So, I've read a ton of posts as well as the stickies at the top and plan on doing a lot of mods, but I'll be staying away from the hybrid and the ECM change as every time I try and do major mods like those I never seem to get them done and the projects stack up.

With that said here are the mods I'm planning on for my 2.8:

Ford Injectors
Ram Air
Headers and Exhaust
Aluminum Driveshaft
1.6 Rockers
Aftermarket Ignition
180 Thermostat

Now after all that the question I have is the Ford injectors are rated at 15 and if you start with the 135hp 2.8 and add what vendors claim for hp gains for the different mods you would exceed 150hp and then wouldn't the injectors limit the power? Then I guess that brings up the question of how much hp would you expect from the bolt on mods?

Thanks,
James

 

The Ford injectors will be fine. I don't think you'll be going over 150 hp with those mods.
Throw on some underdrive pulleys and a tune as well, yeah, you might need a little more fuel. Probably a bump in fuel pressure would do it though.....

 

Forgot about the pulleys. They are on the list. So, would the bump in fuel come from a different regulator and pump?

I would love to do a tune as I'm an IT guy so the computer side isn't the issue, I'm just worried about getting into the ECM swap and getting stuck and then my camaro would just sit until I get fed up and get rid of it.

 

You can bump the pressure ~5psi with a penny in the pressure regulator.

I think what people need to recognize is that without major changes to the way the motor operates (cam, heads, compression) you're basically just pushing the powerband around. You can give it a huge induction and the world's best headers and push the poewrband up 1,000rpm and get a little more peak power up top at the expense of torq but the area under the curve remains the same. You're really not making any more power than you were before.

 

Not trying to move the power band around, just trying to optimize the mods that I'm looking to do. If adding the mods I've listed could benefit from a change in fuel pressure then I would do it, if not then I won't.

So would it benefit me to go for a cam with these mods to get a bigger improvement?

 

If you really want to get the most out of it you need to tune it. The right cam will do volumes for what you intend to do with it. The unfortunate truth about the iron head motors is that without something radical you're not going to see significant benefit. I spent a number of years polishing the turd that is the stock 2.8 and it ran like a watch, but it was never a barnstormer. Finally I chugged some nitrous through it and later a turbo and it was certainly a peppy fun driver. My oppinion of the stock 2.8 (and anything using iron heads) is that it makes a stout foundation for power adders but is plain lousy naturally aspirated. I'm not trying to discourage you because you can turn it into a zippy motor but it won't be quick without stripping ALOT of weight.

If you really want to build up a 2.8 I would increase the compression using milled 2.8 pistons on a 3.1 crank, open up the exhaust like you're doing and do some mild porting work to EVERYTHING in the induction, get a cam tailored for high rpm with LS6 valvesprings and put some good gears out back.

 

That sounds like great advise. My issues are I have enough knowledge to be dangerous, but lack the experience building motors. Secondly, I've tried in the past to build some motors, but once I get stuck the project flounders and then once I'm frustrated enough I usually sell off the project.

This camaro is my first car I ever owned, and I've owned it for 18 years and would love to make it run and keep her for another bunch of years.

 

I thought about it and wondered could you run what you listed a 3.1 crank, milled 2.8 pistons, cam, port and polish, and LS6 valve springs with the stock ECM?

Which cam would you recommend for the setup?

Thanks.

 

Without tuning your never going to get the most you can out of it. Tuning isn't too bad I just recently started reading up on it and it's not extremely difficult, it just takes time and patience. Tuning an ECM won't be any more of a major mod than putting a 3.1 crank and milled pistons in and a cam or porting and polishing.

 

I disagree about pushing the powerband around, when you remove or negate bottlenecks you'll definitely see gains, and the stock exhaust is definitely a bottleneck, intake probably is also since you have a bird, but the biggest bottleneck unfortunately is the heads, followed by the stock exhaust followed by the intake manifolds I believe, that T-bend in the exhaust is just horrible...

As for the OPs question I would go with 17s or 19s personally, also if you get a 180* tstat you need to reprogram your ecm to turn the fans on at 180 or wire them to be on whenever the engine is running for it to have any worthwhile effect.

 

Yes if it's a restriction but you'll often find that the peak gains are small in comparison to the change in area under the curve, particularly on a small motor with a higher volumetric output (compared to a tbi v8 or something similar).