Hello everyone, new to the board. Just bought my 67 Camaro Convertible on Saturday. I plan to restore the car from the ground up.

I am currently debating weather or not to get a crate engine & a 4speed to replace the original 327 & powerglide. The original 327 and powerglide would put into storage so that no damage to them could be done in any form.

Or should I keep the 327 in the car, and just hot rod it out? Can I get alot of power & torque out of these 327 engines along with the powerglide?

I am not to familiar with the 1st generation camaros, but I plan to be very soon!

LOSE THE GLIDE

It would be shame IMO to restore a convertable Camaro and not use the original engine and trans.But....s ince you will be keeping the original engine and trans hopefully to reinstall it later, I would leave them alone, unless they need a rebuild. If money allows get the 385hp Fastburn 350 crate engine and slap a Muncie 4 speed behind it...talk about a blast.

Vince

I will keep the original engine and powerglide in storage to have for if and when I decide to re sell the car. If I re sell the car.

I have considered getting the Fastburn 350 with a 4 speed, but how does it compare to the 454 geared with a 4 speed? I want to at least get over 400 HP with the crate engine I buy.

Since it's a 67 model you have a small journal crank in your 327 small block. You could have a large journal crank turned down to fit in your 327 and make a 350 out of it by using 350 pistons and crankshaft. This way you could still have a numbers matching engine block. The glide is a loser so going with a turbo 350 would be another good "original way" to go as they did come with 3 speed automatics in 1967. You could buy a repo shift plate for the console if so equipped that shows the three shift quadrants. This could be way cheaper than going the crate motor route. Running allot of ponies through an old F-Body convertible would probably twist it in half anyway.

Since it's a convertible and has a glide in it I am assuming it's a 2 barrel engine. The heads probably have tiny valves and intake runners making them less than desireable to make horsepower so you might want to look at a good set of cast iron heads for it like World Products Torquers, although they have tapered seat spark plugs in them which would not appear original. PAW in Calif. could probablly hook you up with re-built performance GM castings from that era if concourse correct in appearance is more to your likeing.

If that block is still sound I would go the re-build route with extra cubes. Heck you could make a 383 out of it if you wanted too.

Take the money you saved from the crate motor and spend it on disk brakes.

Thanks Goldduster360. I never thought about doing that to my 327.

It does have a Rodchester 4 barrel. They did offer them on the 327's that year, but very few had them.

Do you know how much I would be looking at if I went the rebuild route, how much power could I get out of it, and could I add the Munci 4 speed?

400 HP is a lot in an unmodified (no subframe ties) Camaro, let alone a convertible. You can get bolt-in connectors, but they hang down and don't look too good. Plus, in a 67 you will have all kinds of wheel hop with that much power. The rear shocks are on the same side of the axle, and it will wrap around and make black marks that look like sewing machine stiches. Chevy put a factory traction bar on the higher powered 67s, then changed the design in 68 (staggered the shocks), and it's better, but... I had a 67 coupe with a mild 350, and traction was always a problem. My 68 convertible has weld-in frame connectors, and a mild 327 (maybe 325 HP), and I'm not sure I'd want 400HP+ in front of me in that car.

Is the 'glide on the floor or on the column? If it's on the floor, I think the hole for the shifter might be in the right place for a 4-speed shifter. If it's on the column, and you have to hack a hole for the 4-speed, you might as well forget about saving the 327 and 'glide for later. Plus you'll have to track down a bellhousing, flywheel, z-bar, trans crossmember, etc. Converting to 4-speed isn't impossible, but figure on a lot of work and a lot of cash. A short-tailshaft TH 350 will bolt right up, and uses the same driveshaft and shifter. You still need a new torque converter and flexplate, but it's a lot easer than going to 4-speed. That same 67 coupe got an M-20 in a later workover, and I liked it much better (and it was much quicker) with the TH400 that was in it when I got it. I swapped the 'glide for a TH350 in the 68, and it was easy and cheap.

Another HP-related issue; I assume the car has a 10-bolt, 8.2 inch rear. I don't think I'd put 400 HP in front of that rear. The stronger 8.5-inch 10 bolt will bolt right in, but then I guess you're storing the original rear with the 327 and trans.

Don't forget the brakes...400 HP with manual drums on all four wheels is a good way to get hurt. My 67 and I found that out when a semi changed lanes in front of me while I was accelerating through 105 MPH on the highway. I stood on those binders with all my 190 lbs, and I was only down to 85 before he pulled out of my way. I didn't say I was smart back then...My 68 got power front disks 2 years before I did the motor rebuild.

I am not trying to discourage you, just trying to point out some disconnects and lessons learned (man, I sound old and I'm only 33!). If you want a fun car, to some extent you have to just quit worrying about being able to put it back to "original". Most of the crate motors GM has are as cheap as rebuilding one, and they have a warranty. If you want to do the 327, give the guys here the numbers off the block, heads, etc., and we can tell you what you've got to start with. If it has the old square Q-Jet on it as original, it may be a 275 HP and have good heads on it already.

Hey eric, it is a 275 HP 4 Barrel 327 engine, and yes it does have sub frame conenctors on it. The original first owner had subframe connectors installed on it.

The shifter for the powerglide is also on the floor. I thought all V8 powerglides had them on the floor in the 1st gen camaro's.

Brakes is another option I am really pursuing. I know I can install front disk on the car, but can I also put rear disk in?

C'mon, get in the spirit of the board...You can DO anything. It's just the money that gets in the way.

If it has connectors, that's good. 400 HP still scares me in a car without a roof. Just getting old I guess. Mine just squirms around too much, even with the poly bushings. Mine is missing the ****tail shakers up front, so maybe that would help with the shake, but... If your car still has the dampeners at all four corners, do NOT throw them away. You may want to take them out for weight, but they are not reproduced, and they can be hard to come by.

No, my 67 was a 210HP 327/glide on the column. Kept the column shifter when it was a TH400, talk about a tight pattern, but boy was it sneaky. My 68 was the same 210HP 327 w/glide on the column. I put in the console and horseshoe shifter this time. I guess yours is the slightly bent shifter with the botton on top? A Muncie conversion will probably set you back $1200 to $1800...rebuildable M-20s seem to be bringing $600 or more.

Rear disks are certainly possible, but I have heard mixed opinions as to whether they are needed. In the size that came on the JL8 (4-wheel disk) cars, I'm not certain they added much other than better fade resistance. Aftermarket pieces like Wilwoods I think are better, but pretty pricey.

If this car is 100% original leave it that way. There are way to many people that destroy originals in search of more power. Restore it to factory specs and then sell her off to a collector and buy a un-original to build and have fun with. You will come out money ahead when selling a properly restored original muscle car.

tell ya what, since it's a shame to cut up an original car, just give it to me and find an unoriginal one to build! lol, what am I talking about? I'd hot rod it too!

I'd definetly worry about the brakes before anything else tho, bad brakes is a good way to get killed. I'd save the original parts and buy a crate engine, but I would be kind of cautious of going over 400hp tho. If you can find an aftermarket rear suspension system that didn't require too much modification, I'd go with it before a high horsepower engine, then when you do get more power you could atleast get most of it to the ground. But that would be pricey. Just follow what your heart desires and post pics throughout!

As to this whole 'keeping the car original' thing, I question the logic behind that. Anyone that knows how to drive a stick and has driven an old muscle car with a stick can tell you that all automatic camaro's were a factory mistake, and it needs to be corrected. I believe that what happened was, on the late shift when all the managers weren't paying attention, someone would be too lazy to go all the way over to the warehouse and get some more transmissions, and they'd look around and think to themselves, "hey, there's a big ol' stack of autos sitting over there by the Impala assembly line..."

The only real reason I can think of to keep the car original is if it is in great shape and numbers matching, it may be worth the money to sell it to a collector and pick up one with that either isn't numbers matching, or has a blown motor/trans. I looked at 2 67's and a 68 this summer with busted automatics, and they were pretty darn cheap. And converting from auto to stick isn't all that bad in cars that were available with sticks, because Gm had a wonderful habit of making parts in cars that came with a variety of options as compatible as possible to save money on the assembly line. Almost every auto you look at will have the hole in the crank for the pilot bushing, many of the cars will have the hole for the clutch linkage in the floor, just plugged with a little rubber cap. I don't know about first gen camaro's, but a lot of other's take the same crossmember from auto to stick, although I do believe powerglides are an exception.

Come on, this a hot rod forum! Cars are meant to be modified; if they weren't, they'd all have those special screw-heads that can only be screwed in, not out. Like the screws that hold together bathroom stalls. Or the ones that hold together Kia's.