Plans for 2012 any suggestions are welcome.

1) Transmission Mount -Duralast Part No. 2880 hydraulic
2)Motor Mount -Energy Suspension Part No. 3.1145R
3)Ignition Coils MSD Part No. 8224
4)Wireset ACCEL Performance Part No. 9045
5)Moore's Cylinder Head Part No. GMC6922 come's with valves and cone springs
6) Felpro head gasket set, Part No. HS9917PT-2

I am also looking for pistons, im not planning to bore the engine but does any one know of a real good solid performance piston set that is just plug and play no special shop or adjustments.

 

did you mean 2011

for the pistons id get forged not cast the forged are much stronger

 

no i meant 2012, lol! i seriously cant believe how my car runs for 146k, no knock or anything it runs very smooth, doesnt even smoke like most high mileage vehicles on startup. thats why im planning this for 2012. and basicconpects can you maybe give me a website or part number for the pistons pretty please thanks for the help!

 

let me ask you this... how much money do you think you can save in a year to put towards your car and what kind of mods are you planning?

 

well i want to keep my v6, nothing against v8 however if i had a z28/SS it would be broken already lol. ill probably be saving at least $1200 for 2012's project.
Im also getting new pushrods, and been reading a bunch about replacing the cam, ill probably replace that with a better one basically i want to build a stronger engine. with maybe 50 more HP

 

If you're going to get new pistons, I would get the cylinders bored out .030 over. Although, I don't know how much meat there is on these blocks.

 

im pretty sure that you can bore .030 over which is the way to go the 3.8 engine is very strong so replacing the pistons without boring is a waist of money if you do the cam i would do the whole valve train id also get new bearings all around maybe some bigger injectors a complete gasket set and the ignition system

i assume your going to pull the motor if not you might want to think about it

get the whole engine inside and out as clean as possible id also get in the engine compartment and do some good cleaning maybe some paint i also suggest painting the engine its the best time to personalize in there

then you need to hook up the suspension its a waist of HP if you cant keep control

 

i really wasnt planning on pulling the motor out but you guys might be talking me into a big project here hehe. I just wanted better heads, and replace the head gaskets and intake, i figured while the heads are off i could drop in some other pistons like the forged ones you mentioned. I dont mind pedal to the metal sometimes however, this is still my DD, im 32 and drive like grandma, ive just always wanted a camaro.
I did however do my research before buying a camaro and i didnt want the 3.4, i was looking for 93-97 style with the 3800 SII, and 5 speed. I wouldnt really know what to do with a z28 other then race it lol

 

Quick reality check. Rebuilding high miles motors is expensive. $1200 will cover the machine shop work. Your cylinders are going to be as much as .010 out of round. New rings will not seat correctly for 10,000 miles. If you do not replace your bearings and oil pump the whole thing is a waste of time. Most likely your Cranks will need to be turned because it will be out of round also. Using a roller CAM with a 150K on it is just a bad idea. One of those rollers freeze up it will take the cam and maybe the motor with it. Rods should be resized and rod and main bolts replaced. Doing a half a$$ rebuild on a high miles motor is a complete waste of money. A motor is only as good as its weakest link.

Funny part is your planing on replacing the one thing you could get away with using, I mean sure I would replace the valve springs but if the guides do not have too much slop in them you could lap in the valves replace the seals/springs and and be ready for another 100K. Used low miles heads are cheap and easy to inspect.

With a budget less then 3K your best bet is to pick up a low miles used engine and reseal it. You could also drive the car while your working on the new engine.

 

^ point taken, i could find a donor with body damage and rebuild that engine for as little as $1200 ive seen them on CL.