I am going to work on my 2.8 this summer, and I have some mods planned but if some of you guys who have already modded a 6 got any tricks of the trade or mods that really added some power, i'd appreciate it if you'd share them with me.
Thanx

 

You should have been more specific about your vehicle because it will dictate the degree of mods yu can do. I would make mods in this order:cam,exhaust[headers and /or catback] intake[modify stock or aftermarket] Keep in mind that in order to use this hp gain you will need 3.42's or better.

 

the only way to make 2.8s run is to spray the **** out of em then they still only run 15s trust me i owned 3

 

you should first list what you've already done to it. then you can start from there.

 

its bone stock

 

tune-up/oil change
tranny service
basic maintanence stuff

cold air intake(custom since no one makes them for our cars)
exhaust (cat-back)
performance cat
there's more if not yet mentioned

 

Before you start modding be sure the car is truely sound. Rebuild the distributor, get a new timing chain, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, thermostat, O2 sensor... Fix any and all codes. Fix exhaust leaks. Check egr valve. Any of these things can and will rob you of valuable power, esp after modifing the car.

I chased a backfire thru my bay for 2 years. Replaced all the little obvious stuff, hoping each time it would fix it, but it stayed. The dealer could not even find it. Everyone said timing. Well the timing was right. Finally we took a chance and rebuilt the distributor and bumped up the timing. The problem went away. But the timing was very hard to set, the car had no power, and the timing danced around still. Turned out the distrubutor had too much end play and the timing was all over. Rebuilt it and added shims and bingo. Problem gone. We had chased it for 2 years and that was what it was.

Last thing you want is to do a mod or mods and suddenly be chasing a host of problems thru your bay, not knowing what it could be.

Once you get the car running like it was new...then move on to the performance stuff... Cold air intake, exhaust, porting the intake & heads, cam, headers, adj fuel pressure regulator, larger injectors, Custom program chip, shift kit, torque convertor, 3.42 or 3.73 gears,...etc

 

Modding these cars isn't about how much power you can get...it's about how far beyond the reach of practicality and a good use of money you want to go. Do all the basics first...tuneup, fluid change, filter change, wires, plugs, cap and rotor..all the good stuff. Those simple things all add up and will actually free up power and smooth operation that you had lost before and might not have noticed, even when your car already runs 'smooth'. Search for TomP's tuneup...that's everything you'll need to know right there!

Beyond that, a great first step is the intake. If you have the dual snorkel intake on the 2.8...it's got a box-like thing and 2 air filters in front of the radiator...then you're good to go already, just cut the water baffles off the bottom. If not, you can try to find one...or build your own PCV system with a conical, but keep in mind that you have an MAF to worry about.

Exhaust is another GREAT step for power...the Dynomax catback is a great system for the price..a WHOLE catback, including all pipes past the cat, and the muffler, is like $165. Others have used different mufflers and custom piping...it's all about preference. If you do a catback, buy a high flow catalytic converter too, or run a pipe through it to delete it. But either way, the stock cat has to go.

Ignition is the next step in my order, just because it will help your car use the power from the other mods even better. Get some good plugs, and 8mm+ plugwires, along with the cap and rotor. I mentioned these earlier as tune up items...well the cap and rotor and plugs are, but the wires are optional...I went with Taylor 8mm Spiropro wires because their price was decent..$55 for a custom set..and they have MANY available colors to match ANY scheme you want for your car. Don't spend too much money on primo wires though...you wont tell the difference. Replace your COIL.....an MSD Blaster GM direct replacement will work just fine and be a very easy install...I believe Hypertech makes a direct replacement also, as well as Accel. Comes down to brand preference. I personally prefer MSD, but I hear the Hypertech is an EXCELLENT coil, and Karl (KED) would fight to the death over the Accel coil he's had for years.

I wouldn't go much farther than this unless you're insane. You just have to come to grips with it..the car will never be fast. Adding a cam and roller rockers isn't going to unleash a buttload of power that you 'knew was hiding in there somewhere'... There are no major bottlenecks in this car that can be fixed to correct this problem...they're just NOT power machines. But with those mods, you should be moving pretty decent for CHEAP! That's the best part!

 

Don't forget that you can modify other areas of the car besides just the engine! I would look at swapping a lower geared rear end out of a wrecked car if you are looking for a little more pull off the line. A open differential drum brake rear will only sell for $75-$100 in most yards. The positive traction disc brake rears with decent gears will be the most expensive, and can cost as much as $400 or even more. Get the proportioning valve with the rear and the speedo gears out of the trans, and you will have a 4 wheel disc brake car with better gears about as cheap as a gear swap and simultaneous brake upgrade can get. Be sure you know what the gear ratio is before you plunk down your money! You don't want to swap in a 3.08 or even worse, a 2.73 geared one!

 

Also... careful of the junkyard swap money-pit. Got my 3.73/posi/disc axle out of a junkyard '84 Trans Am, and spent well over $600 rebuilding it, and then trying to get the damned brakes to work. $400 could've bought me a set of 3.73 gears and installation. (Installing gears yourself is tricky; one wrong set-up and you destroy the gears as soon as you start driving.)

 

well, thanks for vanquishing my ignorance on the subject of my 2.8, I thought there would be more ability for power such as working with the valvetraina and such, but i'm glad you guys all helped me understand I need an 8 or at least the 3.something they got for the 6. Thanx for saving me tons of money!

 

There is ability for power, but not anything astonishing.

I could put it this way: You could probably beat a v8 that was owned/driven by a poser who didn't know a pushrod from a connecting rod, and who neglected his car's maintenance. But you'd be hard pressed to beat a fellow gearhead's v8, simply because their engines are tuned up.

Then again, it's been my experience that if a gearhead with a v8 sees a v6 f-body that's been worked on, and the v6 owner isn't a poser, no insults are thrown. If the v6 owner thinks he's got 1000 horsepower and can beat anything in the world, he'll get a few insults.

And if the v8 owner is a wanna-be, he'll insult any car that's faster than his.

 

Any car that's slower too. Don't know how many friends of mine with V8's would always laugh at me about the V6 and mock me...until I got a V8 and the ability to smoke the **** out of their cars. That's always nice.

 

What always annoys me are the people who think that anything that is slower than their car is slow. I know of people whose cars can run in the high 12's on street tires who think that anything that runs 13's is slow.

Along with that are the people who claim a bunch of race kills that you know that they never could do. Like a guy with a near-stock 350 in a late 70's 1/2 ton pickup that claims he can keep up with Corvettes, etc...

While we're on things that bother us, I really hate these stupid decals that people put on some of their cars. It seems that ever since the movie The Slow and the Pissed-Off came out, a bunch of the cars around here, and not all imports either, have a bunch of goofy looking decals all down the sides. I think that looks even worse than a 2 foot tall wing, if that's possible.

 

Well, I want a car that ultimately when im done can run high 11's or low 12's so I think what i'm gonna do is run the 2.8 as the everyday engine and just build up an old 305 on a stand in my garage, and when thats done just do a transplant, then i'll be smokin, with some tuning and drivetrain work. Seems to make more sense than attempting to mack out that 2.8. (yeah I said mack, lol) Oh and didn't you guys hear, the ratio of horsepower to sticker coverage ratio is 4 to 5 inches nowadays?

Oh yeah, who hates young rich boys who's daddies buy them stangs and brand new camaros ( I know theyre discontinued but some a-hole from my high school got one last year)? Yeah and it seems they don't know crap about cars either, just "me go beep beep", oh and If it's any consellation to you guys i smoked a riced out civic in my mom's bonneville yesterday, yeah he wanted to fight me, lol

 

I had fun with the dually about a year ago...I romped all over this celica. He was trying at everylight. (string of 3 on this road) Then he would not look at me...Idiots!

A 2.8 will never see 11-12s, not in a f-body. Maybe in a fiero with an insane shot of nitrous, once. It would probably blow up after that!

For a 11 or 12 second car...honestly, you need to be looking at a 350! That way if you get there and want more there is always that potential. I don't know how well a 305 will mod to the 11-12 range. Might be no problem, but I would do some research. If you are going to go to the trouble to do a v-8 swap, go 350...Unless you just have a 305 sitting around...

On my 82 we are going with a 383 LT1. My 87 (the 2.8) will eventually be a 3.8 turbo, like the Grand Nationals and Turbo TAs. Its an awesome motor. With some work...10s... The beauty of turbos!

 

well, I wasn't being specific enough about the 305, I may bore it out, may find a bigger engine, I simply meant bigger, because whatever I get as long as it's an 8 i'll be happy, but I definately need more power. I'm not quite sure what engines will work with the 2.8's tranny and drivetrain, so I guess i'll have to look into that more. Well, runnin' 13's would be fine with me, I just reall really really want to build a fast car, recently got all this interest in em and knowledge and want to use it!, lol

 

Well teh 2.8s 700R4 tranny has a different bolt pattern on the bellhousing. I think its samller too. The tranny is not going to work with a V-8! The drive shaft and rearend is fine, but you want to go with beefier suspension as well. The v-6s have smaller sway bars & the springs were designed on the lighter weight of a v-6 versus a v-8!

 

Raif's right. The tranny, motor mounts, fuel pump, radiator, computer, wiring harness, etc... will all have to be swapped out to match the engine that you are putting in there. If you go with a tuned port 350, you will need this stuff from the donor car you got the motor from. That is why most people will tell you that unless your car is ultra-clean with low miles, or you are sentimentally attached to it, sell it and buy one with a factory installed V8, then modify it. It will be cheaper and less headache than buying all the stuff and then trasferring it into your current car.

Also, going for high 11's and low 12's with a truly streetable car is kind of hard to do. Most of them aren't what I consider to be truly streetable. I don't consider it to be a truly streetable car unless my Mom can drive it fairly easily, and she knows nothing about cars. In reality, most cars that make that kind of power will have to be compromised in many other areas: Fuel type and mileage, accessories like AC and Cruise, No big stereo equipment, no T-tops, roll cage, etc...

Most people don't know what it is like to get into a powerful car, so a car that can run mid to low 13's will not only blow away most of the ricers, it will impress the crap out of most people, and will beat 98% of everything on the road. It is also much easier to get one to that speed and it still run on pump gas, idle well, and behave in traffic.

 

Gas milege and having to run premium will definately get you! Thats why I like the idea of the GN motor for the 87... If you stay out of the turbo gas milege is decent, but if you jump on it all the time, forget it. You can turn up the boost for the track and tone it down for steet driving. But let mom drive it, nope. You hit it at the wrong time and you are sideways! I was driving a GN and hit the gas, as I was turning at an intersection, a bit too much and the tail went right around. I basically did a 180. I got it back straight, but it gave me a healthy repect for those cars and that motor!

 

If you're gonna go with a V8, don't be a wimp and get a 305. And definitely don't say "I'll take anything as long as it's an 8..."...trust me..you don't want a TBI 305, or a Crossfire 305/350....or an emissions-era V8! All of those are terrible! I looked at a Mustang 2 Cobra for sale once...like late 70's. I thought 'well it's still a V8, it's gotta have *****!'...it was a 302, and made 140 hp and like 255 ft lbs. I test drove it and romped on it.... My Camaro would run with it for the most part.

11's and 12's is a damn high goal! My car ran a best of 14.5, but it's capable of low 14's...and it impresses EVERYONE who rides in it, and it WILL outrun almost anything on the road except another performance car owned by a car guy. Trust me...getting on the pedal in it feels like you've been shot out of a cannon. Doing that in a 12 or 13 second car must feel like you've just been kicked in the *** by ***.

 

Yeah I think i'm gonna just do simple mods to the 6, nothing special, just make it relatively quick, the V8 bull**** is gonna cost me time and effort, I am only 17 so I am still learning, I'll just wait till I get outta tech school, then i'll really know what i'm doing, thanks again guys, i've learned so much in the past 3 days with this forum!

 

What engine do you have in yours? I was reading it and I was like, I know this is the v-6 board, but that can't be times for a 2.8 or 3.1...

 

I believe that Nixon has a Five-oh mustang now. No way you'd be getting those times with a V6 Thirdgen unless you have Nitrous or some seriously heavy mods, or either the Turbo TA engine that you are planning on putting in. With the turbo 3.8 you could run those times with one of the plug wires off of it!

 

Thats what I was thinking. Though even a seriously modded 2.8 I don't think could run that quick. Not unless you jetted enough nitrous to blow up the motor. And then you probably would. Yeah and for a TTA that would be way poor!

 

If you're building a V8 from scratch, do yourself a favor and go with as many cubes as possible...at least a 350, if not a 383 or 406. If you're putting good parts in anyway, it doesn't cost any more. I'd stay clear of 305s. There are some 305s that are running respectable times, but why stack the odds against yourself?

 

502 Crate Engine on a double dose of juice. Just like that 69 SS I seen at a car show in Lawton!! :rockon:

 

Redraif..yeah, it's a 5.0 stang now. I've gone to the dark side. But hey...it was cheap horsepower. I look at it this way....the lesser of two enemies. Ford, and Imports.

Hey Dale, how about getting one of those special one-off totally built motors....I read up one this one today..somewhere in the neighborhood of 560 cubes I think..a Dart block.... 1050 HP and around 880 ft/lbs, naturally aspirated, non-nitroused. Holley Dominator 1250 cfm carb topped it off... Hehe...now THAT's some power. Good luck fitting that thing anywhere though....
:hail: :hail: :hail: