I would like to add some horsepower to my camaro,i was thinking about getting new block,like 350 or something,but its pretty expensive for me right now,so i have a question if i could tune my stock LG4 with 98K miles on it,it runs pretty good,iam satisfied with it,as my dad said it runs solid,so maybe it better just work on it,but i dont know if its gonna work out and worth effort and money puted in,because engine is not new and iam worried,but i would like to put new exhaust,high flow air filter,cold air intake,new wires,heads/cam and stuff like this
Any help,tips and suggestion would be helpful thnx

 

Things won't get much better just putting a 350 in unless you do the exhaust and air cleaner. And, the 350 will have to have heads that are at least as good as your LG4's - and most 350 heads aren't.

See the sig. I got the engine when it had 123k miles on it. I did the modifications to it when it had 141k miles on it. It now has over 165k miles on it. The rings, pistons, bearings, and crank are as they came from the factory, never been touched. I did put in a new (take-off) oil pump when I did the mods, otherwise the lower end internals are completely factory stock.

You can do almost as well with the stock heads as with aftermarket replacements. The Worlds are a little better castings, and already have the "good" things done to them. But, you'll probably spend a little less working over your LG4 heads. One of my motivations was I needed to keep the down-time to a minimum since it's my daily driver, so I worked over and assembled the heads ahead of time, and had everything else collected and ready to go when I pulled the engine to do the mods (could have done them all in the car, but it was easier to work on this way). Took it apart on a Friday, had it going again the following weekend without taking any time off from work (drove the '57 that week).

 

So i guess this will work,since its my daily car,just need take care of it,and what improvement i can expect from this kind of mods?! Ive seen they sell this jet chips,r those any good?! And how much i would spend on this stuff

 

Just don't do anything that is engine specific and can't be swapped over to a new motor. Things like cam, pistons, sometimes heads and a rebuild.

 

Figure about $800-1000 for good exhaust - you can spend about $150 less on lesser headers & y-pipe.

Dual snorkel air cleaners are getting harder to find. Or, you can fabricate one using the tech article guidelines (start at www.thirdgen.org, follow the links).

I'm using a JC Whitney chip, which I don't think they even offer anymore. Jet chips are okay, if you believe the mag articles (also on TGO home page links - look for two articles with "Stroke in the Desert" in the title, by Steve Green). Most say you can do okay with the stock chip and more base timing - I haven't tried putting the stock chip back in since 1999. I've heard L69 and the formerly available factory "HO 350 Camaro Conversion Kit" chip are also available, and have a slightly better timing curve than the LG4 chip.

Heads will cost about $300 to do larger valves, another $200 or so for better springs and guides cut for positive seals and larger springs. Screw in studs will run about $100 for parts & machining. The deluxe do-it-yourself porting kit is about $40. You need to provide the die grinder (not a Dremel).

Crane cam kit w/lifters is about $150. Timing set about $50.

Your stock intake isn't all that bad. After you do the head porting work, port match it. Otherwise, a Weiand Action + is about $150, a GMPP q-jet intake like I've got is about $175 (I paid much less for a take-off).

Higher stall torque converter highly recommended. $550-800. I spent less, would do better with a higher quality, higher stall unit.

I went from the factory rated 155 flywheel net horsepower to approximately 250 rear wheel horsepower based on as-run weight and converted-to-sea-level 1/4 mile MPH, using commonly accepted formulas. I've never had it on a dyno. For comparison, the aforementioned "HO 350 Camaro Conversion Kit", which used the ZZ4 crate engine (rated at 355 gross flywheel HP), is reported to have produced around 300 flywheel net HP as-installed. The kit had high-flow cast iron manifolds instead of headers, and dual 2-1/4" cats instead of a single 3".

It'll run you well over $2000, but you'll have to spend most of that even if you go with a 350, and then you'd have the cost of the 350 to add to that.

If you have to do it in steps, start with the exhaust and air cleaner. Then heads. Then cam (and converter - you'll need to do cam & converter together for best results).

 

Thnx for info :rockon: