So now that I have a job, I finally have a little bit of money. I want to start working on my 87 sport coupe V6. My ultimate goal is to swap a V8 in it and make it fast but at the same time a good driver. I'm 17 and have a garage that has too much stuff in it to fit a car in. (Dads motorcycles mostly) I was just looking for opinions on where you guys think I should start on this project. I know right now I don't care too much about looks so I want to start on the performance side of things. Thanks.

 

Right now, I would save up money for another car that already has a V8 in it, even if it's just a 305. But Considering your 17 (like me) you prob dont have alot of money to play around with. If you want speed, the V6 is gonna be hard to get alot of HP and TQ out of (unless you get a turbocharger or something). How much aprox do you have to buy stuff?

 

I'm not worried about making the V6 fast right now i think i want to do suspension upgrades. One day (hopefully soon) the V6 will be gone and I'll have a V8 to drop in it. From my understanding though I need to build my suspension first.

 

I know it sounds harsh, but your better off using your car now as your money maker. Now that you have one, you can get a job and start saving up money. If you save up enough, you can sell yours, and get a car that already has a better powerplant and power platform. You can pick up a crappy TPI 350 3rdgen for around $3000, or a Decent TBI 305. Look them up on creigslist. I found mine for $2800. it had a bad trans though. The car you have now is going to be a money pit. It's great if your older and got $$$ and just want a rolling chassis to fix up, but at 17, it's gonna be a huge project. It's hard to be patient, but it'll pay off.

 

that sounds like a good plan. I already have a job though and i should have included this earlier but the reason why i want to do the swap to mine is because it's my first car and I've wanted to do it since i bought the car when i was 14. I never really plan on getting rid of it otherwise i would sell it and buy an iroc or something

 

Skelitor has a point, but now that I'm 27 I could dump my car and get a sub-20k mile 350 IROC that's all original...but it just wouldn't be the same.

Post some pics of this sport coupe, OP...I know I'm not the only one with a soft spot for them.

 

I can totally understand why you want to fix up your first car. It has that certain sentamental value. It's not like you have a VW turd TDI or anything. You have a camaro, and that's a good enough reason to keep it. Post some pics. And what your price range is for doing mods now. And your goal. The more info the better.

 

Like wow many mile you have on it. Or which trans you have.

 

well it's an 87 sport coupe 2.8, it has the V6 700r4 auto, just turned over on 75k but the engine was rebuilt 20k ago. runs very strong and just passed it's last emission test last week. the only thing i've done to it other than routine maintance is put new tires on it. Right now my pay checks are only about $150 every two weeks but i just started the job so that will eventually go up at least twice as much. So i guess my price range would be about 150-300. Right now i'm really tring to get iroc front and rear sway bars for a good price and i'm saving up for the eibach springs.

 

only picture i had on my phone, there's a small dent on the drivers side fender and paint oxidation right behind the t tops and trunk lid, other than that its straight

 

That's not in bad condition. And only 75k? Not bad. Mine is 5 years newer and has 132k.

 

I wish my car looked as clean as that one

I do not see why a V6 camaro would be a lesser car. It has a weight benefit over the V8, does certainly not has as much power as a V8 but it has other qualities going for it.

 

It's a good car, no doubt. I thought he was talking about a junker.

 

Thanks guys! I am the second owner and picked it up from this old lady who bought it new. I was hopping she had the original window sticker and everything but she didn't anyways i payed 2000 for it 3 years ago. Just got done painting the front rally rims black today, tomorrow I'll do the rear and post before/after pics for you guys

 

wow just found this thread again and I've got some good news! About 2 months ago i bought a Gen1 350 (got a better job, but also got a good deal on the engine!) This thing has already been bored.30 over and its ready to be built. Just now waiting for main bearings to come in. Any suggestions on pistons? I'm on a budget so I'm looking at the speed pro hyper piston set with rings. I'll start updating this thread with my progress and pics soon!

 

Talk to a good machine shop. There's more to it than just going out and buying a set. You will need to know what heads you are going to use too. The heads combustion chamber size will play a role in what pistons you buy depending on what compression ratio you are going to run. I'm pretty sure there's more I'm missing, hopefully someone else can help out.

Nice car!!!

 

Yea I'm looking at running the patriot performance vortec heads with the edelbrock rpm air gap intake.

 

I've got an RPM Air Gap intake on the engine I'm going to put in my 67 Suburban. I'm thinking about swapping it with a different one because the engine is a cold blooded beast until it gets warmed up...I've heard the air gaps can be a part of that problem.

 

That's weird I've heard a lot of good things about the air gap. If that's the case though I may just run the performer rpm.

 

I've good things about the intake too, so I'm going to see how it performs first. I originally built that engine for a 71 Chevy truck. I got rid of the truck and used the engine in an 84 Burb and I remember it was pretty cold blooded until it got nice and warm. I'm also thinking about stuffing that engine in my 83 Z28...that would be fun but I don't think the T-5 would last long.