Hope this is the best board for this....

1988 GTA, 350 TPI, putting water in the oil about as fast as you can pour it in. So, it's at the mechanic being torn down -- starting with the intake manifold and then heads if necessary. At last report they were thinking about just pulling the whole engine out just to make it easier to get to everything. Probably looking at dropping the pan and putting all new bearings in too.

So, my question: while I'm paying for all this labor and she's already torn apart, are there any easy (read inexpensive - this is breaking the budget already!) mods that I can do that will give a decent return in power while not killing the MPG? It's not a show car or a racer, just my daily driver (70 miles per day). However, a little more power never hurt anything ;-) I don't want some high-strung, expensive to maintain beast. Just some solid, basic improvements in HP.

Any and all suggestions welcome.

Thanks!

-Farren

 

This is kind of a tough question. You may be better off posting in the TPI forum, but how much extra $$$ can you afford.

 

Ah..well it all depends on what they find. Its possible that there is a cracked head, or block, hopefully its just a blown head gasket. Provided the heads and block check out, I'd pop a new cam in, replace the valve springs to match, and new valve seals, and if possible a valve job to freshen things up. A new timing chain would be a good idea too. good luck, Bob

 

Well, how much I have to spend on enhancements will depend on how much the basic repairs cost. I'd say that anything much over $500 on enhancements is unlikely.

-Farren

 

I did some head gaskets for a guy in the same boat and when we finnished it shortly after he paid so much he ended up with a rod knock, so it was all for nothing