Ok I have just inherited a 1979 camaro berlinetta from my mom. Not much done to it, a 5-6 y/old engine 305 5.0 liter v8 and that is about all I know with it. Its not very fast...at all I was wondering if any of you all, who actually know something about cars, could help me with it. Do I need a whole knew engine, or some other small pieces to the puzzle? thanks for your help
Danny

 

Well first of all, since you say it is not fast, I assume it runs.

It if runs, doesn't stall, vibration badly, or smoke, I don't think you NEED a new engine now. Wait on that until you find out what else it might really need.

What condition is the rest of the car in? Any problem areas?

 

Let's see there haven't been any major problems. It ends up in the shop about once a month for small things such as broken oil pan that caused a bunch of steam and smoke, other than that no smoking and other small issues. The rest of the car is in pretty good condition just got a new $1800 paint job on it and a new stereo system. Are there any ways to make my car faster, or is that just a stupid question? Thanks for your time
Danny

 

you can tune alittle bit,you may gain alittle bit but nothing major.that 305 will have to come out to get any real power.you could change out cams and heads but why do that when you could just pull the motor and make it all new at once.jmo

 

How much are you willing to spend realisticly? and what are your goals for the car?

 

See I don't really know, you all won't take me seriously now but I'm only 16, so I only work the summers. I've got enough and my parents (haha) will help some. umm I don't know exactly how much I want to spend maybe a few thousand at the most. But thats only if I actually get a good amount out of it

 

Well take you serious whether you are six or sixteen or sixty. What you have to do is:
1) determine just what you have. Take it to a reputable mechanic - you say its in the shop once a month for small things, so who has been working on it? If its a real shop, take it there (they already know it) and ask them to look if over and tell you what is weak, what is suspicious or not original, and what's okay.
2) At that point, you have a decision, if the mechanics list is long, then my recommendation would be to think about even putting more money into it. But it seems to run okay now, so its probably just small stuff, so fix everything that is weak and suspect on it and do all of the pro-active service you can-- change any belts, hoses, plug wires, plugs, filters, etc that it will need in the foreseeable future. Run some Sea foam through it to clean the injectors and carbon build up, etc. have it tuned up.
3) Now, next phase. You want it to go faster. This will cost money. And realize there is nolimit: the more you spend the more you get. And you must set aside money to repair the fixes it will need from time to time anyway. So decide what you can spend now and in the future, realistically.
If you get to this point, I would do a cold air intake, headers, and a cat back exhaust. That would not cost too much ($800 but you might be able to cut corners) and would add maybe 20 real HP (you'd feel the difference). But wait to do this until you do all the above.
There would be more mods you could do later, a next step beyond these that would add about 25 HP more, but this would be the first, and is enough. Keep us posted on how (1)-(3) go and you can get more advice as you need it.

 

how many miles is on the 305.before i would sink anymore money into the 305 i would think about a motor swap,to something bigger.cubic inches make horsepower.

 

That's correct, don't put money in the engine unless its good. So, get it to a mechanic and get a good evaluation of it. Apparently it is not the original engine (5-6 years old) so it may be only 40-50k miles and in reasonable condition.

 

Ok so I think I'll look into a new engine maybe this one. http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...chItemId=59281
another member timmythewhop suggested that way I can start brand new, hopefully. thanks for the help