I have a 3.4 Camaro project I'm working on. As long as I'm already doing a lot of work on the car, I want to take it a step further. I plan on doing a cold air intake and performance exhaust to boost horsepower (granted I'm still not going to get much out of a 3.4). I also want to replace my brakes (rotors and calipers) and work on the suspension. My only problem is I don't know where to start looking for parts. I need to know what brands to look for--best price/performance value, most reliable, etc. I also would like to try to trim some weight if I can, so I would like to know some simple, painless ways to do that. Thanks

 

Get the basics done first: Headers, full cat-back exhaust, high flow cat, and a CAI. From there you can change the rear gears, swap in a v8 rear with disk brakes and posi. For suspension, that really depends on what the car is going to be used for, and how hard it'll be used. There's a huge difference between street friendly, auto-x, and drag. For street, I would get a set of kyb gr2 shocks all around, stay on the stock springs, get a WS6 or SS 32mm hollow front sway bar, and get a 19mm rear bar. The balance is very nice. For something on the corners, I would get a set of Sam Strano's Bilstein Shocks (different than what summit/jegs/etc sells), Strano lowering springs, same sway bars, and moog solid rubber LCA bushings. Drag I would go for qa1 shocks all around, stock springs, body-mounted torque arm, and the moog bushings. For sway bar links/bushing, I highly recommend Spohn polyurethane pieces, the quality and price is very good.

Don't let yourself think the 3.4 is a slug, it only is when stock. Give it a top swap, a few other goodies, and I guarantee you that you will be impressed. The 3.4's have an edge over us 3.8 guys because of the readily available aluminum high-flowing heads that are on other cars already. Cheapest set for us is ~$2200, you can get yours in a wrecking yard.

 

You can get a cheap brake upgrade by getting a set of 12" rotors off a 98-up. the calipurs are duel piston. I knew a guy with LS1 that upgraded his brakes to the Bimba system and he said it was really not that much better.

Also you might want to think about the close ratio rack & pinion that came in the RS's.

Thanks Jazz Man, I will keep an eye out for those sway bars

 

Thanks guys. The car actually already has a Z28 rear end and disc brakes (long story). The car will be a daily summer driver, but I would be ok with sacrificing a little bit of comfort for better handling, so I would probably want an auto-x setup. The biggest reasons I want to overhaul all that stuff is because the guy that had it before me didn't take very good care of it, and as long as I'm already doing a lot of work on it, I figured I might as well.

So how much will some of this stuff cost? I'm kind of short on cash (but aren't we all? internships are great, but lack of pay still sucks). I hope to get this thing on the road by the end of the summer, and if I do, I'm considering doing some work on it when I get back to school this fall.

 

what can i get those heads off.. and will i notice a differnce when i put them on and what all is needed for the swap thanks??

 

email this guy, click contact us for his e-mail: http://www.60inclusive.com/

Tell him musicman on ftv6 sent you. Just ask him what your asked here, he sells the full kits too I believe.

 

I got my sway bars out of the wrecking yard and from another forum, spent about $80 total on them. Bushings will very where you buy, strano bilsteins are rather expensive (next best is koni shocks, now THOSE are spendy)

 

I probably won't do the heads...too much money and too complicated. Where can I get the cat and for how much? I'll probably just do the CAI and exhaust for the foreseeable future. Those I can probably easily do at school if I decide to bring it.