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Tech / General EngineIs your car making a strange sound or won't start? Thinking of adding power with a new combination? Need other technical information or engine specific advice? Don't see another board for your problem? Post it here!
Hey fellas(and ladies) hope all is well.
Ive been having my old girl since I was 16, I'm 32 now, with career and everything pointing in the right direction. It's a 1983 z28 lg4 (not H.O.). I have some money to put into her now and she deserves it. The car has 125k miles and never left me stranded just always ran rough. The car was all original besides exhaust, and now that Im starting to put money into the stock engine I want to make sure I don't do any thing out of order or miss anything while I'm in there.
I have three summit boxes waiting for the month of rain we have had in New Orleans to end. I purchased the following: hooker 2460 and dougs y pipe, mini turbo mufflers, comp xe262 grind complete kit, and e4m3 rebuild kit, dual snorkel H.O. air cleaner with tubes and snorkels off of eBay. And a coworker has a posi trac rear end off of a third gen just not sure of the year.
I know the engine is low compression and really just a turd, but I just want to be pinned into my seat a little more and a reason to get my step son off his Nintendo and throw away the figit spinner.
What other options do I have? I like the original look and that's the reason I bought the dual snorkel to help hide the aftermarket headers. I want to keep stock intake and heads. But what about a thinner head gasket to get me a bit more compression? Any info is much appreciated.
Front lowering springs are in those boxes too. 1 inch in the front she will be flawless!
Are you thinking about swapping out your rear end with posi from the buddy? If so, My pops helped complete a swap in my 85 z28, went from drum brake open rear end to disc brake posi borg warner 9 bolt. I never experienced the driving on the drum brakes because the pinion was stuck in the differential housing, but I can help you with some diagnostics info if you're going in that direction.
Are you thinking about swapping out your rear end with posi from the buddy? If so, My pops helped complete a swap in my 85 z28, went from drum brake open rear end to disc brake posi borg warner 9 bolt. I never experienced the driving on the drum brakes because the pinion was stuck in the differential housing, but I can help you with some diagnostics info if you're going in that direction.
Thanks for the reply. Yes he has a built third gen Trans am with cts-v ls engine in it and he said that it wouldn't hold up to the power so he swapped it with something HD. Im
not too sure what you're saying. Am I going to run into problems with the posi? It still has the drums on the rear and mine does as well. The gearing is a little bit higher too so I hopefully I will see a little performance change with that as well.
Will the cam/ rear end swap combo lead me to needing to swap converter? It's not the biggest cam I could stuff in there and I didn't want to go too big due to keeping stock intake manifold.
If you are swapping the complete rear end, and both are drum brakes, you shouldn't have any problems. You will need to change the speedometer drive gears in the transmission to recalibrate your speedometer as well.
If you want to be pinned back in the seat a little more, consider a 350 shortblock.
If you are swapping the complete rear end, and both are drum brakes, you shouldn't have any problems. You will need to change the speedometer drive gears in the transmission to recalibrate your speedometer as well.
If you want to be pinned back in the seat a little more, consider a 350 shortblock.
Thanks for the reply. I like the original engine. It's a cruiser. I'm on the fence on the swap just due to the fact it won't be getting sideways or any out of control with my upgrades. Even after it's complete I doubt it will break both the tires loose. But he's asking a fair price, so I'll grab it but won't bolt it up unless my expectations on power increase are wrong.
Really nice car man. Cam and headers will definitely help pin you in the seat and break those tires loose. Id go ahead with a shift kit and maybe a S10 torque converter it will give you around 2200+ stall. It works nicely with my stock engine.
Really nice car man. Cam and headers will definitely help pin you in the seat and break those tires loose. Id go ahead with a shift kit and maybe a S10 torque converter it will give you around 2200+ stall. It works nicely with my stock engine.
the car has always started but ever really ran well. To put it this way, she has her days, very unpredictable. Some days I can pin the throttle and it will go and others it will pop bang and sputter. I bought an e3me rebuild kit with float and all but never got a Chance to rebuild yet. Hopefully that cures it. I've done a plug, wire distributor change recently and she has gotten a little better, but the carb rebuild(fingers crossed) will get her to perfect.
As far as the stall goes do you recommend changing it or after I'm done change if needed? Summit has a 2200 for a decent price I will look into that purchase.
Nice ride! I have an 83 also! I got the summit Y pipe and headers and it helped lots...
thanks man. I took home top 100 at a large New Orleans car show, called back to the beach. I was proud and that's why I'm doing the upgrades. Did your car throw the check engine light after install? I went with the hookers and dougs y and finished two days ago. And now the light is on. My muffler man is saying to put the bung cap back on and he will weld a new bung closer to header flange. The hookers is down by collector flange. It sounds soooo nasty and mean with them now.
Man I paid a good bit for the Doug Y pipe. It was pretty wide when I installed. What do you mean? Currently it's 2.5" ID all the way to where cat used to be. it reduces to 2 1/4 OD pipe. I had to pipe dream 2 reducers to get it to work until I can get it to him. Should I go 2 mufflers which it is now or 1 which I've seen on here before? Muffler man was saying 2 mini turbos is what he recommended. Thanks for the reply.
Last edited by randallp504; Jun 27, 2017 at 09:18 AM.
You are going to take your admiration for your Camaro to a new level. I suggest that you consider replacing your high mileage heads as well as sending your carb to Cliffs or equivalent for idle circuit modifications.
You are going to take your admiration for your Camaro to a new level. I suggest that you consider replacing your high mileage heads as well as sending your carb to Cliffs or equivalent for idle circuit modifications.
Good Luck and Go LSU!!!
We say Geaux Tigers here, but yes I'm in that Tiger train!!
I think I will attempt the quadrajet rebuild myself and if I can't get her right then I'll send it out for rebuild and tune. I like to tinker. As far as the heads go, my cam kit came with springs and retainers and something else. What are you suggesting i send them out to redo? The header install was a B so I'm not too excited to pull them off again. I could barely get the tools to tighten them on the bolts.
We say Geaux Tigers here, but yes I'm in that Tiger train!!
I think I will attempt the quadrajet rebuild myself and if I can't get her right then I'll send it out for rebuild and tune. I like to tinker. As far as the heads go, my cam kit came with springs and retainers and something else. What are you suggesting i send them out to redo? The header install was a B so I'm not too excited to pull them off again. I could barely get the tools to tighten them on the bolts.
If your heads are OEM? There's a high degree of probability that your guides and seals are toast. Aerohead had heads built to my specifications ready for shipment in less than 24 hrs. I was astonished by speed of delivery, fit, and finish.
In addition, I recommend Cometics Gaskets, they're expensive but zero leakage is worth the price.
.027 headgaskets is what chose.
thanks man. I took home top 100 at a large New Orleans car show, called back to the beach. I was proud and that's why I'm doing the upgrades. Did your car throw the check engine light after install? I went with the hookers and dougs y and finished two days ago. And now the light is on. My muffler man is saying to put the bung cap back on and he will weld a new bung closer to header flange. The hookers is down by collector flange. It sounds soooo nasty and mean with them now.
No check engine for me. I removed all the computer stuff when I installed the new engine. Just gauges! All old school under the hood.
Camaro is at body shop and my painter called me today with bad news. He said the hood louvres wouldnt fit on my hood. The vents I ordered off eBay said they would but they aren't even close!!!
I noticed the difference afterwards, nothing ever really stood out to be that different. I'm hoping the eBay seller will refund the purchase. I love the louvres on the hood but I can't justify the hood purchase, respray, and time to do it all...oh well
If you can't get a refund for the louvers, I'm willing to take them off your hands. I'm looking for a 85-89 iroc hood for mine, currently has a 89 stock on it.
