Agreed. ZZ3/ZZ4 cam is a nice little cam for a 305. In fact, I am helping a guy tune that very cam in a 305 TBI. There is nothing more humbling than to have a good ol' V8 get it's butt whooped by a Mazda 3.

 

thats true.... should I replace all the lifters / rockers too?

 

You could, but since they're rollers you don't have to. That's what makes it a cheap swap.

 

ah I see.. I'll have to think about it...

 

As for rockers, that is a personal decision. I use to recommend Comp Cams Pro-Magnum roller tips over the stock rockers. But I have hear a couple people say they had clearance issues with them. (Best do a search on that to see what others are saying about the roller tipped rockers).

I personally prefer full roller rockers made of steel. Aluminum is not durable and you most likely be looking at replacing those in 30-60K. If the car is not a daily driver, this may be YEARS of service, so it may not be as big an issue. But replacing the rockers will add even more money.

BTW, does your car have A/C? If not, the swap is fairly easy. It's when you have A/C with a tranny cooler etc on a Firebird that makes the job more difficult (actually time consuming is more the proper word).

I've been messing with mine all week (took the week off). Unfortunately, my back is killing me so I am only doing a couple of hours "here and there". But I have no choice as my timing chain is now stretched and I must replace it. So, since I have to go that far, I figured I may as well do the cam at the same time.

You can always drive up to Kamloops this Saturday and see how it easy (cough, cough) it really is.

 

Is your back going to let you have it done by the weekend, or are you going to need a hand?

 

nope no AC.. some days I wish I had it.. But take the T-Tops off and it all good.. as long as your not 'sitting in traffic'..

The only other thing that keeps me from doing mods to the engine is the gas.. staying stock I and being a daily driver 6-7 months of the year. Good gas milage is a real plus.

Sure having the extra HP & torque is nice.. going against other cars. But not 'important'..

 

I'm old and slow. I booked the week off to take care of some other crap and I've been playing with it "a few hours each day". Trying to be methodical as I still have 99% of the original wiring and many of the plastic connectors have NEVER been disconnected. I already broke a couple of them I'm REALLY looking forward to what is going to happen when I loosen the oil pan. What do you think my chances are of loosening the oil pan without breaking my 310,000+ gasket? I know it's doomed to become an "oil leaker" until the day I finally pull the engine and rebuild it.

if you aren't doing anything and want to come out and laugh at the old guy, sure. Right now, I am trying EVERYTHING to keep the whole A/C system together as a "whole unit" and not loose my refrigerant. I am going to try and "swing" it out of the way enough so I can swap the cams. But, I think I am going to end up "undoing" the lines, loose all my refrigerant and then find some place in the US where I can still get the stuff.

Pity, my A/C worked so well too.

One thing is for sure, after you see my car, you will NEVER want a modern day fuelie car with "all the bells and whistles" to modify.

 

Your car is still nothing compared with the LQ1 in my Olds.

I'll probably have time to stop by and offer my sage advice anyway.

 

Chris, you are always welcome to come down. I am inspecting my radiator & hoses and think I am going to replace all the hoses and have the radiator itself checked out. Right now, with everything apart, it's cheap to have the radiator replaced (as well as having the A/C condensor looked at).

I also am going to look at getting a bigger cam. I am going to try and find the best deal I can on the Comp Cam's 224/230 Extreme Energy Hydraulic Roller 110* LSA. I will try and see if "Brisk" is interested in my Crane 214/222 HR 112* LSA for his 305 TPI (and maybe Tony in the ZZ3 cam Brisk was going to get).

Don't worry Tony, there is a "cam" somewhere in among there for you That ZZ3 cam would be a nice addition to that 305 TBI setup of yours.

 

What I would like to know is, can it still be driven with a different cam and stock chip? If I did the swap here. I'd probably want to drive it to your place to do the chip. Also would the fuel pressure the system currently runs at be sufficient?

 

Sure it could be driven. I don't have the specs for the ZZ cam around, but it's not all that wild.

 

I'll be in Kamloops at some point this weekend, so ee'll see what happens, anyway.

By the way, I usually use Southgate Radiator for that kind of thing.

 

The specs on the ZZ3/ZZ4 cam is 208/220 @ .050 with .474/.510 lift. Not radical but a nice upgrade for a 305 TBI. Your eprom would permit the engine to run - it just wouldn't be optimal for the power the engine would be capable of until you got a new eprom.

You COULD increase fuel pressure, but it isn't necessary. People generally increase fuel pressure when they cannot alter the eprom. In your case, this won't matter.

 

Well, it's snowing today (where in the heck did that come from)? But I'm going to be playing on the car all weekend anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

I've been reviewing my "parts list" and as soon as my US buddy get's back, I'm going to be placing an order with Summit to get "more parts". Now that I got things apart, I'm thinking "gee, I really should do this too. And maybe that...." (I knew this would happen once I took it apart...I do this to myself all the time. Oh well, time to whip out the plastic. I just hope I don't get carried away and end up replacing the entire power train).

Yeah, I used Southgate last time myself when I needed a new radiator for the "beater car". I'd use them again.

 

Well the snow was some what in the forcast.. Bigwhite got a small dump of snow.. it rained in the valley bottom here.

You know you getting carried away is exactly what I fear too.. do the cam, an oh, what about this, and this... .. . . Next thing you know dang that got exspensive...

What kind of HP increase could I even exspect to see with a ZZ4 cam? what do you think it'll do to my 2400rpm torque? stay the same, or push it up? being I like my low end torque. As you can see I don't exactly have much experience in this field.

Have fun on your car this weekend.

 

I know the feeling... I started out getting ready for a cam swap, and now I'm staring at a bare block on the stand. :P

 

On Wednesday I bought masking tape and spray bombs to paint up these old rally wheels I got.... I had it all planned to be outside all weekend... paint.. wire in my power windows but...
the heavens opened up and the maro is 6 inches deep in snow @#$%^&*

 

it tried to snow here in the morning, then it tapered off to nothing.. the ground is just wet...

 

it has now been snowing here for 24 hours.... did I miss summer somewhere

 

its been snowing here for three of four days, no accumulation though... (except on the mountains)

 

Hey guys... not really a forsale forum but its good useable stuff that would be better sold to someone here in the interior.

Hatch glass with most of the hatch parts still attached
Two doors minimal rust... surface only
RS hood flat black primer
Rear bumper cover z28
rear tail light assemblies
valve covers... edelbrock and M/t

I need some wheels and tires as well as a center console with pw switches....

Thanks.... I am interested in trades ..... no cash please... its part of the fun of it. Even if it is something crazy... as long as it is 3gen related

 

well i tried to send you a pm (and couldn't) and I tried to send you an email (but couldn't) so I'll have to send you a message here..

I'm possibly interested in the valve covers. Are they chrome, polished, mate, brushed, ?? Also are they center bolt or?

Do you have any pictures? You can email me if you wish to; brisk@shaw.ca

 

Well looks like I should have the camaro on the road by april 15th or 16th.. or a bit sooner..

Hopefully winter will get it's self over with soon.. Hows the weather out yor way Glenn?

 

The weather is fine. But I turned my "simple project" into a dozen "mini-projects" (once I started to inspect certain parts).

Damn, I hate looking under the hood sometimes.

 

I've only got one project, "put the car back together"... I'll get around to it as soon as I can lift my arms above my head again. The honing machine is manual stroke. :P

 

Give me a shout if ya need any help.. though I'm not a great mechanic.. I know my way around the engine at least.. I might learn something too.. It'll give me a good reason to drive somewhere.

 

What happened?

 

Nothing really, just got some tired muscles after stroking the hone.

 

Well I finally have the Camaro insured for the road ...

 

Somewhat new here. Been lurking for awhile and decided to put up a reply.

Located in Vernon.
Drive an 87 305 5spd Camaro affectionatly known as the nuclear Banana since it seems to blow up something at any given time.

Cars been driven hard and it shows it.

As yet it needs a new exhaust system, a ring job, heads already been done, steering box and the damn tilt column needs to be repaired again.

Blew out a rear shock in the construction zone today, needs to be replaced anyhow.

ots of dents, but I only put 1 in it when I backed over it in my lifted Toyota. SHE has placed the other 4 or 5 of them.

Bad need of some body work and lots of painting to be done.

Pretty much pure stock as it sits. Could use some carb work as it wont idle worth a damn.

Just gets to hard to work on it for any length of time due to my health.

Anyways look forward to meeting up some time.

I do go to Kelowna, Penticton and Kamloops quite abit.

Some people "might" remember the Yellow Camaro competing in the King of the Hill events at the Sunvalley Speedway. Thats me (wife to scared to enter.WTH? Its her car)

 

does anyone have a wiring harness for accessories that they would be willing to part with... possibly a strange request but I have all the stuff in the doors... pwr mirrors locks windows but no switches and no clue. Feeling stupid but humble

 

Why do you need the harness? Was yours cut up?

 

I never had one.... well Ihave part of one sticking out of the door.
The doors are not original to my car and they are power everything. I got a new console and have all the switches now ... I just need to get a nice clean harnes together.

 

You should already have the wiring you need. Cars without options had the same harness, just with nothing connected.

 

depending on the year.. my car didn't have those options.. thus no harness. that harness is totally seperate .. I tried to get one out of a car a the yard.. and it was a PITA.. so I made my own harness instead.

 

So Glenn, have you got that thing put back together yet, or are you trying to remember where everything goes?

 

So I read the first few message's then basically scrolled through to the end, But I live in Vernon and I was woundering If any of you that live close would wanna go for a cruise some night? Me and my roomate that drives a thunderbird sc are gonna start up a car club called Domestic Disturbance as well if any of you with "decent" Not looking for mint but not rez bombs either) cars would be interested? There are a few of us now...A couple of thuderbirds a mustang and some others I'm forgetting but no other third genner's yet....

Here's a pic of my car.....

 

Welcome aboard. I'm not into the club thing, or the appearance thing for that matter, but I'm sure someone locally with a car nicer than mine will be interested in taking you up on a cruise.

 

wow.. sweet ride man.. ya I'd drive out to vernon for sure..

 

I'm a ways away but I'm into crusing on a hot summer night.. although until paint my car looks like azz... no clubs for me thou..

 

Hey, I live in Vernon... Umm, I've only got a craptastic pickup truck though, and well, I've sorta gotten out of the third-gen thing, though there's a T/A at wylie's garage that I keep thinking about buying just to drive around a bit. (Cruise)


But hey, beautiful car man! Think I might have seen it around at least once before. You live out by Kin Beach?

 

well we all need to go for a cruise then.......No, I dont live near Kin Beach though I do go there a fair bit whenever Im out driving around and need somewhere to stop. FastElectrics where do you live?
Anyone else interested in meeting up one night for a cruise?????

 

I'm actually out in Westbank.. But Kelowna is the major center.. so I use that since I'm in town so much.. But pasically I'm 45 min form Vernon.. A friend of mine here has a White 87 IROC 5 speed. I might be able to talk him in to come along.. For me a cruise night is best on a friday evening or Saturday..

 

Hey Crimson 383 cid, any word as to a meet up or anything this weekend. ? What about the long weekend? Thoughts anyone..

 

I work @ my second Job all weekend this weekend. The long weekend is busy for me as I have to help my mom move but I will make time for a cruise if we can all come to a common agreement on a time. It has to hapen soon 'cause Mid July Im taking my car off the road to put a blower on the 383.

 

a blower All right..

 

Yeah, Im putting a paxton supercharger on it....It will be fun...

 

man I'd hate to see how much gas you will go through afterwards.. But it'll certanly be cool..