i have a near bone stock carburated slow 82 camaro and got about 450 bux what should i do to make this thing faster. It does have a 350 with a edelbrock carb and a weind intake the 200c tranny was swapped to a turbo 350 thats it... i do have a set of 4:10 gears sitting in my garage but its a open rear end so i dont think that would be a good idea putting that in... any suggestions please!!!
thanks,
john

 

Verify it is in fact a 350 first. if its the stock engine it isnt. Then replace the exhaust from the heads back. Good headers, y pipe, catback. This should be the first thing done for performance. Then move on to the engine and drivetrain.

 

well i know its not the original engine the car use to have a 6 cyl in it and it was swapped out to a 350 but its an orginal exhaust off a 8 cyl camaro single cat tho...
the problem im having with the exhaust is i cant find a cat back for it in jegs and summit they dont go back far enough the oldest they have is 83 what is the difference?
but i should go with exhaust first then? any other suggestions

 

Buy exhaust made for a 1989 350 camaro.

I think a good tuneup will work WONDERS on it. What distributor is on it?
Tweaking the timing and fueling will get that thing running hard.

What heads are on it too? Casting nummber. Pull a valve cover to find out.

 

Keep in mind, that there are ALOT LOT of things that make THE CAR slow, besides the engine.

Everybody always wants to work on the motor to make a car faster. But other things often give more bang for the buck. Like, gears, converter, traction, transmission, etc. As well as exhaust, of course, which is THE SINGLE MOST LIMITING thing in those cars.

The way to make a car fast is to identify that single most limiting factor, and rectify it appropriately. Once that is done, some other thing will become the most limiting factor; identify that, and fix it. And so on. More often than not, the most limiting thing will NOT be out in the open where you can see it; will NOT have a romantic "everbody at the track wants one" brand name; may NOT be visible at all; and might not even be under the hood. Resist the n00b hot-rodder temptation to un-bolt and re-bolt the biggest, shiniest, most obvious things you can find sitting up top out where everybody can see it and come by and oooh and aaaaah over it, like carbs and intakes, and high-$$$ ignition boxes and other wastes of money. All that you will usually accomplish toward making the car faster that way, is weight reduction, centered on the driver's wallet.

After the exhaust, gears, trans, and converter, the next thing you need, is a cam. The Comp XE256 and XE262 are known to work well in that motor, or the small Lunati Voodoo should work well also. Avoid Edelbrock, Summit, and other no-R&D cheeeeep cams. A dual-snorkel L69 air cleaner would help too. Much better than an open element.

 

instead of buying a premade f-body exhaust kit for some retarted price. buy a flowmaster (or whatever brand you lean towards) muffler and take it to an exhaust shop and get a custom exhaust done its almost 1-200 bucks cheaper i promise.. also as sofa said a tourque converter. try a b&m holeshot the cheapest one has a 1900-2100 stall rate witch is good for a stock engine/tranny/ and street driving.. oh and as for teh gears 4.10 gears a really strong on low end and would help you if your looking to do soem racing but for street use thats a bit much.. as for being open diff that doesnt matter really alot of ppl think only one tire spins with open and thats not true one spins much fatser than the other and the other will trip if u burn em long enough

 

That's a recipe for about $300-$400 more expensive, I promise.

 

Let's see....

This is the cat-back I have on my car. I was able to put it on my car all by myself in a couple of hours. Everything bolted right up; no welding required. It fits PERFECT, clears everything including my SFCs, allows access to all the parts that the factory one allows access to (doesn't get in the way of anything), even clears my Spohn crossmember and drive shaft loop for my T-56, hooks up to the factory hangers, etc.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...HOK%2D16823HKR

I could be wrong; but I fail to see how you could buy a muffler that costs over $100, pay an exhaust shop to make a "custom" exhuast that won't fit as well, and "save" that kind of money while ending up with anywhere near as PERFECT of a product.

I will NEVER AGAIN go the "custom" route for any exhaust that doesn't require it: i.e., as long as the factory routing will work. Been there, done that, more times than I can remember, hated it EVERY time.

 

The problem with that is you either wont end up with 3" pipe or you end up with crinkle bent pipe. If you got a good deal, you can get away with it, i have before. On my v6 I got a new i-pipe for 75 bucks and a muffler for 75. The made tailpipes for 10 bucks each. But I still spent almost 200 dollars.

As for a B&M tq converter, I wouldnt go anywhere near one. I had one in my 87, it was garbage. The last one I installed, against my own advice, was for a customer at my shop. We installed it between a mild 350 and a th350 trans. It made it exactly 2 miles from the shop when it came apart. Sounded like a grenade under the truck. I found out from a local tq converter rebuilder why. B&M sells thier items as brazed fins, etc. They are not. He showed me two that he had there, with the fins bent over and hammered down, like a stock converter. also, the clutch they use is patheticly poor.

 

really?? wow ive been using the holeshot in my camaro since i got my permit 3 years ago ive never had a problem.. and i just put in a torque master into my bird 2 weeks ago and its holding up to a decently built engine quite well.. i may have just been lucky so far lol.. as for getting a custom exhaust done.. i had mine done for 300 even including muffler.. its got 2 1/3 inch header back y that graduates into 3 inch main exhaust and meets the muffler with 2 1/3 out pipes.. but yes as you said it is crinkle but for 300 and its full stainless i figure thats much better than getting a 300 dollar pre make plus shipping and whatnot... but the local muffler shop owner is a close family friend for all i know he cut me a deal when i had it done... but that depends on where you are he can go get quotes from local muffler shops on a cat back and that way he will know for sure witch is cheaper for him