I have a 1979 Camaro w/ 350 4bbl.

Such a loaded question. How exotic do you want to go and most importantly, what is your budget? For about $1000 and a little knowledge you could rebuild the stock one into something decent or for$10K get over 800hp. How far do you wanna go?

i got about $1,500 to work with. i got the block, and I got a good guy to do the machining. i want at least 400 hp to the wheels (enough to slaughter any ricer on the street). am i better off rebuilding and upgrading the 350 or making something bigger out of it? i also need to supe up my tranny too. i already got the shift kit in it and a B&M rebuild kit for my TH350 runs about $300. thinking about gearsets too. this is my first muscle car project. im excited about it but i feel a little in over my head. need some wisdom thrown my way. im a dying breed. im 21 years old in a generation full of civics and preludes. this car has to be the baddest.

i'd love to find some old school double-humps and slap on a Weiand high-rise w/ a holley 750. cam it out just a tad, maybe forged-aluminum pistons, maybe hypereutectic pistons. just looking for some serious ideas from some serious gearheads. my car has to silence all these 4-bangers.

Your problem is budget. $1500 is not much to work with when you are dealing with a bare block. You can goto www.summitracing.com and look up kits that fit within your budget. You should be able to find something, or at least more of an idea of which direction to take. The tranny will swap into any thing so you should be fine. The real trick is get a higher real end gear ratio of about 3.60 to 3.88. Any higher and you would need more hp. Adjusting the rear end ration will take a majority of your budget. I would find some old car or engine online and put a running engine in and put intake, carb, exhaust, ignition, etc. a may be able to keep it under $1000. If not, you can buy a rebuilt one for $1200 @ http://www.automotix.net/engines/1979-chevy-camaro- inventory.html Your choice.