I've been told by two people now that the 305 balancer would be fine as long as the rubber wasn't cracked. What kind of difference is there between the two?

And honestly the rest of what you just said is greek to me :/ I don't even know how to change my own oil, speakin' honestly.

 

sounds like you got yourself into a hole. call the gm dealer as ask what balancer to use as well as flywheel. buy what they tell you to use as there are a few variations between 85-87. for the intake bolts, the lower bolts (intake to head), any off the shelf intake bolt kit will suffice. as for runners to base plate and runners to plenum, im not quite sure if theres any difference.

now, did you buy a complete intake manifold? i think the 87 still used a cold start injector (located on driver's side between injectors 4 and 6), so you should be ok on the fuel rail and computer.

 

I got a bolt kit and head gaskets when I bought the heads, and a set of pushrods. I'm mostly worried right now that my heads won't match up to my intake. Since, y'know, I have no idea how they're s'posed to go together

I didn't buy a complete manifold- I was told everything from the base up would transfer over from my '87 engine. What I have, is this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...tEbony/003.jpg

 

i can help you as much as you are willing to accept my help. what all do you have, what was original and what did you pick up extra, and how did it come to be apart? if you took it apart, you should have a vauge idea how it goes back together. where are the bolts for the rest of the intake? there are a few different ones, and it becomes obvious where they go when you start assembling it. i say put it together on a bench first, not in the car, and make sure you have everything

 

Let's see. I've not touched anything in the car- still the same LB9 it came with and not so much as a bolt missing.

I've bought the following:

GMPP 350/290 Deluxe
Edelbrock Performer RPM heads (1986 and earlier style)
A head bolt and stud kit
Set of hardened pushrods that I was told I'd need
And the intake manifold pictured above- from an '85-'86 LB9. Purchased as is, basically off a shelf.

I've yet to take anything apart, put anything together, or do anything more than examine the parts I've got to try and see what I am supposed to do with them.

 

Alright, so after some false starts, some big mistakes, and a lot of wasted time, I think I've more or less got everything finalized.

I ended up canceling my crate engine order. I don't even remember all the issues that came up but I think I was looking at spending another $1500 before I could even get it in the car.

So I returned everything and instead I started looking for a used engine- I figured if I got one that originally came out of one of these cars, I'd have an easier time of it.

Luck would have it, I found one. It's a 1987 L98 350, so it should basically bolt right in for me. It has somewhere under 100,000 miles (it was pulled out and put in storage, while the car it came from had a higher-performance engine in it for two years afterward)

Compression check turned out ok, oil filter was dissected and it's not making metal- basically it all looks good. I'm picking it up on Thursday, if all goes according to plan.

Now what I've done is I ordered a set of Edelbrock Performer heads, part number 60879- these being specifically designed for Tuned Port engines, and a camshaft from CompCams. Part number 08-408-8.

Now what I've done with that is I ran all the numbers I could come up with through CompCam's software so's I could see how much power I'd make with this setup. If my calculations are correct, I'm looking at 295hp @4000 rpm and 445 torque @3000 rpm.

Apparently I can also do an exhaust upgrade- headers and delete the cats, and it'll bring me up to 335 hp and 505 torque. But, I'm a little concerned about whether my transmission and rear end can take it, so upgrading those are next on my list when I have some money again.

I'm told it's gonna be 3-4 weeks before my performance parts arrive, once that happens we should finally see something going on again.

 

dont forget to upgrade the injectors and get a tune for the ecm to make it run. the stock ecm wont recognize larger injectors, and a cam and head work is too much for it to self tune. sounds like it will be a pretty nice performing motor. as for the trans and rear, mine have been ok. mine has a mild shift kit but does slip on shift from 1/3-2/3 throttle. i think a better shift kit will help that. mine also doesnt have quite 10k mile since it was rebuilt. the rear is handling it as the tires dont grip. its the hard launches that will blow the 10 bolt. ive done a few brake stands, but havent tried to launch my car

 

I've already got 22lb injectors with the engine- if they're not enough, how much bigger should I be looking?

I know I have to get a PROM chip, as well as a knock sensor and an ESC module- do I need anything else for the computer or would that be good?

Other than that, I'm interested to know what I should look into for a rear end when I do get around to upgrading it. D'you have any suggestions as to what I could consider?

 

the 22lb injectors will do well for now, but will reach their limit if you do anything more to the engine. im running 36lb injectors for my setup, but i still have a lot more modifications planned (bigger intake, long tubes, nitrous maybe). 25 or 26lb injectors wouldnt be a bad idea to step up to after you have it together and see how it runs. as far as a rear, you can spend a bunch of money upgrading the 10 bolt to handle power, but the cost equals swapping up to a 12 bolt or ford 9 inch. this is the best bang for the buck when it comes to a built rear that will handle slicks and hard track use. Moser Engineering 12 Bolt Rear End | 1982-1992 F-Body Camaro Firebird now, being that it will set you back about $3k if reusing stock rear disc brakes, more if you want or need something else, take it easy on the stock rear. i dont baby mine, but im also not abusing it, and its holding up for now

 

I think I will just have to take it easy this summer, and perhaps this winter I'll get to having the transmission rebuilt, and look at doing the rear end later on. If only I didn't have so many other things to dump my money into :/

I figure later on I may do exhaust and intake, but we'll see how it does for now before I go spending any more money, lol.

Thanks for the tips, man~