okay i'm going to go look at 88 firebird that's in good condition. it's got the v8 305 in it. well i looked it up here and it says 170hp. now what mods can i do to get more hp and still have it as a street driver. if the mpg drops that's cool as long as i'm above 9 mpg.i live in fl so a/c is needed. the engine is in great shape so a swap isn't a viable option yet.
also what about handling? this is my first rear wheel drive v8. up until now i've done fwd 4cyl's-no not rice imports! gm 4cyl.

thanks for the help.

 

Well theres alot you can do to gain more HP. But if you are planning on a motor swap down the line I would hold off on anything significant. Especially if you add mods now that you can't use on a bigger/more powerfull engine. If you are going to keep the 305 then you could add intake and exhaust, change your carbuerator and alot of other things. Although if you really want power out of that 305 your going to have to significantly alter the engine itself.

 

About the handling issue, these cars have torque. So, be very easy on the throttle in the rain, as you may get sideways. I'd say snow is even worse, but in you're in FL.

 

Snow in a thirdgen = fun. Well until your sideways in the wrong lane going towards traffic. Good thing it was 4am when i did that or i would have got hit.

 

My GTA was forever sideways in the snow when I first got it. Needless to say winter driving this car lasted about 1 week.

 

ok thanks, i'm gonna keep the engine for a couple years. 2 or 3 since it just had a whole bunch of work done to it and now is good as new. then any mods i did i'll just sell on ebay or here for a couple bucks.