Hey guys(and gals)...I've got some questions for you...Kind of a poll...Just imagine:

You have a 1987 Chevrolet Camaro Sport Coupe 305 V8. Its white, but has paint paint chipping on the front. No body damage. Stock "rally" wheels. Engine has been rebuilt and has 77,000 miles. You want it to be a daily driver to pass emissions, but you want it to have performance when you have a buddy that has a MX-6 or a Mustang. What stuff would you start adding. Heres what im thinking:

1. Get new wheels...Either Cragar GT-301 or American Racing 200S aluminum polished(not chrome).
2. Get cowl induction hood and take louvers off hatch window.
3. Get painted white, and eventually, with black racing stripes.
4. Get Edelbrock 600cfm carb.
5. Get Hooker "shorty" headers
6. Get Flowmaster true dual exhaust

What would you do? Keep in mind you dont have a $30,000 a year job, and you are still in high school. Thanks.

Justin

 

Unless there's something wrong with what's there (i.e., broken) I'd leave the paint and wheels alone. Neither of those things makes it one iota faster, and they're ALOT of money. Also, that carb WILL NOT pass emissions inspection; I personally think it would be a major act of self-injury to ruin any possibility of the car being legal in an enormous number of places in the country. Changing the carb won't do squat for the car's performance anyway; if the one that's on it is all there and all in one piece, you'll do beeter by restoring it to top condition.

Start by attacking the actual bottlenecks in the engine. You have the LG4 carb motor, which is a pretty pitiful thing as far as power. I'm going to assume that you have the original engine, which has been rebuilt to origianl specs; that would mean flat-top istons most of all. If you have dished pistons, then you got ripped off when it was rebuilt, and there's not much you can do about that now without a complete tear-down and rebuild, which is outside the scope of this exercise.

The first thing that is the singe biggest limit to that engine's performance is the exhaust, every piece of it from the heads to the street. Get a good set of headers that are application-specific, such as SLP or Edelbrock; get them coated by Jet-Hot or some one of those places; get a high-flow cat; and a good cat-back from Dynomax, Hooker, SLP, Blowmaster, etc. etc. DO NOT get the ones listed for your car!!!! Get the stuff for the same year 350 TPI; as an assembly it will all bolt right in, but it WILL NOT interchange with ANY of the LG4 stuff. If you get anything that will bolt to what you've got, you are porking the pooch; it's all a restriction.

The next thing you need is a cam. You have the "peanut" cam, which I believe is the worst cam profile ever produced by Chevrolet. Get a Comp 264HR-12, their grind # is 08-302-8.

Those 2 things together should take you engine from 160 HP or whatever it is, to at least 220. The next bottleneck is the heads. About the only choice there is the World Products S/R Torquer 305. There just aren't any other really good choices for the 305. With that cam and those heads, you should be well over 250 HP; with the stock intake manifold and carb still on it.

Get a breather off of a HO Z28. That breather has dual snorkels that go out to the front of the car and pick up cold air. DO NOT get an open element drop-base unit, like many on here will tell you to do; the hot air they pull in will cost between 5 and 10 HP compared to the L69 setup.

Here's a link to a recent post aboout a chassis dyno run. Notice that this is a 305 with the HO exhaust (large, similar to the 350 TPI), the HO air cleaner, stock conputer-controlled Q-Jet, and stock manifold. The only changes to this motor are heads (GM 186 "double-hump" ones off of a 69-70 HP 350), a similar cam to the one above, and Edelbrock TES.

https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/012689.html

This shows how you can build a real-world 260-265 HP 305, that passes California emissions, by following the above advice. That's almost two-thirds more power than what you have now.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

Headers: I found Hooker Headers that are "shorty" style for a 86-90 Camaro. What do you think?

Exhaust:Muffler:http://www.dynomax.com/ultrafloss.stm
Converter:http://www.dynomax.com/super.stm

What about an Edelbrock Cat-Back System? http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/index.html

What stuff would you get, thats good on a budget?

 

bump

 

I just got the Hooker cat-back and love it. I wouldn't go any other way if I had to do over again. Has nice sound and I noticed the increased HP as soon as I drove it and this was right after I had 3:73's installed by which I wasn't impressed much with.

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'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
3" Hooker CatBack w/Aero Chamber muffler
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat
3:73 Posi
Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

 

Whick headers, catalic converter, and cat back system would you pick to put on this that is emmissions legal? I was thinking:

Dynomax Headers
??? Cat
Dynomax Cat Back exhaust Ultra Flow mufflers.

I looked at some charts, and it showed that Dynomax had a bigger CFM rating than Flowmaster, Edelbrock, and Borla:
http://www.dynomax.com/ultrafloss.stm

Im looking for that awesome thick toned sound with great performance. What stuff would you guys get?

The guy three replys up told me to get application-specific headers, but not the get exhaust for the same as my car...So what do i know to look for? Can you people give me part #'s or actual names and brands? So far i like Dynomax, but i need to look around first. Thanks.

Justin

 

Dynomax would be fine...

Headers 87705
Cat 15622
System 17495

All these are for a 88-89 350 TPI, so they are the best flowing. Since a 305 and 350 are externally identical, they all bolt right up - at least, to the extent exhaust ever bolts right up

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

You said 88-89 TPI 350s...Since mine is an 87 LG-4, would there be any kind of problem at all? Just checking behind myself.

 

What catalog or store are those parts numbers from? I couldn't find any info on them on the Dynomax website.

 

Every one of them straight off their web site...

Headers http://www.dynomax.com/documents/street_series.pdf

Systems http://www.dynomax.com/documents/pas...stic_specs.pdf

Cats http://www.dynomax.com/documents/super_specs.pdf

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

Are you talking about the 88-89 TBI? Cause there isnt a choice for the TPI 88-89.

 

I also noticed for the cat back kit that you posted, its for exits through opposite sides...But I want them coming out to the rear. Can you get this option too, or am i reading this statement wrong?

 

bump

 

T
T
T

Please people help me out.

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1987 Camaro Sport Coupe 305 V8 LG4-rebuilt-All Stock.

 

There is exactly one part # shown for headers for these cars, all years, all fuel systems that they show. Why they left out the TPI motors is beyond me. It might be worthwhile to contact Dynomax and see why they did that if you particularly want that brand of that part. For the headers, you might want to just look at a different brand, such as Edelbrock. Their listing is much clearer. The part you want would be the 6872. Note that the one listed specifically for your application has a 2¼" Y-pipe, while the one for the TPI is 3". That's why you don't want to buy ANYTHING specific to the LG4: if it bolts up to any of that stuff it's weenie, and the goal is to get rid of the blockages.

http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/tes_chart.html

The tailpipes on a factory dual exhaust Camaro are arranged with one at the left side of the car and one at the right side of the car. This requires a fairly specific muffler configuration, since there's only one inlet on one end of it, but there must be 2 outlets. Many aftermarket exhausts solve this problem by putting either one large tailpipe or 2 smaller ones, which exit the muffler from the end opposite the inlet, which would be the driver's side of the car; SLP for instance. http://www.slponline.com/view_produc...RTNUMBER=31008 The Dynomax one follows the factory design. That doesn't mean it comes out the sides of the car, it means it has one pipe on each side like the OE ones.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

if your on a budget, then just take your original cat. converter off and hollow it out and it will flow better than any high flow converter. ive passed emissions with a hollowed cat to so its no biggie as long as your engine is tuned good with new plugs, wires, coil, etc. then just get the hooker cat back and put it on yourself. some headers will do you a bit of good but it wont make near the difference that a cam would for your car. you have the crappy camshaft. speed and power = $$$, theres really not a way around it.

 

Thanks. Sorry if i sound like an idiot, but im kinda new at stuff. Thanks for explaining that.

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1987 Camaro Sport Coupe 305 V8 LG4-rebuilt-All Stock.

 

A 2¼" pipe (cross-sectional area just under 4") does not flow better than a 3" converter (cross-sectional area just over 7"). The existence of that 2¼" pipe is the problem with that exhaust system in the first place, not the presence of a cat.

It's a pretty safe bet that any car that has to pass a sniffer will fail without a cat.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports