I'm trying to decide whether I should do a NA to SC conversion or just leave the current mods and go with a heads/cam setup. Looking for the best bang for the buck kinda deal. Would it be better to just go ahead and buy a SC engine w/tranny or. . . do what I planned on doing next month which is: Rebuild/overhaul tranny & Heads and cam package from Intense

BTW. Current mods I have are a FWI w/K&N. Flowmaster 40 Series dual exhaust. AIT chip(waste of money). Actually suprised how much this little bit of modding helped. Raced a few SC 3800 and the biggest lead was about 1 car length with the SC car jumping

What do you plan on doing with your new found power? Roadcourse racing? Drag racing?

Street-racing honestly. . . I have yet to take it to the drag strip cuz I don't wanna embarrass myself just yet. But there'* a lot of cars in my area that are making some pretty good power so I'm just tryna keep up. Money isn't the concern but I wanna feel results

Bear in mind that street racing is strictly forbidden on this forum. Your primary focus is 1/8-1/4 quarter mile drag. For that, I would be inclined to do the 3800 SC swap. Not only do you get more punch out of the box, you also get the reliability of it too. Top swapping is a risky game. Sometimes the bottom end does not survive the affair, other times it does fine, but you have to dial the power back a bit due to higher compression, causing knock issues.

What year is your car?

It'* a 2003 SE

Doing a top swap will give you the most power for the work. But on a lightly modded engine I suggest a 3.8" pulley, any smaller and your asking for problems, mainly chipped pistons. A top swapped engine needs about 3psi less boost then a L67 because of the higher compression ratios. To get the most out of the engine you will need headers, ported intake and supercharger would be nice. Ported heads is one of the best mods to help flow.

Your biggest issue is going to be tuning, for that you will need tuning software, or know someone local with software. Or someone, like me that can do a canned tune to get you started.

The other concern is when do you want the power to come in? Doing cam work on an NA lends the motor to being wound out. It is great for giving the other car the jump, but then running them down. The SC also has a big aftermarket following, with one 2000 SSEi running 12.1 in the quarter mile, being a daily driver. The biggest difference in the transmission is the differential. If you have the tranny built up, and get the diff upgraded in the build, you should be able to handle a lot of power.

You will likely want to consider brake upgrades as you start going faster, because it is not fun building speed, if you can't scrub it off just as quick.

When you say money is no issue, do you have a lot of money now, or plan on committing money over time? If the latter is true, I also would have to encourage the motor swap even further, or just keeping what you have, and build up a drivetrain a little at a time until it is ready to go in.

So I should go w/ the top swap first? Or just buy and L67 engine and tranny?

The money issue means I have money that I've been saving for the build and I'm tired of saving and ready to drive!lol

I would be inclined to just spend money on a complete drivetrain. Build it up and drop it in. I would not top swap, then drop in, as that is just spending money twice.