OK, I bought this 91 RS off eBay just for a winter project that will probally take me 2 winters at the rate that I move.
I have figured out that I will do this in 4 different stages.

Engine, Transmission, Rearend
I am planning on a 350 block (preferably 4 bolt main if I find one) bored 0.30 over stock
using stock rods & crank
porting & polishing my 305 TBI heads and reusing them
installing a LT1 cam
& using my stock TBI setup with a new intake.

Any opinions about this enging set-up? Anyone have any ideas of what type of power will it produce?

The 700R4 tranny will have a shift kit installed & maybe a stall converter. I have been reading something about the S-10 converters going into these cars, but am not sure what that will do.

The rearend is limited slip with 2.73 gears. The only rear change will be changing the gear ratio unless I find myself a real good posi unit for a decent price.


Suspension, Steering, Undercarriage, & Brakes

I plan on keeing these areas all stock & just replacing the items that need replacing. I may upgrade the brakes, but only time will tell.
The suspension needs some work though. This thing seems to rides much harder then the other Camaro's that I have owned. I can feel every crack in the highway!!!


Body
I plan on having this done professionally. I am going to have all the body panels check for alignment (only one I see out of alingment is the hatch).
I also think I need a new drivers door unless the skin can be replaced instead (it have a crack in it, actually it is a gouge).
Front chin spoiler needs to be replaced. The previos owner(s) have had some major curb damage done to it.
The paint will remain white & the vinyl graphics are going to be removed. To take the place of the graphic will be designs painted on the car using Kameleon paint (color still to be determined).

A new bra will be put on the car after the paint is cured.

Hopefully if I'm nice enough, the body shop I choose to use will put in new weather stripping for me. Ofcourse for a extra charge.

Interior
Another job that is going to be done professionally. It is going to be done completly stock.


What stage do you folks think I should start with?

The engine runs good with the exception of a exaust leak. Tranny shifts perfectly.

The interior is not perfect, but it is not trashed either. I think that is going to be the last stage I do.

The body to me is ugly. But then again I know the bad parts & always see them. I do get great remarks from people about the car just the way it sits.

Suspension needs work.

 

Don't even waste your time with the LO3 heads. As soon as you take them off you should smelt them down and make something usefull out of them. They may be the worst head ever created by th general. You can selection is okay but a bit mild for a 350. I would look at something bigger. Bigger also depends on what heads you choose. Go with a carb intake. You will also need larger injectors and tons of chip work. Don't even consider mail order chips or chip services of any kind. The best tune will come from you doing it yourself.

Cheap posi units are a dime a dozen now. I would look for a used carrier and gear out of an M6 LT1 or LS1 car.

I know you want to keep your suspension stock but you will need a few basics upgrades to get all of your new power to the ground.

Read the stikies at the top of the TBI board for more info on what makes these systems tick. I have only covered the basics for you right now and should give you a good start on your searches.

 

So what do you suggest I do with the 350 block? And you say my heads will make great paper weights, so what do I do there, any suggestions about what heads to use?


I have thought about deleting the TBI set-up & going pure carb, but that will still require lots of work & chip burning. Chip burning is something I know nothing about & don't have the equipment to work with the electronics.
I was going to have a engine/race shop do the chip tuning for me.


I know how to rebuild engines, but as to putting different variations together to make power is beyond me.

 

I would look at some Vortec heads if you are on a budget. Your head selection is pretty much wide open. You can go carb and it won't require chip work. That is the whole point there . Many people are now going back to TBI from carb with the newfound success and knowlege that is around for chip burning and TBI and injector selection. That is untill there combos cannot be fed with TBI. It really boils down to what you want to do with the car. Some people love to stay with TBI becuase they love to tinker and do chip work with a simple set-up that doesn't cost much money to change. Others go with carb or another type of induction if they have crazy power goals or need certian types of drivabilty for a daily driver.

 

a stock/aftermarket TBI manifold will bolt up to Vortec heads?

The reason why I stated to keep the stock heads is I didn't know other heads would work with the TBI.

I would love to keep the TBI. I'm wanting to keep the car stock looking (sleeper) under the hood, but still be able to compete without much embarrassment.

I don't give a damn about winning or losing anymore, getting to old for that crap. It would be nice to be able to hold my own though!!!

Anything has to be better then the Crossfire injection my 82 had.

 

You will need a special TBI intake designed for Vortec cylinder heads. Vortec's have raised intake runners and 8 intake mounting bolts, rather than 12.

Go to a junk yard and look for a set of 416 or 601 heads. They are one of the most common chevy V-8 castings from the early to mid 80's. Porting and polishing these have been proven to yield very good results. Follow the link in the end of Sitting Bull's sig. The only difference between them and the heads you have now are the center 2 intake bolts on either head are angled slightly differently (72° versus all the others being 90°). An electric drill and a cylidrical file can be used to elongate the hole slightly enough to accomodate the new angle of the 416 or 601 heads (Which all the intake holes are at 90°). If you could find a set of 081 heads, they would more or less bolt right in as they are also of the later intake bolt design.

The other thing about earlier designs are the valve covers. Earlier has 4 bolts along the perimeter, the later castings use 4 bolts centered (centerbolt valve covers). Another difference, slight, but a difference nonetheless, would be the rocker arms. But that doesn't effect the bolt in manner of the heads.

Off the main page, in the tech articles, take a look at the ultimate TBI mods. Those are a good starting point.

And your old CFI has the better heads (my old CFI had 416 castings).

 

OK just so I understand this, I'm going to repeat what was just said but in my way (the dummies way).

Go 350 block and use heads off a 82 or similiar crossfire 305.

The crossfire heads will bolt to the newer style 350 block (looking for a 91) & my intake manifold will bolt up to that.

Is that correct? What if I choose to use a edelbrock performer intake? Would I have to use the pre-86 manifold w/egr or will the newer one work just fine?

 

You can still use the performer TBI intake with pre 86 heads but it requires you to modify the intake bolt holes as well as grind on the plenum a bit for bolt clearance. I would just go with a carb intake with an adapter plate. You will come cheaper that way and with a better intake.

 

I think I just had another change of plans. Damn, I'm worse then a Woman when it comes to making up my mind.

I just found out that I'm going to be laid off for the Winter in 2 weeks. That means a major loss of income & I don't think I'll be able to pry my dollars for a high dollar engine.

So this is what I think I will have to do....

ShiftyCapone, your input please......


Rebuild the stock lO3 block with new bearings & rings. I might have it bored, don't know yet.

Remove the swirlport heads and replace with 416 heads off a 82 Camaro. Ofcourse I will have machine work done to the heads.

Then install a slightly larger cam, performer intake with a tbi adapter, and a set of headers.



Now I can have this done with just paying for the machine work & buying the new parts. I already have the heads & headers.

edit

I forgot to mention that it will just be a economical rebuild right now since I have a leaking rear main seal & bad valve seals in the heads. Gotta keep the car running.

Would I be able to boost a little more HP out of that? Maybe take it from the stock 170 (I think) to at least 200hp to 220hp?

 

DON'T "rebuild" the 305 bottom end. DON'T hallucinate that you'll be able to change the rings without boring it and replacing the pistons, because it won't work. Save your money for the 350 you really want.

DO replace the leaking seals and gaskets. That's cheap, easy, fixes the problem it actually has, doesn't cost much, and above all, doesn't tie up a whole bunch of your money in something you're already planning to put in the garbage can.

Same thing with the heads. Leave them alone; unless you do them in such a way that you can directly re-use them on a 350, later. Again, there's no point in sinking your $$$$ into something that you ALREADY KNOW you're going to put in the garbage.

Instead of all that, concentrate your money and effort on things that you'll need no matter what motor is in there. Exhaust is the very first thing. Get a good-quality, chassis-specific (NOT universal) set of headers, BUT NOT FOR L03; I'd recommend getting the whole setup for a 350 TPI. That would be headers, cat, and cat-back; all at once, no custom exhaust work whatsoever, just buy it and bolt it in.

Gears are a great idea. Problem there is, you have a 2-series carrier, and you need 3-series gears. I'd suggest 3.42 gears, NOT the "special" adapter ones; use a ring gear spacer instead, so that someday when you get a posi, you can continue to use the gears.

Leave the engine alone as much as possible. There's lots of other things you can do to prep th ecar for a motor upgrade, that will have to be done sooner or later; do them sooner, and they will help out the 305 considerably, and decrease the amount of money and work that you'll need to do all in a lump, whenever motor swap time comes around.

Personally, if at al possible, I'd also leave the body alone; sinking money into a poaint job when you're unemployed is just plain stupid. The car will run and drive and get you around just fine with "ugly" paint; and a "budget" paint job is a guaranteed disappointment and waste of money.