I have a 1981 Chevy Camaro, which was giving to me by my older brother
who is in the Army and doesn't have time to take care of the car
anymore. It has a small 267 ( 4.4L ) V8 with almost 150,000 miles on it.
The car has been garaged for the last 5 years, and needs work done to
it. My brother already told me that it needs a new rear main seal,
because the car leaks about 4 quarts of oil a week!!!

I had it towed to a local mechanic to have them look it over, and they
confirmed that yes, it does need a new rear main seal it that would cost
$550 dollars. It also needs a complete, full tune up which they wanted
$250 for, plus they said the carburetor needs to be rebuilt and that
would be another $200 to $300 dollars.

As I stated above, the engine is a 4.4L 267 V8. It was the small
gas-saver 8 cylinder that they came out with in 1981. I also checked the
Vin numbers, and it is the original factory engine.

Now my question is, I would like to keep the original engine in the car
because I hear that its worth more that way, but is it possible to get
more horsepower out of this engine?? I have driven the car, but its so
damn slow!! It has no power at all. It seems like it takes forever going
uphill!! So my question is, can you get 300 to 400 horsepower from a
267?? If not, what do you experts think would be the MAX horsepower you
could get from a 267 engine using the best quality parts??

Also, is it possible to convert the single exhaust to a dual exhaust??
I would like the original, numbers matching, factory engine to remain in
the car, but I want it to have the horsepower of a strong 350. Is this
at all possible, and if so how??

Also, can you tell me if the transmission would have to be changed if
you were able to increase the horsepower n the car??

I would like to know if you guys think any of this is possible, and how
much a rough estimate of a job like this would cost?? I would like to
hear from you experts here first instead of just going to a repair shop
and having them give me some outrageous price because they see a woman
walking in and jack the price up on me.

Any info. would greatly be appreciated!!
Thank you!!!