I have my 96, but I've been wanting an older car as a project car. Something I can just make obnoctuously loud and pretty fast. Thinkin low geared like 4:56s or something. Exhaust cut off at headers, that kinda thing. i don't need backpressure do i? lol. Is this a worthy investment? After a while It'd be nice to have racing seats, new interior and paint and everything. I just finally want a project car and was thinkin this could be it.

Are these camaro's right around 1990 good or should i think of something else?

 

if you want that, id say go pre 1985. then you can use whatever carb you want. backpressure is never needed on an engine, just the fuel ratio corrected for more air flow

 

The older the better as emission laws get much more relaxed. I have been having a heck of a time getting an 87 iroc through emissions.

As far as cheap, there is absolutely no such thing. I have well over a year and a half in a resto and I bet I'll have another 6 months before it is legal and drivable.....I haven't even done the interior yet. Its 10 months in the body shop was not cheap either. THey take a lot of work/money/time to make into a barn burner. In fact I've taken a break from it and started working on a 67 mustang. The mustang is 10X easier to work on!

 

im lookin for a cheaper car, not cheaper mods lol. And emissions isnt anything. there's no tests, nobody cares. its wyoming!! lol 50% of vehicles just are huge diesels that can smoke out blocks.

 

I can't agree with no back pressure needed. Back pressure is definitely needed for any street driven car. If the plan is an all out race car then back pressure is not needed, or even wanted, but even then the entire intake and exhaust sytem needs to be correctly sized to not move more exhaust out of the engine than what air/fuel is moved into the engine.
If zero back pressure was optimum then heads would not be designed with larger intake valves over exhaust valves. Almost all street or strip designed heads have larger intake valves and runners vs. exhaust valves and runners.
When I was racing my Camaro I found that it ran much better with a header pipe off the collector vs. straight off the collector open. Yes, I could have jetted the carb large enough to overcome the lack of back pressure, but all I would have accomplished was using more fuel to get equal performance.
If this will be a street only car, then I'd plan on either free flowing exhaust, or straight pipes that are internally baffled. Depending on what engine, you can go either 2.5" or 3" exhaust.
As for the year, if it's going to be highly modified, then the year hardly matters. You can build whatever you want from the most reasonably priced donor Camaro. There's a pretty neat '89 with a blown 502 running around town here that I see at cruises in the summer.