what is the biggest small block that i can put in my 3rd gen camaro and still be california smog legal?

1st off deljack05, your crazy my friend!

You cant take a 350 chevy .090" over!

The max safe overbore on the SBC is .060" and even at that most still cant go past .040" and keep enough wall thickness. At over .030" I sonic test all blocks and I'll tell you right now 2/3rd of them jets junked because not enough wall thickness left

The only SBC that could go that much was a few of the early 60's 283's (not all, just a few) that was made on 327 tooling

The 283 had a 3.875" bore but the block was casted and machined on the new at that time 327 tooling so those blocks could be bored to a 327's max safe over bore (stock was 4.000" and could go 4.030" with out a prob)

So those slight few 283s could go .155" over

In fact alot of guys in the late 60's and early 70's was making the famous "301" from those 283's,.. Keepinf the small jourmal short stroke 3.00" crank of the 283 and punching the block .125" over to a 4.000" bore

Now to answer the real question.. CA. is tough on emissions and engine swaps

IIRC the law in CA. is only engines the same year or newer than the car body can legaly be swapped in and for what ever engine you swap in, you most use it's emissions control parts

Then with any aftermarket parts you install they must be C.A.R.B approved and come with a sticker showing it is and that sticker has to be placed under the hood of car somewhere

So really to stay smog legal in CA. your only real option for power and size comes from the new gen engines like the LS family (LS2, LS3, LS7, etc)

All of those are over 6.0L and newer than your car

The only downside of it is, to be legal you will need the computer, and all the factory emission parts for that engine and retro fit them into your '87

The '68 Camaro should have plenty of room under the hood for the big block. You will need different motor mounts, of course, and probably a different bell housing to join to the trans (you might want to re-evaluate both your trans and rear end to handle the increased HP and torque, especially if it's an automatic).

All depends on how much you want to bore it out. You can turn a 350 into a beast with a 90 over bore and new pistons. I would say you could probably get a 427ci small block with the right bore and machine work. The only problem is you have to have pretty deep pockets.

from what i understand, if you wanted to pull an 8 liter engine out of a big chevy pick up and stuff it in there, you could as long as all of the same equipment goes with it. like the cat, all of the smog equipment that that engine came with.

when you restore a car you don't do a motor swap! you beef up the origional. The best bet is to go with the newest 305 you can find and put aftermaket parts on it to make it go. you can also invest in better cats and exaust to get the perfomance you want. Also look into registering it as a clasic because of its age you may be able to do it. if not try hotrod or somthing of that sort. though your miles will be limited in one of those situations emissions is not a problem and you could run straight pipes.

305 maybe i got a 350 in my 86 but i live in illinois so i don't know about your smog issue im sure you can put a after market cat on there

put a newer 6.0 LQ9 in it. or a 5.3 out of the 03ish silverados. both engines put down some nice numbers stock..and have plenty of aftermarket goodies avaliable.

a 283 if you can find 1.