im am looking at a 1972 chevy el camino with a swapped in buick 403, i don't know a lot about this motor so i am going to ask the people that do first off how much power does it make stock, is it a good motor to start with, is it still considered a smallblock, will chevy parts bolt on and fit right, and finally I've talked the owner down from $1000 to only $400 is it worth it , the car needs some body work, a few gasket replacements and the interior is stripped except for the entire dash and seats it has two rust holes in the bed and it's missing the grille [only about 100 buck from opgi.com] so is it worth it or not , let me know , thanks in advance

Hey you stated that the engine is a 403 Buick... I'm fairly positive buick never made a 403, rather it's an Oldsmobile.  I don't know much about these engines  but I believe they aren't exactly the best car craft fodder, parts aren't too plentiful and they aren't very buildable.  If you just want to cruise around I'm sure this motor will be fine, but if you're after real power or are going to race it, swap in a Chevy.

it all depends if your into el caminos and if it's running then hell yes it's worth it for 400.00 if you are looking for somthing to restore and rod then it could be worth it of course not cheap hat's based on your description of the vehicle. but in all fairness hot rodding is never as cheap as you plan so on to the next thing the 403 is an oldsmobile not a buick and i have little exp. with one as i have one in my 78' t/a and he parts are not cheap to make it fast and the bottom end of the motor needs tending to if you plan to make some serious horeses wich the motor is capable of you can get yourself a pretty solid chevy crate motor for close to the same price as it would cost you to have that 403 rebuilt with some power adders(mainly the heads). but if you are insistant on the 403  you can start by locating some oldsmobile 350 heads casting numbers #5,#6,or #7 would be the best choice have agood port and polish done on them get some good quality valvetrain parts installed (crane,comp cams,harland sharp. to name a few) find your self a matching cam from the same places listed above. alternative to the 350 heads is edelbrock rpm performer aluminum heads (2,000.00).  also d o n o t   have you block bored more than 40 over you'll see cooling issues, next would be an edelbrock rpm performer intake manifold,matching carb if you chose other than edelbrock for the carb don't go bigger than 750cfm, get your self some msd or taylor wires,an msd 6al ignition box so you can keep it from reving over 6000rpm unless you put some serious money into the internal parts of the motor especially the bottom end,some autolite platinum spark plugs gap is .060,a k&n xtreme air filter set up, some flowmaster duals, or headers or both. this will make it pretty fun to drive but with this engine more money means more power. but should you chose not to do anything to it except say a bigger carb and intake and mufflers the motor won't any major power gains due to the small chambered heads but it will run for ever they are pretty reliable as long as they are not abused. good luck if you have any questions give me a shout.>>>>> hpyfkr burning out  

For a drag car it sounds great heck its already stripped out but for a street car it may be alot of work the 403 is a sb 6.6L that probably came out of an old 77-79 electra, lesebra, cutlass, or trans am... it replaced the 455 and was the biggest porduction bore ever produced the bad thing is its stock HP which is only 185HP plus like the old 455 these also have been known to have overheating problems.....if you ask me i would buy it since its only 400$ cram a 454 into it and have it be a strip car....to much work for the street plus the 403 is weak...let me know what you decide  

It's 400 bucks!

Buy, buy, buy! Old skool Caminos are getting to be a rare breed, especially one worth building. Funny how ten years ago, I'd see a 68-72 on many carlots but anymore, they're a hard find.

thanks for your input, unfortunently I was too slugish and the car was sold, ps. I talked to the guy that bought it and he said he got a good deal on it for only $700