I'm new to this site and the third gen Camaro as well. I've always wanted one, just haven't been in a good financial status until recently.I just got this car as a project. It has been sitting in a field for atleast 5 years. He did have it on stands and tires at one time which helped keep the rust down. Eventually they sunk though. The guy that had it said he blew the original lg4, and did a 350 swap. He wasn't sure what it was, just that he knew it was a 350. He claimed he could never get it to run right, or stay running for that matter. Claims it wouldn't move, and eventually ceased to start. Transmission and car itself only have 20k miles on it. Just it's beat up as hell! I've got my work cut out for me on this one! Expecially since it's not only my first Camaro, but my first restoration as well. I haven't been able to pull the engine yet. Waiting on a cherry picker from my buddy. I was able to get to the casting #'s on the block on the drivers side just barely. But I can't find my inspection mirror anywhere, so I couldn't get to the date stamp. The casting # is 10066036. It also reads
3 GM just above that. And has the notorious Mexican plant stamp. I found the serial # on the front of the block, so I know it wasn't a warranty replacement or it would have had the partial VIN.

I know absolutely nothing about this engine! So any advice would be greatly appreciated. I can get pictures up later today hopefully when I get up. The intake Casting # is 346250 5 GM and there is another stamp that reads C 136. Would love to know what to look for.

 

I'd start by doing a compression test.
You dont know what the condition of the gas is, that could keep it from starting.

 

Welcome aboard thirdgen.org.

The Targetmaster/Goodwrench replacement engines were geared towards fleets, service vans and the like, as a cheap alternative to replacing the entire vehicle. As such, they were built cheap - castings in Mexico, cast crank, cast rods, cast pistons, and heads that were cheap to cast. Large combustion chambers, dished pistons combine for very low compression. Flat tappet lifters to keep that cheap.

There have been magazine articles that used those engines as a baseline for a "hot rod" engine build. First things to go are the heads, cam, and intake. But, if you're just looking for a cheap, running engine, they are fine. I put 50k miles on one in a full size conversion van, primary use was towing a 2-horse trailer. Ran fine when we sold it. The original engine was an LG4, which simply couldn't handle the van by itself, let alone tow anything.

 

I was able to get it running by playing with the fuel pump and carb. ran out the old gas already. I have no idea how to do a compression test. What does it consist of. The car runs like a scalded dog. sounds like it may have a mild cam. But it is pissing oil everywhere! mostly from the rear main I think. The trans is barely there. So much buildup from sitting I guess....It definetly tries though. Pulls pretty hard when it does decide to move.

 

It would have to be completely torn down and built back up anyways. On account of all the oil, gunk, and God knows what else this thing is doing. That would explain why it hits top end so quick when I pulled it out of the garage and punched it up the road. It was doing good til I dropped it down at 25. It popped up to 70 real quick, then fell flat on it face. Just ran out of steam.


What would be the best option in this case? I am restoring to car to an extent.....but want to be able to whoop on these ***** Mustang guys up the road. As well as driving it a few times a week. Basically I guess I want a high horsepower application, with plenty of torqu to back it up. But also Want a good sound, nice lope, and enjoy the car.

Problem is i'm not rich, and can only afford a little at a time. Provided people woill wheel and deal with me on EBAY and such. I do have an LT1 block in the garage on a stand though. It's got the crank, pistons, lt1 cam, lifters, and intake. I know where I can get heads at for a decent price. But they are just so exspensive to build and mod. Plus I am a fan of carbuerated engines.

I am doing all the work myself, and this is my first attempt at a restoration. So I am full of random, seemingly dumb questions

 

Fixing oil leaks & doing an overhaul are two different things, your saying it runs great just leaks oil, well pull the engine, pull the v. covers, intake, oil pan, ect. So you won't need to pull the heads or pistons. Just fix the leaks & clean it up, add some paint, maybe some chrome if you like.

 

Thats true, but I don't know what condition it will be in when I start tearing it apart. Also, like I said in the last post, it seems to fall flat on its face when it hits around 70MPH. Well, thats my guess anyways. Speedo doesn't work. I was going off the ear. But it's difficult to say considering it was an original 305 car, and when the guy did the swap I think he screwed the tach up....it has the crap 85mph speedo with the 7000 max redline. when it got to the 2nd half of third I could feel it start to drop off. As soon as it hit 4th I might as well have killed it. I would have rolled faster....lol

But in all seriousness. Cleaned up and sealed right, what kind of engine are we talking about here? I don't want it to fall on it's face everytime I get on it hard. And while it's apart, what would be the best things to look for? What should I invest in that would give me the performance I am looking for as well as the continued reliability of my new favorite car?

 

I was able to start tearing the engine down last night. I went ahead and removed the heads. It actually has flat tops, not dish. and i'm not sure what kind of lifters they are. They are flat on one side, and have a small hole on one side towards the top. On the top it is slightly hollow with a weird circle thing. I'm glad I decided to tear it down though. Most of the cylinder wall don't look to bad. A couple of them had some buildup, and one was pretty dry and burnt looking. Were any of these engines assembled with flat tops? Or has someone previously added them. They were the original heads though. Not sure about the intake, but it is stock off of a GM engine. Don't know why someone would go through all the trouble just to put half the stock crap back on