How reliable would this set up be as a daily driver?
Would the supercharger shorten the engine life?

What are your goals for the car?

There are a good number of supercharged factory vehicles out there, so they can be reliable if built properly.

Greg at blowerworks knows more about it than most do, you might try talking to him:

www.blowerworks.net

At a certain power level, the stock transmission, no matter how well built, won't be able to take the power for very long. Forum member PeteK is our resident transmission guru, he would be the one to ask about that.

You do not have to cut the hood.

I've broken several D44 rear ends with much less power than you are talking about, so don't fool yourself into thinking they are indestructible. With good parts, and an automatic, it should last on a street car pretty much forever.

What ever you have planned for the budget, you should probably add 50% to it. Forced induction is expensive, and there are a ton of things that will nickel and dime you to death.

How are you going to tune it? Aftermarket DFI? Modified stock stuff? What injectors? Dyno time for the tune?

There's a lot to it, but it is definitely doable.

Again though, what are your ultimate goals for the car?

Supercharging is the way I would have went if I could have afforded it. I don't know that I would go with a 2800 stall converter for a daily driver, if yours is to be a daily driver. It will kill gas mileage, if that is a concern at all, and it will feel a little loose. I would go with a 2000 or 2200 stall if you are driving it alot. If it is a weekend only car, by all means do the 2800. I also think the D36 will handle 400rwhp for quite a while, maybe forever, if you don't drag race on ET streets or slicks. I don't know that I'd replace it just yet. Trans is pretty durable as well, try to avoid full throttle 3-4 shifts or manually downshifting. I've hammered my car pretty hard with Nitto drag radials, a 2800 stall, a 150 shot of nitrous and some other stuff and the D36 and the 100K mile trans is still going strong. I don't launch with the nitrous, that might help. I wait till it is hooked up before I hit the switch. Again, tho, read my first sentence in this post.

... I also think the D36 will handle 400rwhp for quite a while, maybe forever...

Supercharging is the way I would have went if I could have afforded it. I don't know that I would go with a 2800 stall converter for a daily driver, if yours is to be a daily driver. It will kill gas mileage, if that is a concern at all, and it will feel a little loose. I would go with a 2000 or 2200 stall if you are driving it alot. If it is a weekend only car, by all means do the 2800. I also think the D36 will handle 400rwhp for quite a while, maybe forever, if you don't drag race on ET streets or slicks. I don't know that I'd replace it just yet. Trans is pretty durable as well, try to avoid full throttle 3-4 shifts or manually downshifting. I've hammered my car pretty hard with Nitto drag radials, a 2800 stall, a 150 shot of nitrous and some other stuff and the D36 and the 100K mile trans is still going strong. I don't launch with the nitrous, that might help. I wait till it is hooked up before I hit the switch. Again, tho, read my first sentence in this post.

No, I don't think plan A is unrealistic. It seems you have the money, time and patience to accomplish your goals. That is great. If I were in your shoes I'd choose plan A over plan B. There is just something about a supercharged vette...... Notorious must have a killer combo put together so if you choose plan B I'd take notes on his setup. I think the "lowly" hotcam is what keeps his car so "usable". I chose a CC503 cam, which is just a little bigger. (Mine is not an LT1, but a L98 in the process of a heads/cam/hsr intake swap) Many people overcam their engine and the powerband ends up so high that it feels weak on the street. I think that is the most important part. I've noticed most guys in the C4 world stay fairly mild with cam and head intake port size and I think that is why their cars run so well on the street compared to listening to many camaro guys who put huge heads/cam packages in complain that their car gets smoked by a turbo 4cyl in a stoplight race. Let us know which way you decide to go and keep us updated on the progress!!

In researching the supercharger thing it looks tempting but seems to have its own dark side and complexities that may not be worth it (to me) for a daily driver..... unless I see some info to the contrary, supercharging a vette might be good for a weekend warrior... not a DD.....

Although I certainly believe it can be done successfully, that's kind of the conclusion I came to too. My choice although would have been turbocharging and I did consider it. But done correctly, these things get ultra-expensive. It costs way beyond the price of a given "kit" to do it right.

I think that will be a good plan. Notorious is correct in his estimates of costs on supercharging, and turbocharging is even higher. Done right you will have a killer car! I also think a 3.07 rear is the way to go with the D36. That's what I did. I figure if I ever break it I can go to a solid rear setup with a 3.54, but with the D36 it should live alot longer with a 3.07. I bought a used 3.07 carrier (or chunk) for like $300, so we just unbolted my old one and bolted the used one in. It works fine.

The nice thing about big cubes is that you can go to a bigger cam to make more power and the big cubes retain much more low end torque and streetability than the same cam in a smaller (350 or 355) engine. When I rebuild my bottom end I'm going 383.

... And when you see how difficult it is to utilize even that much power with practical street tires, you'll wonder why anyone would want any more, if they really plan to drive the car a lot.
With street tires, whether launching or stabbing it from a roll in first gear, it's pretty much a joke at WOT. And the shift into second can get rather interesting too!