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ive got a 1995 camaro Z28. ive never done anything but the most basic stuff to a car but i am good with tools and good at following directions but im looking to upgrade the engine components for a reasonable price. ide like to boost the hp and torque to around 450 range. the car has a brand new factory gm auto tranny and most of the components are in decent mechanical shape. the motor has 150k miles on it butdoesnt seem to be slowing down at all. good seals(so im told) not burning oil oranything like that.i am deffinately redoing the exhaust and the intake with a new ram air hood. what else can i do that would be as or more cost efficient as doing the lt1 to lt4 changeover? or would the changeover be worth it? eventually im going to add a supercharger but i want to make it much faster without it first. Pretty much i would like to be able to burn any srt, ricer, mustang that i stop next to. i realize that there will always deffinately be someone faster but it would be nice to shut some people up. any help would be great. thanks.

 

a new cam would be good...headers, rearend gears, tune, and any other little bolt-on you can find in the aftermarket...im not possitive it will give you 450hp but im sure it will be neer there

 

sorry, old guy posting here. I assume you mean on the drag strip because otherwise, the people you "shut up", well, it might be permanently. Don't say...it will never happen. The guy typing this lost a good friend to street racing. Just knowing you have a good car MUST be enough. You don't need to show off by racing other cars on the street.

 

lt1 to lt4 wont do anything at all, you might gain 20hp to 30hp max. lt4 is more of a name than anything else.Is the car stock ? What exactly has been done to the car ?

 

to torque: nah im not into street racing. just some people i work with i want to show up. they like to take their cars to the san antonio speedway and run them there so i thought it would be fun to join them( and beat them).in all actuallity im into trucks and offroading but i want to start into cars as well. i have a 2008 tacoma 4X4 lifted and whatnot. i saw many people and a couple friends die from streetracing in high school so i know what you mean.

As for my camaro its all stock right now. and currently the cosmetics need some work because some moron broke into it a few months before i bought it and wrecked the interior.

As for bolt on things and cams and stuff like that can you be more specific. i have a rough idea of what these things are but im reletively new to it so if you dont mind breaking it down for me that would be greatly appriciated.

 

oki believe that your good with tools and all but u might want to do some reading and learning b4 tearing into an engine. then after that id look into lloyd elliot and call him up and discuss a heads cam combo or call advanced inductions and do the same. but to see all the possible gains from that u need all the bolt ons headers exhaust cai and all that then after u make the power look into some suspension and weight reduction.

 

Good to hear that it's on the strip. That is THE place for racing (unless you're a road course kinda guy)

The "basics" holds true for most cars.

First, the engine is 350 cubic inches so let it exhale better. Put on a set of long tube headers and then a free flowing exhaust behind it. if your state allows, delete the catalytic converter.

next, let her inhale better. A cold air intake is a good forst step. Then see if that's enough for you. If it's not, a larger throttle body and porting the intake would be next. Also, get a tune for premium gas. I believe some folks here suggest pcmforless.

If the performance at that point is OK, then get a set of drag radials and see how she hooks and launches at the strip. if you have an automatic tranny, get a high stall torque converter. After that, be it manny or auto, change the rear end gears. With a gear change, you may get wheel hop so lower control arms (LCA's) could be in order.


After that, the sucking sound you hear is the cash heading out of your wallet as you go for heads/cams and then back to the rear suspension.

Oh yeh, when at the strip, be sure to have as little fuel in the tank as possible. Every bit of weight loss helps.

 

ive priced a lot of the things up as follows

ported lt1 intake manifold for 200
engine programing 200
58mm throttle body350
k&n cold air intake 250
msd superconductor wires70
hooker supercomp 1 3/4 primary 3" headers 700
magnaflow catback exhaust (?) 700
2800 gm stall converter for my th350 auto tranny 200
canton oil pan 6 quart 300
MSD Ignition system890


ive found cams for around 350-400 but i have no clue as to which one to get or how to choose. im not even sure if the items ive priced above are the right ones or if there are better/more components i need. i got most of the items and prices off of jegs.com. what about new pistons? would that help any?(if i sound stupid sorry i am lol) do i need to do anything for my fuel input or new high performance spark plugs?

Thanks again

 

 

sweet thanks. but what about a high performance cam. how do i know the specs i need.

my buddy knows a guy that can really hook me up and bore the block out to 383 which will be a very nice power/torque boost. what kinds of things am i going to need to do that? which components am i going to need to smoothly complete that change?

Happy new years