Another Newbie Here - Just joined the forum a day or two ago. I am in the Willard, Missouri area. I have always had fox body mustangs in the past. I have never been a die hard Ford/Chevy/Dodge/etc guy, I just truly like anything that looks good and runs good. I sold my last Mustang about 3 years ago, and recently I decided I wanted another fun car to play with. So, earlier this week I bought a 1986 IROC-Z (I grew up in the 80's and when I was a kid, I always said I wanted an IROC one day) - but I haven't actually taken delivery on it yet. I drove up near Davenport, Iowa to look at the car and bought it on the spot. Didn't have a way to get it home myself, so I am having an auto transport company take care of getting it home for me. I hope it arrives in one piece... Hopefully it will come in a week or so. But Ill try to attach some photos here - I have some plans for it. It is in great condition overall - 60,000 original miles. I'll probably drive it as-is for a little while as I am saving money, but eventually id like to pull the original 305 Tuned Port and replace it with something that makes more power. So I will soon have lots of questions for all of the Camaro / Chevy experts on here. Coming over from the Ford world of things, I am obviously well behind the curve on knowing about the best engine and trans combinations that work in these cars. I think I would be happy with something in the neighborhood of 500-550 HP- something that is nice and street-able, but will also be fun to make some quarter mile passes with at the local track. I'm leaning more toward an LS for the reliability and tunability, but I'm guessing I could probably save a little money if I went with a carb setup on a more basic platform.. I'll save detailed questions for later, but if anyone wants to chime in and throw out some good suggestions on engine and trans combinations, I would enjoy reading them, and it will probably give me some things to consider and think about while I am saving up some funds for the upgrades. I think I would like to stick with an automatic transmission. I understand the stock 700R4 is probably not going to cut it, and may not even be usable for anything over 350HP. I know there are kits to toughen up the 700R4, but it still probably wont be enough..? Anyway, I look forward to becoming acquainted with the forum and anyone that wants to chit-chat. Thank you!

 

Almost a shame to swap a clean stock low miles example like that,note that I said "almost".
LS power is where it's at these days,not only reliable but great gas mileage as well.
Since it's a good running car and you can drive it as is for however long needed I'd stick with an LS swap plan.
Everything you need is available and LS engines aren't hard to come by these days.

 

Hi, sorry for my long delay - I appreciate your reply. Yes I agree its almost a shame to swap out the stock drive train when it is functioning as it should. Since my original message, I have kind of decided to just fix up the car the best I can first and make it the best driver (and looker) I can, and enjoy it as it is. Maybe a few years down the road I will move forward with the LS swap idea.

 

Welcome to the club, and nice ride indeed.
You can swap out the 305 for a 350 as everything, bracketry, all other external items to the long block, will bolt on and the OBD 1 ECM will adapt to the bigger cubes.
Might be cheaper and more rewarding.

 

Hi, thank you for the kind word and for your suggestion on the car! I actually thought about just putting a fresh, mildly modified 350 in there and keeping the TPI on it. It would definitely be something that could be done without breaking the bank - and might satisfy the need for a little more power for a while until I can save up enough money to go the LS direction..