Hey guys,

I just wrapped up college, and more of a computer tech so i'm just now diving into the world of Chevy's. I recently purchased a 1986 Camaro z28 Iroc-Z. I was wondering if you guys could tell me what HP range i'm looking at with the current set-up:

355 4 bolt main with a scat bottom end, 280 cam, 350 turbo trans shift kit, 2500 stall converter and timing gears, summit 202 heads, a 650 holley carb and 373 positraction... bored .30 over and engine has less than 5k miles on it.

Also, what's logically the next steps to take in the engine upgrade process? I'm shooting for around 400hp, street car.. no real plans of taking it to a track, but still wanna haul *** when necessary.

 

do you have headers?

 

To be honest, i'm not sure. I'm a noob man, but hey, at least i'm working towards making advances lol. I don't believe that I do, but I wouldn't know what to look for. I know they have to do with the exhaust exiting the engine, but not sure where to look for them.

 

Is there an individual tube for each exhaust port (4 per side) leading to one central point (headers)? Or does it look more like a metal "bar" that stretches along the length of the heads(exhaust manifolds)?

 

Heres a picture of a shorty header:

 

I'm not near the car at the moment, but found a picture of the enginebay that I had. Are you able to tell from the pic below? Apologies for being such a noob... i'm still in college, i'll let that be my excuse.

 

lol'd
"OIL"

 

Yes, it has headers.

It's labeled like that so I don't forget. LOL

 

lol, ok, so I have headers. Any idea on the range for my HP? and what upgrades I should be considering next?

 

I am not really sure on a HP range, or what you should upgrade next. The engine seems to be built pretty well for a driver.

 

Yea, I guess that's why I was sorta stumped.. bought the thing pretty well built up. I'm going to focus on cosmetics for the next few months.. i'm guessing that i'm around the 320HP range.. I suppose i'll dyno sometime and see.. I'm thinking I may do a 383 stroker kit in the future.. any ideas?

I guess what confuses me about this IROC is that the one I had prior to this one for about 4 months, I totaled.. and it had a 350 TPI.. when i'd slam on the gas for example, it'd break traction and burn rubber for about 30 feet..

The one I have now is obviously more souped up, but doesn't break traction.. i'm guessing that has to do with the stall converter?

 

high stall converters tend to cause traction problems, not make them go away. You said it's a 280 cam, which really isn't very specific, you were even more vague about the heads, and the TH350 has a crappy 2.515:1 first gear, unlike the 700R-4's 3.059:1.
3.727 times 2.515 is 9.375:1. That's as lame as a 700R-4 with a 3.077:1 axle, which is 9.412:1. That'll definitely need a stroker to get a traction problem. Put the 700R-4 with the axle you have, you'll find the burnouts you're missing.
But it's not just too-tall gearing, mystery heads, and a probably-too-big cam, which kills low-end, it's also the tune.
What's your ignition advance curve look like?

 

Uhhh, that's a good question lol... you probably missed the earlier posts about me being a noob.. but yea, i'm not sure.. i'll look into it though.. and i've consistently seen people say that the 700R-4 is a necessary upgrade, so i'll definitely add that to the list.

 

right now you're geared for about 3400 rpm at 65 mph. Swap to a 700R-4, and figure in the converter lockup that you currently don't have, it'll drop to 2200 rpm. You'll use 1/3 less fuel at cruise.

 

What, may I ask, do you mean by "figure in the converter lockup that you currently don't have"...

 

the 350 trans you currently have is a 3 speed ,, the 700r4 that these cars came with are 4speed with a lock up converter. If you dont know what a lockup converter is do a . I always search before I ask a question and 8 out of 10 times I find the answer, nothing wrong with posting but the search(imo) isnt used enough on these boards. Good Luck