Info: I'm 18 years old and own a 1989 Camaro RS (5.0, 305 tbi) and would like to have pure power from my camaro. I don't have really anything to use for money, saving is an option but might take a while.

Question: What should I really do to get more power with my current situation?

Is I worth modding my car for little things to get more power?
or should I just buy a better engine and swap it out and as long with other parts?

I just need a final decision on what I really should do to my camaro so I'm firm on my goal.

 

Save and do it right the first time--you'll save money in the long run.

JamesC

 

There's an old adage, "Tell me how much money you have, and I'll tell you how fast you can go."

You know how fast you are now, and how much money you don't have, so that's how fast you're going to go.

There's a recent story about a guy who started with a pencil and through savvy trading up, ended up with a house.

Your choices: Be a very savvy horse trader, or work and save up your money.

 

Yeah thats what I thought; I was just atleast trying to throw out the question atleast to see what I could get to find what to do. Thanks everyone.

 

Its all really what you what you want to do. You can be different and build up your 305, but like everyone else will tell you, the money you will spend making the 305 go fast you will go alot faster putting that money into a 350. But like I said its up to you, first get some money and then decide what you want to do, in the mean time do some searching around on the site so when you make your decision you know what you will get. James

 

something to consider, and bolt ons for a 305 will work on a 350/383/406, so if I was you, I would buy a decent set of headers, and intake, ect. cause it will make your 305 quicker and and are things you should get when you put a 350 in.

 

Here's a different school of thought, but I think most members will agree to:

Get your steering, suspension and brakes up to snuff before you start diving into the power mods.

Obviously, I don't know what kind of shape your car is currently in, but a safe guess is that it needs some general maintenance first.

The upside is two-fold: You can tackle it a bit at a time for minimal cost, and you can gain some skills and knowledge working on your car. So, when you get to the inevitable 350 swap you will have a nice, solid base to work on and the corresponding skills/knowledge to ease the process.

As a general guide, I'll offer this:

1. Full Tune-up on the engine - wires, plugs, distributor cap, rotor, coolant flush, etc.
2. Replace steering components up front with good Moog parts.
3. Replace suspension components with new springs, struts/shocks, bushings, ball joints (Moog parts again).
4. Rebuild/replace/repair ALL brake components.
5. Sub-frame connectors.
6. Wonderbar.
7. Full exhaust - headers back to the tailpipes.
8. Intake
9. 3.42 posi rear-end gears swap
10. Computer tuning kit - I prefer the EBL system, but check the TBI forum.
11. Now you are ready to start making power.

 

Thanks for the info; and to everyone else. I'll do the little costless things first and build from there. Never heard of moog parts but ill look into that.

 

Moog is an american company and their stuff is better than cheaper chinese import parts. You can probably find a local auto parts store that carries their stuff.

 

ooh sweeet thanks!

 

Gut the whole car and take a sawzall to everything that isn't vital to the car's chassis. You'll be amazed how fast your car goes when it only weighs 2800lbs

 

haha the car weighs i think 3400? or maybe 3900? haha

 

what he said

you can have all the power in the world but if you cant get it to the ground, stop, or turn, its not worth a damn.

Basic maintenance and getting the cars' chassis in tip top shape is a good place to start. There is quite a bit to do to keep you busy if you have the bug to wrench on the car, and alot of the parts are rather affordable.

 

Yeah, just going to save up a few more paychecks and then going to get the full exhaust done, just don't know what brands to buy.. :\ i keep hearing to many cons on ones that seem that i want.

"The fix is simple: Without taking the speedo head apart, turn it around to the backside and "wire up." I cut 5 inches of wire, made a noose at both ends (I bent the wire to form a "U", placed one jaw of a needle nose at the bottom of the "U" and used pliers to twist the wire around the needle jaw to form the nooses). I placed the nooses over the axels, then twisted the slack in the center of the 5 inches to tighten the whole business. Push in on the reset while you're doing this so that the axel will be seated--just makes things easier. The wire, of course, replaces the J clips and seats the axel so that it is stationary. By the way, I tried 22-guage wire first, but it was too heavy and difficult to work with. I also attempted cauter keys, but I couldn't get the axel to seat to my satisfaction. I ended up using a very flexible piece of solid core, $.09 a foot. The fix is not as neat looking as I would have prefered, but the odometer functions like new, and frankly I don't think I'll ever have further problems with it."
I'm confused how this would help though; that's all? Why couldn't i just spin the numbers to 0?

 

i have absolutely no idea what is going on here, but the bold parts, thats because it illegal.

 

It needs to be reset anyways and once i get a new engine you'll have to determine how many miles are one the new engine.. i thought that total number represented the engine not the body...

 

no you cant just reset the odometer because of the motor.

I believe there is a legal way to do it, it involves getting a tag from the DMV, i believe, that goes in the doorjam listing the mileage when the odometer was reset.

 

I don't even think its worth it, because i bet they charge you for it like everything else they do...

 

My fix is for the trip odometer and has nothing to do with the mileage odometer.

JamesC

 

oooh sorry; im in need of mileage odometer :P sorry about that