My '89 RS is mostly stock (the previous owner added a flowmaster, but aside from that nothing major), and I'm wondering about practical suggestions and addons I could get to bring out some more horsepower...it's about 140 right now, and I would like to shoot for an extra 30-40. I'm kinda new to performance parts, and any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

You'll need a cam, hedders and some porting work done on the heads. It's hard to squeeze out that much, but it is possible.

 

unless you want to be the one who puts a supercharger on a 2.8....you could get a vortex performance turbo kit when they become available. otherwise, 30-40 hp is not easy to get if you're new to performance parts. the supercharger would have to be all custom though, not too easy to do.

 

some of the easier stuff to do is a 180 or 160 t-stat, underdrive pulley set, ignition upgrades, k&n air filters, cut the bottoms off the air boxes, roller rockers (if you can), dynomax catback, highflow cat or removal of the cat. thats some of the easier stuff to get a few extra hp. you can try cleaning out the carbon too. use some brake cleaner or throttle cleaner. take off the throttle body and clean the crap out of it. then use some GM Top End Cleaner to get the carbon out of the intake, combustion chamber, and off the valves. this will help quite a bit actually. other than that and a couple other minor mods, there isnt much you can do to increase hp without getting into some serious work and $$.

good luck bud!!

 

other than an intake carb cam headers 1.6 roller rockers you would be getting into some $$. but all is not lost you could rebuild the engine with higher compression pistonsand if you built a solid bottom end you could add a shot of nitrous. You might want to consider geting a lower gear ratio ie 3.73's 4.10's i know that is not engine related but it would give you some extra go. Also you might want to consider getting a turbo or two theres companys out there that make custom setup's for around $300(for just the headers) but that will cost some big bucks. One thing i'msure alot of the guys will agree on though is this statement "Speed cost's money so how fast do you want to go". I hope this helps you out.

 

Maybe I should just save up and get an LS1 .

 

Man no one is gonna talk to you now! You've done it , you've brought up an 8! Jk, Maybe you should go with a 3.4.