I haven't bought the car yet, but as soon as my current car sells, I'm buying a 1983 Trans Am Daytona edition with an LG4 and a T5 5-speed. I've heard they are turds for performance so I was wondering if they are worth putting money into building the LG4 engine, or upgrading to a bigger engine? I'd like to stay carb'd cuz I don't want to mess with swapping a bunch of fuel injected stuff into the car. I don't know much about these cars yet, but I've been searching stuff on them...haven't found much about people building the LG4 engines. If someone has and got good results, please let me know. Thanks!

 

It has been discussed a lot on the Tech/General Engine and Engine Swap forums. There is also a thread on the FAQ forum about the differences between 305's, and performance upgrades.

Having done both a 305 upgrade and 350 swap (with auto transmission), I can offer some options.

The '84 LG4 was low compression. This changes the scene a little from what I did, as my '86 LG4 had the same compression as the L69. But, as stated in the FAQ thread, the primary power-robbers in the LG4 are the cam, air cleaner, and exhaust.

Regardless of what you end up doing, plan on replacing every piece of the stock exhaust, and doing something with the air cleaner.

A simple cam upgrade, coupled with the above-mentioned exhaust and air cleaner upgrades, will really wake your car up. Figure on needing to replace valve springs when you do a cam upgrade.

But, do all that and put in a 350 (with decent heads), and it'll be a completely different car.

Whatever you end up doing, don't spend a dime on the 305 shortblock (pistons, rings, bearings). If your 305 needs those, just go get a 350.

 

Yeah thanks...I did a little digging and found a few good threads on the subject. LoL! Damnit all to hell. Anyways, thanks for the info. My friend (who's a girl btw) is totally into the G-Body El Caminos and she knows her GM engines and such, so I think she can find me a good solid 350 to swap in there. I'd kinda like to find a 400 Pontiac engine to keep it strictly Pontiac, but eh...I dunno. Either way, I'm doing tons of research on these great cars (I've always loved the 3rd gen Trans Ams) and if my damn car sells, I'll be getting that '83 Daytona.

 

any updates?