Hi guys, had my camaro almost a year now, and I've got it in good running condition. So good that I've made a couple of good trips to the cottage (a good 3 hour drive there, and 3 back) this year without a single problem. the car is an 84 z28, brown on gold with a good body and good frame. Clear coat is going and theres a few rust spots, but overall not bad. Interior is in great shape too. So, here's my trouble...I like to build performance and go fast. the car has the original LG4 305 in it (respectable 150 HP back in the day) and 3.23s out back. I've built a 350 for it, 4 bolt main block with aluminium intake, roller tip rockers, double roller timing chain, headers...all the good stuff. Now, the car is in the garage and the engine is on the stand......and I can't decide what to do!! Keep the car as a great original z28, with great driveability and stock everything? Or drop the new motor in, upgrade the differential, upgrade the suspension, all the performance things. Anybody been in my spot before? Let me hear your thoughts.

 

Everything is a compromise. The car as it was delivered from GM was a compromise of all the things they needed it to do. As soon as you start changing things, you're trading abilities for other abilities. You will increase performance while potentially creating problems and in a best case scenario it'll always cost you some of your drive-ability.

If you NEED the car for regular driving, I'd leave it alone. If it's just a "fun" car, and you don't mind the car being a pain in the rear for the foreseeable future, go ahead and start modifying. Unless the car is near pristine, it's probably not going to effect the value. You could always drive the car until the 305 craps the bed, and then swap it over, but you might be waiting a long time.

 

Thanks very much for your input, I've been thinking along the same lines. It's hard to want to change the motor when this one has gotten me around all summer. It has been a great summer driver, and in the meantime I have been putting together a whack of performance parts (all now sitting on a stand in the 350) and I will continue to do so. Should it be the case that the 305 melts down (and that could be a while), maybe then I will do the swap. But you know what this could mean? I need another car to play with

 

Imo, unless its mint original with really low mileage, stock cars aren't really worth much, also it sounds to me like you plan to have this car for the long haul, in which case I suggest you mod it since that sounds like its what will make you happy.

The mods I am doing to my car would make it pretty difficult to sell to the average person, but I'm not doing the mods for them, I am doing them for me, because I plan to keep the car a very long time if not for life. I'm kind of going for street legal racecar, but since its a v6 few people would be interested, unless they wanted to swap the engine. But again, its not for someone else, its for me
Edit: forgot to mention that mods don't do much to increase value, so if you aren't investing in the car for the long haul its not worth it generally as you won't get even close to what you put into it back if you sell.

 

thanks for replying, it sounds like you have a cool project on the go. Yes, I will really enjoy modding the car when it happens. Other advice I have been given is to wait, get all the parts together, and do everything at once. I don't know if that is what I will do, but it does feel more like I am going to do the engine swap. The fact is, like you say, it's not mint...it has over 215k km on it (roughly 135k miles). The motor runs great, but who says I have to turf the motor? I will clean it up and put it in the girlfriends car! lol Thanks for your help, I will be posting more in this board as the build progresses

 

Yeah, I would sell the motor or find something else to put it in, I long ago decided if I ever go v8, I will probably pull my 3.4 and get a fiero to drop it into :P Though I might be tempted to do the opposite, lol....v8 in a mid engine 2500 lb car is awfully tempting...but I would probably do the former.

 

What Drew said is true...as you start modifying things, sure, the car handles better, is faster, etc., but it also ends up being a pain in certain ways, too. In my own experience, after owning 3 low mileage originals and 1 higher mileage one I modded, I will take stock any day. These cars are already uncomfortable enough as it is, sometimes. I found that a lot of the mods I did to my RS really ended up hurting my enjoyment of it, instead of enhancing it...

-Headers and a catback gave it a horrible exhaust drone on the highway and caused random pieces of trim to vibrate at certain engine RPMs. It sounded evil, and helped performance, but I much prefer the sound level of an OEM exhaust. I'm surprised how much my 5 speed TPI TA burbles and pops through the original GM exhaust when engine braking!
-My Pro 5.0 shifter shortened shifts, but it was notchy, irritating and allowed a ton of gear rattle to enter the car. Not a mod I advise...I have found my OEM 5 speed shifter in the aforementioned TA to be more enjoyable despite longer shifts.
-My 17" American Racing wheels with lower-profile BFG tires looked awesome and handled well, but caused it to ride even harder than it already did.

So with those 3 things alone, I ended up with a car that had a higher performance potential, but was way noisier and rougher for a nominal increase in performance. Personally, I like things stock...but you need to do what you prefer. Putting a better 350 in the car isn't a bad idea, but if the LG4 is running well, why mess with it? Plus, if you sell it later, it isn't like you're gonna get the money back from your 350. I learned the hard way that modding these cars is taking good money and making it nothing, unless you plan to never sell the car.

 

What thorough advice, I'm glad I came to this board for help. There is no doubt that there are benefits both ways, and drawbacks to both. However, the only drawbacks of leaving it the way it is are: I have a great (albeit slower) car, and I have less time with it in the garage (except maintenance stuff). The other drawbacks of performance however, could lessen my enjoyment of a car that I really enjoy already. Yes, it will be a real blast to motor down the freeway and take the on and off ramps above suggested speeds knowing that my car can handle it....but if I can't hear my passengers speak due to the exhaust and every bump rattles the whole car....am I still going to enjoy the car? I would like to hear from anyone who has thoroughly enjoyed modding their cars too, I would love to hear both sides of the story. Thanks again for everyone's contributions so far

 

I love modding mine, but I am one of the VERY few people who would drive an f1 car as a DD if they could, lol....to me its all about performance, about the only things I am not sacrificing are the front half of my interior(center console, door panels, and going to get some type of carpet to put just in front of the front seats) and the stereo, although i am foregoing subs as much as I would like them, 50 lbs for some extra thump is just too much weight.
As for the kinds of mods I have done, full pin on hood(even modded that, it was a bolt on, but I removed the substructure to make it into a pin on), which is a great example of pros and cons, weighs much less than stock, especially with the hinges, shocks, pull cable, and latch mechanism gone, but its a pita to remove or put on(takes 2 people) on the other hand, it makes working on the engine a LOT easier.
I have full aftermarket exhaust, and yeah it does drone a bit on the highway, but that's one of the reasons I keep the stereo around And anywhere but the highway its sound is a good thing. I stripped out most of my interior, all the rear plastics are removed and not going back in, stock carpet and that heavyass padding under it are gone, bout the only things staying are the above mentioned items, and even the door panels I might fabricate new ones from glass fiber.
I have a B&M ratchet shifter that I have yet to drive with, aftermarket fuel pump, and I cut an access hole into the body, going to put a moroso access panel there when I get the car on the road. I've done an engine swap on it, from a 2.8 distributor ignition, to a ported and cammed 3.4 running DIS with a tune-able ECM(which is still in the works due to complications...), gutted airbox, no hood insulation+cowl hood, I hear at least as much noise direct from the engine as I do from the exhaust if not more, but I love it(except ofc on the highway).
Personally, there are a LOT of mods you can do that will improve the car without making it worse in any areas, like interior upgrades such as stereo or speakers, seats, LEDs in place of the super dim old things, light engine mods won't really hurt driveability either. The exhaust is fine so long as you can live with using the stereo to drown it out on long highway drives where it gets on your nerves, or you can just open up the taps and let it sing These cars have a lot of room for improvement, they are 25 yrs old, and while good, they were designed around cheap performance so they tend to be lacking in some areas.

 

Thanks very much for the replies guys, this forum is a great place for advice and information. It's really tough, but I think that I will do the swap, and see how things go. I will be keeping the 305, and it does need a few things (intake manifold gaskets) so I can put it back together and clean it up as a backup. Or put it in something else, who knows. I will put a build thread up when I make the change-over. And should things go terribly wrong, all above who warned me about going the performance route are well in their rights to say "We told you so". here's hoping guys, drive on

 

Build it, build it fast, build it loud, to handle, to stop, and to mainly to have fun, I did, and I have no regrets. Stock, these cars just miss the mark. But they have loads of potential, Build it!