgrade almost everything from different hoods, motor mounts, fuel pumps, radiators, fans, brackets, fan belts, headers, exhaust systems, clutch set ups, fuel lines, valve covers and air cleaners. It has been a steep learning curve and I can still find things that I want to do over again because of something I learned along the way. The quality and the horsepower for the dollar are hard to beat with the Bill Mitchell crate motors. But I have yet to go full throttle in the car because I am afraid of breaking something on the car or damaging the car. My problem is that I do not want to modify the car past the point of being able to put it back to stock some day. There is such a thing as too much horsepower in a stock frame camaro and it can get very expensive very quickly. I have had GM high performance crate motors in the past and I always felt that the motors never quite met my expectations of quality and performance. I would recomend that you stay with the motor in your car and build it. If I had to do it over again I would have stayed with the LS6 454 because it was better matched with my car.
Mark Sheppard