Picked up an 83 Z for $1150 this week. She's an LU5 car. The previous owner removed the crossfire stuff in favor of an Edelbrock intake/carb combo. He also added a MSD ingnition. What is the stock hp figures for a 1983 LU5 Z28? And can someone give me a guesstimate figure as to the hp it might have now?

Thanks,
Brandon

 

What sized carb, what kind of intake? How many miles, and is any machine work done to it? All these will affect power output. My guess is its crap. Its so low its not even worth guessing at. I also have a 305 LU5 that im swapping because of such low power...of course it also has 155XXX miles on it. Its defitely slim to none in terms of power. Its also an old car, so it'll take some work and TLC to make quick.
matt

 

Not sure on the carb size. It's a Performer carb/intake kit. 80,000 -/+ on the engine. Engine has been removed at one point in time. Not sure if any machine work has been performed. Car does not feel powerful. IMO, the engine has been rebuilt to factory specs. It just doesn't feel like there's any internal engine work.

Brandon

 

I replied earlier but for some reason i couldn't find the server.


Anyway i'd say around 190hp.

 

E-mailed the previous owner last night. It's got a 550cfm carb.

Brandon

 

I would be incredibly surprised if it put out 200. I would say that between 150 and 190 is probably where you are in terms of power. If it's allready set up for a carb, it would be incredibly straightforward to put in a 350 or 400. That woudl be my suggestion.
matt

 

The car's emissions junk is cut. Will this stuff work with the carb/intake combo?

Brandon

 

Im not sure I understand what you are asking. Do you mean will emissions equipment work if its been cut? I doubt it. Can the emissions equipment on an LU5 motor be adapted to a carburetor? Possibly. Do you have EGR fittings on the intake? Why do you want to retain smog equipment? It would probably be much easier to simply remove it alltogether. There is a tech article on this site to tell you how to do it too.
matt

 

The emissions junk is gone. Houston, TX has sniffer tests, so the junk is needed. Not sure about the EGR fittings on the intake. It's an Edelbrock performer intake with a 550 carb. Thought about returning the car back to crossfire. But I'm thinking a quadrajet carb would be easier swap to fit the emissions back on.

Brandon

 

dont bother with crossfire, its pretty much worthless.

 

If you just have a sniffer test you can pass emissions easily. Make sure your catalytic converter is functioning properly, and you have no exhuast leaks. Tune your carb, set your timing, replace plugs and plug wires, and maybe a new distributor. You will pass easily. You can pass sniffer emissions with that car with a 400 and a 750 holley on top if you do it right. Make sure its in tune, and you can pass that sniffer without smog equipment. Good luck
matt

 

If you just have a sniffer test you can pass emissions easily. Make sure your catalytic converter is functioning properly, and you have no exhuast leaks. Tune your carb, set your timing, replace plugs and plug wires, and maybe a new distributor. You will pass easily. You can pass sniffer emissions with that car with a 400 and a 750 holley on top if you do it right. Make sure its in tune, and you can pass that sniffer without smog equipment. Good luck
matt