Hey guys! A week ago I became the proud owner of a third gen IROC. This is my first project car, and the first performance vehicle I've owned. My experience is limited to doing minor maintenance, so I hope to learn quite a bit. The vehicle is in relatively good shape, drove it 150 miles home. Has new distributor setup, new injectors, B&M Shift kit. Also came with a super fugly cowl hood, which I plan to promptly swap back to the original.

As I'm a novice, I've been pouring through the forums trying to see what people have found success with. I put together a end goal project plan based on the recommendations I found, but some of the threads are in excess of 8 years old. Any advice from the pros would be very appreciated!

Here are the components I would like to utilize:

• Holly Stealth Ram intake
• Holly Fuel Rail
• Dyno Dan 1 3/4" shorty headers
• Magnaflow 3" exhaust & high flow cat
• Holly 52mm throttle body
• Hotchkis Sport Suspension TVS
• Koni front and rear
• Circle D 3000 stall converter
• Swap the rear axle for 3.43? I was told it has 3.27 which is probably sufficient but I wasn't able to find the stamp to be able to tell.
• Paint also needs some work

Will the selected components work well together? Should I go for cheaper variants? Are these choices overly ambitious for a novice? Let me know what you think!

 

Gratz on the new ride. Welcome to TGO. That's the fugly hood I'm looking for. I'd buy it, problem is it would have to be shipped to UT. If it's in good condition, maybe I could offset the cost of a stock hood. No trade from me, mine has a wrinkled spot.

 

I actually picked up the stock hood from the previous owner this evening! The cowl hood looks to be a home fabrication, I'll take some more pictures tomorrow so you can see what I mean.

 

Heads and cam for that hsr.

Afr1040, trick flow, or profiler 195cc heads 64cc chambers.

Beehive springs, ultra pro mag rockers

268xfi or 280xfi cam

A good, good tune.

HSR will breathe to 6500rpm or so. If you keep the bottom end stock, go with the 268xfi cam. Shift around 5800-6000rpm.

If you build the bottom, 280xfi cam and shift at 6500.


All this because your heads are the problem and that cam is tiny.

That stall is a bit big for a stock cam.

HSR will give some gain on that L98 at the higher RPM, but you'll likely lose some down low without heads and cam.



You'll need injectors too. 27-32lb depending on application.

Might as well throw in a walbro 255l fuel pump too.


OR------

Port the tpi intake get a 2400-2600 stall, and get your headers. You'll need a tune regardless.

There are more than a few folks here doing the stealth ram thing here. SEARCH stock L98 with Stealth Ram and 268xfi and 280xfi cams.

It really depends on what you want out of your car. Street, drag, autocross or just a bit more oomph to the sock feel. Once you figure out the application, you can pick parts that work well together.

 

The hood looks to be the Daytona aftermarket hood. You should have no problem selling it or trading it.

 

Here are some snaps of the underside of the hood. I'm not an expert so input would be great, but it seems home brew.

 

That's the Daytona hood. I have one,not a home brew. The side vents are shipped solid and can be cut out as the previous owner did.

First order of business is fixing all of the rusted areas before the rust makes the metal too thin. I would say go for a total repaint in a blue shade.

 

I forgot to thank you for the great suggestions truckerz. And thank you Eruk and Tibo for the clarification!

 

Welcome to the site......
The first recommendation I have would be to buy on line an official GM manual specific to your car.
You can find them used on EBay for $50.00 or so depending on the condition.


At the very least a Chilton's Manual on the car at your local Auto parts store for around $25.00.


This is definitely a "must have' item.


They are a great "bed time" reading option also.......

 

Thanks for the suggestion Ron! The gentleman I purchased it from was kind enough to include his manuals. I do find them helpful but at times they assume a base knowledge level that I just don't have... yet! With a little help from YouTube I'm slowly learning all the engineering concepts behind the parts.

 

Old threads aren't necessarily wrong, some things never change.
The rear axle lube is probably way overdue for changed, it's $10 for 2 quarts of new lube plus $5 for a new gasket, don't use RTV. While the cover is off, then you find the gear ratio stamped on the ring gear.