About 3 years ago, i had my '85 Z28 stolen from me. By a kind act of *** and my own investigating. (Very very long interesting story for another time) I will be getting my car back this friday. *WOW!!!*
It has the 305 TPI, T-top, im not sure what tranny is in it for sure because when i bought it 3 1/2 years ago the tranny went out shortly after and went to a buddy of mine who owned a junk yard to see if he had a tranny for it that was in better than average shape. He looked and said he did and he put it in for me and charge 970$ arounds there. I know for sure it was out of another Camaro but i dont know if there is a diff between the other lower end camaro trannys. Anyhew.
Im planning on making this my "Project Car" I never knew what type of HP the Z28 was putting out until today when i started to research it a bit, i really didn't start getting into racing and car mods until after it was stolen and i bought my 99 Civic. It looks like my civic *with all its mods* is quiet a bit faster than the Z28 stock (then again it has 100+ horsepower more than the stock 305 TPI motor.) But i think it will be more cost effective for me to put my into into the Z28 rather than my civic.
SO, after all that crap here is the main reason for my post.
What are the best upgrades in regards to the motor that will give me the best HP for the buck?
Also how much would it cost me to rebuild the motor by myself? (It most likely has round abouts 130k miles on it im guessing after its been gone 3 years)
Are the 305 TPI's hard to find or expensive to purchase rebuilt? Im sure rebuilding it myself is the most cost effecient but if i can buy one already done for 2-3 hundred more dollars i think i'd go that route. Any links to Z28 sites would be awesome, thanks for your time reading and responding to my post

 

the most cost effective mod in the long run would be to replace the 305 with a 350.

 

Why don't you wait to see what condition your engine is in before you plan to swap it, or even rebuild it. At only 130,000 miles, yes ONLY, it shouldn't need rebuilding unless it's really been trashed. So if that mileage is accurate and the only "problem," you should still be able to do whatever you'd like to do to it.

But you didn't say what happened that helped you find it. Was someone driving it? Taking care of it? How'd you find it? Where'd you find it? What happened to the people who had it, if anyone?

This all interests me because I've had a car stolen too. But that was in 1986, so I never plan to find it, not that I'm even looking, lol. But I never forget it.

 

First thing is to put your money into your camaro and not your civic. You don't want to run 16's after you have every bolt on do you? I would not worry about rebuilding the motor yet. Start by giving the car a full tune up and then procede with simple bolts ons. These cars love a full exhaust from the headers back, suspension upgrades, and intake of some sort. After that look into more extreem mods like a heads and cam swap or motor swap. Since you are new, start with the basics until you really understand what these cars like and don't like. Good luck and happy modding.

 

Very long story the jist of it is this:
Was selling car, took a travelers check (Hey i was 18, and knew that travelers checks were insured, and wrote down the guys personal info off what i found out later was a Fake ID from California)
It bounced. I had to pay off other bills so i now have a 3k negative balance at the bank to pay off. No job either.
Needed a car to get to new job to pay off bills and cause i was wanting to get married around a year later. (yes i got married young, no kids)
Found it 1.5 years later w/ help of landlord who was a cop. He ran VIN# and told me it was in the state. Called cops they did investigating, in mean time the car was sold to someone, it was gone again.
another 1.5 years later, around 3 days ago, i am on the comp and i look at a pic i have of the car. I do a vin search on the net for around 18$. Says it is registered again 4 months ago.
I call cops, they wanna do investigating again. I tell them no and blah blah blah, come to find out when i first filed they never put it on the NCIC cause the original detective who got my case retired and they never passed it off to another dic. WELL S***!!!
Im really pissed now, makes me feel kind of bad for the person im getting the car back from now cause he is a victim too
Except he is A victim of the local police departments stupidity
Car is worth around 10k to me after all i spent on it prior to it being stolen and around 3k more after it was stolen.
I bought a set of wheels/tires that was 3k, new tranny, new water pump, new starter, the price of the car when i bought it etc.

Liability only NEVER GET LIABILITY ONLY!

BTW My civic isn't 16 sec car
Best time i ever got out of it was 13.82sec This is 3rd Gen GM board so i wont go into what i have on my Honda but if you really want to know i can post later.

Its too expensive to continue dumping money into my import. Im not biased either way tward 4 bangers 6 bangers or 8 bangers.
They all have good points.
I have always wanted to tear down a car, completely repaint it, make it so it looks absolutely like no other car on the road, rebuild the motor to extremes to push out enough HP&TQ to stomp on any vette/viper/porsche/BMW/lexus or any other posser who thinks their car is the shizznit. But have enough respect to those who have done it better than me and admire their work as they admire mine

130k Is low mileage on these cars eh? Thats impressive. I dont really have a huge budget to get started on the car like i first stated but something to get me started. I think the 89 L98 5.7L 350 sounds like a good motor for me to start looking for from what i've read on this site.

Anyway thanks for the ideas thus far any other questions?

 

Dont know why someone would mod an ecnobox civic but thats another thread for another time.

Sounds like the fundage is low right now for ya so making you TPI fast-fast on a budget usually means swaping a carbed built 350 or 400 in. That may not be doable since emmision requirments in your state may prevent you from tagging your returned Z28.
The limiting factor for your setup is the induction. There are many trick ways to make a TPI flow better in the tech articals on the main page. If I had a TPI and wanted to keep it injected I would invest in a Holley stealth ram induction system but thats costly. There are also many TPI guys running SC 305's that move very well with minor work to stock induction components.
As far as rebuilding this 305 engine yourself, cost isnt bad depending on the machine work and the internal components you choose to use. Usually its costs around $900 for all the machine work, gaskets and hard parts including goning through the heads. If you can find a builder 350 rebuild kits are $100 cheaper to buy and you gain cubic power if your cam selection and heads work with the TPI powerband. I'd pop the cover off of the differential and check the gear ratio, 2.73's dont exactly multiply the tq as well as 3.42's which you can pick upan entire rear end from a V6 3rdgen for around $200. The rest is common sence stuff that even a civic owner should know about.

Good luck with the car. I hope they dident trash it too much in the 3 years since its been missing.

 

Yea i hope it isn't trashed either.
I've been spending the past week almost just sitting on this board for hours reading about everyones cars.
The original '86 IROC-Z that has like 26k miles on it that has been sitting in a garage is just awesome. Im hoping when im done with mine it will look as good or better with some good HP Gains too :P
Could you maybe direct me better to where i can learn how to get better flow through the TPI? Would that include bigger injectors and/or a larger fuel pump? I plan on doing an exhaust for sure because when (Yes when) i change to a 350 i will be able to keep the exhaust for sure.
Just a few more days and its in my garage!!! WOOHOO!