Ok, being a professional fabricator and having had the chance to build E46 M3's with the HPF turbo kits I must admit they surprised the hell out of me. Anyone on here that thinks that its impossible to make that kind of power from a I6, or says our cars will beat them simply because its a V8, doesn't really have their head on straight. lets not forget the SERIOUS 500 pound weight advantage that the M3 has over us either. The other benefit of the M3 is that it starts out as a $60k car. Making the transmission, the rear end, and the total drivetrain a lot stronger. Also its an M3!!! These thing has supension and brakes for daaaaaaaaaaays!
That being said... I personally am an American Muscle fan currently having 3 S197 Mustangs and a new Camaro on the way of my own all in different states of total mayhem. Turbos, blower, Nitrous, all of it.
The basic question still remains for 8myCash..... How much more cash do you want to spend??? Having built 1400hp Mustangs, 1200 horsepower Vettes, and even serious street cars pushing well over 1000 horsepower, your goal of beating him can be accomplished. But the $20,000 budget is a little unreal. Why not just build yourself a 700whp Camaro that can at least stay up with him but spend the rest on suspension and brakes and surprise him by being able to stick with him in the turns as well? (and not kill yourself while you're at it) At the end of the day, you're still 10's of thousands less out of pocket.
Working closely with Vortech and cog drive systems, I can tell you right up front that when you pop the hood, your will absolutely win the holy s**t war with your son! Nothing looks harder than a cog drive set up!! Plus he may have the blow off valve, but have you ever heard a cog drive?!?!?
Plus you can keep the system de-tuned for now around 600 wheel and keep the stock motor for now. Once it blows, and it will blow, build a bottom end then and beef up the tranny through G-Force. Put the rest of the money into some serious PFADT Racing suspension and some AP Racing brakes. Build a balanced car and have fun.
Shoot me an email if you're serious about taking your new Camaro to the next level and we can work out a game plan and budget to get you there. Doing it in stages or even all at once.