I agree with oak hill, I can get saginaws for 50 dollars, and 307s literally, I would have gave it away for free, I'm not joking.
Good score you got bellhousing flywheel 4speed and a engine. The 307 must be tuff as nails because all the demo durby guys want them thay cant kill them.
Yeah, 15-20 years ago it was like that here. Now you can't touch a Saginaw for less than $200 IF IT'S CLEAN and Muncie trans are $600++++. I have had dozens of the 307's over the years and while they may not be a stump puller, they certainly do have potential, are great on gas(can't say that with a 350), and have a strong bottom end. Want to know how many 283's I've scattered on the ground? I won't ever kick one out of bed.
i stand corrected i should of said in my exprience a friend of mine had a 69 camaro (base model) with a 307 that he rebuilt that thing would rev ALL day it was pretty quick but it wasnt a street terror he had a 3speed stick original to the car we swapped it out for a 4 speed
I'll take a saginaw 4 speed for $50 please. Shipping can't be more than $50, where would you like the $100 sent to?
Them 307s get a bad rap by the superficial observer. There's 1 bad thing about them and that is the stock heads. There's several things wrong with the heads but still all in the heads. Almost every gear head will change a cam and intake so the GM issue soft cam that sucks doesn't count. And the 2 bbl intake has a pretty high value to circle track manifold reworkers. So that don't count. They will pay you enough to pick up a used edebrock for even money. The bore/stoke ratios and rod/stroke ratios are just about optimal which is part of the reason the run well for along time !!! The ratios are way better than a long rod 350. This may or may not be important to you, but it seems to be important to a whole gaggle of long rod 350 guys. They are pretty good on gas and that never hurts. The very first 307 was built in 1955 by smokey and duntov. The famed duntov 30-30 cam was conceived & designed for this custom engine. With it they ran 155mph in a vette. It was a stroked 283. Its pretty easy to get 320-350 HP out of one. Easier than falling off a log to get 290-300 HP out of one. What are those crate engines putting out again ? And how much $ ? And what kind of mpg ? Will the 307 ever be the baddest on the blacktop, probably not . But certainly respectable and spank a few on the way.
Are you sure you aren't confusing an RS with an SS? Don't forget, you could get a 6 banger RS. An RS was a "for looks" option, not a "for go" option. Not all Camaro's were 350ci "Vette" motored Super Sports. Ever seen all those 307 fender badges at swap meets? That's everyone trying to re-write muscle car history. A 307 was a pretty common passenger car motor.
Oh my god, someone understands the value of something other than a "high nickel" 350?!?!?!? My good good friend has yarded countless 265s 283s and 327s from everything he's ever bought, and spent thousands finding late 60s high nickel blocks. He has a small fleet of these blocks in his shop. Guess who ends up with all those crappy old 283s and 327s? He hasn't run across any 307s yet, but, I'll definitely raise my hand when that time comes.
If it was running when pulled stab it in the car and get to driving then upgrade it later. Sounds like your car is light so you will probably be able to make lots of smoke as is.
My high school girlfriends Nova was the same. It had plenty enough juice for her little bro to drive that thing straight through the high school football field ticket booth when he lost control doing a burnout around the corner. The 307/th350 combo was great, and got better mileage than my 350/th400 combo in the same body style car.
+1000. I've had no problems with any ones I've ever owned. I've even got my Camaro to bark the tires into 2nd lol. Took me a couple times to repeat it but I did. With some stuff changed that I would change regardless of it being a 307, 327 or 350, in a roadster with a 3.73:1 gear, it should be respectable. I'm not looking for a fast or a quick car, if I was, then I would just hop into something else. I want a dependable roadster that I don't need to be messing with every day to keep it running...
I never understood the mind blowing ignorance that dictates the 307 as trash. It is simply a stroked 283... What's not to like? Especially since 283's are so highly revered. Even a 350 will run like crap with bad heads, a weak camshaft, and a two barrel carb. Anyone driven a mid 80's camaro or pickup?
This is true, but still a turd as far as having power, i had a few in my time, and if I needed a cheap sbc to get me by, I would run one, same goes for that old squared geared 4spd.......they are not the best transmission, but hey at least he is not wimping out and using a automatic.....just my 2cents
I put the big valve 305 heads on my 307 for 10:1 compression. Added a tunnel ram and dual fours and in my 2100 lb 34 PU it is absolutely scarey fast. Even in 2nd gear I hardly have the courage to keep my foot in it above 4000 rpm.
As stated already, an RS Camaro could be had with any motor from the 6 cylinder on up. Early in the 69 model year the 307 became the standard V8 engine replacing the 327. A manual 3 speed was the standard trans for them as well. I've seen a few (307's) that would run pretty well, not my first choice if I were to build one but, I would have snatched that up in a minute!
Exactly. The trans may not be a performance oriented close ratio 4 spd. but it is good enough for what I'm looking to do with the car. High RPM launches, board shifting I know will kill it but I'm not building a race car. Grabbing a gear hear and there, it will be fine
While I don't dig the 307 the saginaw 4 speed is tough. I have one in my V8 vega. Aside from the wide gear ratio ( has a 2.90 ring and pinion and the car will do 115 in 3td). It has taken a beating, lots of hard launches.
Thanks man... I was happy although I did try to get it for $300 lol. It saves me a bunch of time scrounging the swaps and junk yards. SBC's I have plenty of but nothing for a stick shift... Now I need to grab a shifter and fab up a Z bar
Finally getting my stuff for the motor. Bought a new edelbrock 3x2 intake, rounded up some side inlet small body Rochester 2GC carbs, made my own progressive linkage, bought a new pair of Corvette valve covers. Picking up a set of 1.94 462 heads and a 327/350 cam. Just bought a Competition Plus Hurst shifter. Starting to come together...
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