1987 Camaro Sport Coupe with 2.8l MFI engine and 5 speed manual transmission.

What is the easiest/cheapest way to add some power to this engine? I know it doesn't have the most potential, but I'm not doing a swap.

How about aluminum heads? Any advice/links would be great!

 

Blown or bottle fed.

Not too much power to be made otherwise.

 

plan out your trip and make sure you highlight those steep downhills... .... ok in all smart a**ness aside... there isn't much you can do... hence why it's a 2.8 ... even with a 5.0, you're limited as to what you can do compared to a 350... start saving up so you can drop in a 350 donor..

 

I'm not dropping in a 350. Just wondering why can be done. And there's obviously ways to add power.

 

300 hp is very possible, but it will cost you. Cheap mods = low gains.

Under drive pulleys, tune, cold air intake, headers, 1.6 rr, ported heads & intake, all will help and are cheap individually. But, when it is all done it *might* have 170 hp.

Aluminum heads & intake from a 3100 fwd car. Pretty affordable & good power gain with weight reduction, but not the easiest mod.

Turbo is expensive if you don't know how to weld, but even low boost on a stock engine seems to provide 100% increase in hp.

Nitrous is cheap-ish, and safe if done properly, while providing big gains. Someone on here was running a 100 shot before they got bored.

What is the goal for the car, and what is the budget?

 

As said above, not much gains to be had without a lot of money. You can do little stuff like underdrive pulleys and port and polish, but it isn't going to get you much more power at all. The only way to get a lot more power is an old Fageol supercharger w/carb or a turbo setup, both of which are expensive and are very hard to get tuned properly and keep tuned. If you want to go that route be prepared for lots of maintenance and unreliability.
Up until recently I had a stock 1987 with a 2.8. I was very happy with it's power and handling because I didn't expect it to behave like a V8. I put about 50,000 miles on the rebuilt engine before I sold it and it never stranded me on the road or gave me any major problems. Stock in good running condition they have plenty of power for everyday driving and normal passing/accelerating power. It will give you many years of dependable driving if you treat it and take care of it as it was designed to be and not try to turn it into something it crazy. You can get lots of power out of it, but do you really want to be tinkering with it every weekend or do you want to be out just driving it and enjoying it? Your call.

 

to be really and truly honest, I'd pocket the cash you COULD be spending at your local parts store nickel-and-diming your way to a few more horses and just get another car with a 305 or 350 powerplant in it. Then you can spend your weekends blowing your paycheck tinkering with that vehicle and your weekdays getting back and forth reliably with your v6

That's what I did anyway.

 

I'm keeping the V6.
end of story.

It is intended to be a daily driver, but when I pull up to a light and some guy in his little Honda wants to go, I want to be able to keep up.

I'm very mechanically inclined, so the work isn't a problem. Any turbos you'd recommend?

 

Do more searching. I'm sorry I don't have the time right now, but there's a TON of info on here if you look for it.
Here's a couple to get you started:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/v6/3...arts-60-a.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/v6/5...e-beefing.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/v6/5...00-hybrid.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/diy-...take-look.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/v6/5...l-3100-v6.html

 

Easy there killer. Everybody suggesting a V8 is only doing so because it will be loads cheaper and yield more results.

If you're dead set on your V6 (which seems to be the case) well...the list Scorpner posted is a good start. Good luck.

 

well good luck, IMO I think it's gonna be costly.. for all you know they're probably gonna be running dual cams, modified intake and all that other ricing catalog crap...

 

Y'know it's funny because all the ricers do for the most part is swap to a bigger motor.

We do the same thing, it's just all our motors are BIGGER!