More on low-budget cross-breeding.....

Because of emissions laws GM played musical engines in the late '70's and early to mid '80's. Some of these cars can make very viable hot rods with very little work. And you could argue-"It's just as it left the factory".  Any how here's some good ones to consider. # 1. 1977-81 Pontiac Firebird. If you have a Firebird with a 350 Chevy or a 350 or 403 Olds engine, don't despair. There's plenty of aftermarket speed equipment out there to make these cars really rock. If you have a 305 Chevy or a 301 Pontiac I'd recommend an easy swap. Yank the 305 and drop in a stout 350 or 383. If you have a 301-your in luck-a 350, 400 or 455 Pontiac will drop right in. The motor mounts, oil pan and accessory brackets interchange with the larger engines built after 1970. # 2. 1978-88 "G" body. This includes Monte Carlos, Malibus, Gran Prix's, Cutlasses, and Buick Regals. From 1978-81 a lot of Regals and G/P's had 301 Pontiacs. Drop in a 400, instant street cred. Quite a few Olds Cutlasses from 1978-81 had 305 Chevys. Ditto-swap in a stout 350 or 383. As for later models-a lot of Regals from '83-87 had 307 Olds V8s. They are only suitable for a boat anchor, but the upside is a 350 or 403 Olds V8 would be a bolt-in.   From '83-88 most Pontiac Gran Prix;s had 305 Chevy motivation. Wouldn't a G/P with a ZZ4 350 or ZZ383 crate engine be a cool sleeper?  # 3. 1975-81 Chevy Camaro 6 cylinder model. There not super plentiful, but there not exactly rare either. I personally know three people that had these. The standard engine in a Camaro up until '77 was a 250 inch straight six. The upside is these strippy models usually had three-speed sticks. So you've got the bellhousing and the clutch linkage and the pedals already in the car. If you want to swap in a stout 350 and a 4-speed or a 5-speed, it's pretty easy. '78 and later models had a 3.8 liter ( 229 Cubic Inches ) V6 which was basically a 350 with 2 cylinders hacked off. Same deal-the bellhousing and clutch linkage is the same for the V8s. So you could drop in a 4-speed and a V8 easily. If you have an automatic one, same deal. If it's got a TH350-your in luck-they'll stand up to 450 hp easily. If it's got the 'Metric" TH200 or TH250, your going to need to change it. These won't stand up to any real power. That's why they were limited to the anemic V6 models that wheezed out 130 hp. The upside is a TH350 is a bolt-in. They use the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke as the smaller brothers. # 4. You don't see too many, but every once in a while you run across a '77-81 Pontiac Firebird, or an '81-85 Buick Regal, Pontiac Gran Prix or Olds Cutlass with a 231 inch Buick V6 in it. Now converting these to any kind of V8 power is a major pain in the ass. If you wanted a Chevy engine you'd have to change the tranny too, and even if you went BOP-pratically nothing interchanges with the V6. But all is not lost. There's two ways to go. # 1. Find a wrecked 1990-97 Buick Century, Riviera, or Pontiac Bonneville SSEI or Grand Am GTP with the Supercharged 3.8 V6 in it. These are fairly plentiful in junkyards and the engines have 250 hp stock, and you could increase that by 100 or 150 just by changing pulleys on the Roots-type blower. Get the wiring harness, fuel pump and all the electronics from the donor car, or Painless sell harnesses too. How cool that be-a blown V6 in a Firebird or "G" body?  #2. This is harder because they have a "Cult" following-but every once in a while I see a totalled Grand National or Regal T-Type in a boneyard. If you can, get the engine, the wiring harness, and the 200R4 tranny. GN enthusiasts run in the 11s with this combo with a little tweaking. I think that would be a totally cool ride. You could even drop either of these engines into the anemic '80-81 Turbo Trans-Am or Turbo Formulas. People would scoff at you-until you hit the loud pedal. What a sleeper that would be!  Any of these in my opinion would be cooler and more cost effective than spending 12 grand for an LS motor. Mastermind.