BAK12484

Well finally after an agonizing week of waiting, I got my camaro. Besides having rust around the wheel wells and under the GFX, the rest of the car is in good shape (needs some new weather striping, etc..). I was wondering if anybody could give me a HP estimate on it - the guy said its around 330, but he never had it dyno'ed...heres the specs:

1990 Camaro RS

350 (5.7 Liter)
- New block, bored .030 over
- Keith Black flat-top pistions 9.5:1 compression
- New rods, crankshaft, bearing, and piston rings
- New high pressure oil pump
- Crane cam .427 lift and 270 degree duration (mild)
- New timing chain
- New harmonic balancer
- Head and valve job
- New high pressure fuel injectors
- 2 barrel throttle body injection
- Bosch platinum spark plugs
- Split fire 8mm wire kit
- New delco distributor cap and rotor
- New battery
- New fram fuel filter
- New fan switch
- New 180° thermostat
- New knock sensor
- New MAP sensor
- New oil pressure sending unit
- New temperature sending unit & sensor
- Edelbrock 14" chrome air cleaner
- New radiator and heater hoses
- New serpentine belt

Turbo 700 R4 tranny w/ Overdrive
- B&M 2000 stall high performance torque converter
- TCI stage 2 shift kit
- Corvette servos
- Corvette drums and bands

if anybody could give me an HP estimate i'd much appreciate it. Also, if you have some recommendations on what i can do to gain some more performance outta it (speed junkie ) please let me know. I am first going to take care of the rust as winter is coming (tho i won't be driving the car until spring). I am planning on getting hooker super comp headers and new exhaust... what part #'s for the hooker super comps? And should i do straight back exhaust, or do a cat back? if so which company?
Any other suggestions??
Thanks for all the help, and i'm looking forward to finally owning a camaro

SoCo80p

iTrader: (5)

i would say about 250-300 at the flywheel

RB83L69

That looks alot like a stock 350 TBI truck motor, which was good IIRC for about 225 HP or so.

Most of the stuff in your list of engine parts is ordinary, run-of-the-mill, non-performance parts; the things that make an engine produce more power than it would have made in stock configuration would include better-flowing heads, a better camshaft than that one, a decent intake, headers, and a cat-back exhaust system. Anybody who would rebuild a motor without putting in certain of the things in your list (oil pump, timing chain, radiator hoses, fuel filter, etc.) would be an idiot; those things don't qualify as "mods", they're repair parts.

I'd say you have 230 crank HP at most, or about 190 RW HP.

My recommendations for more power would start with the exhaust, as you mention. That's a wise first step. My recommendation would be a good cat-back, since you never know when you might find it necessary to pass an emissions inspection (you might even move to CA, who knows?). The next thing would be to put a decent cam in it; look for something with intake .050" duration in the 218° and "advertised" duration no greater than 268°, and as much lift as you can get; a Comp XE262H would be a good choice for the rest of that motor, and would make a significant difference over the one you've got. The combo of headers, a good exhaust, and that cam should put it near 260 HP.

The next thing you need to do is figure out what heads it has. If they're the stock 350 TBI heads, you need to get rid of them ASAP; they have the "swirl-port" restriction lumps in them, which limit flow so severely that no amount of changing any other parts will matter beyond a certain point.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

BAK12484

thanks for all the help... yeah, as much as i wanted to believe it, i kinda knew he was BS'in when he said around 3-330 HP. However, it is a good project car to start off with, i think... i'm only 16 (17 in another month) w/ not that much car knowledge - so this would be a good car for my dad to teach me stuff on. How much do you guys think I could get this motor up to (w/o NOS)?? considering i take my time to get it all done?

As for the exhaust, can anyone help me in gettin the numbers for the hooker super comp headers?? And do they come coated at all & w/ a y-pipe? Also, do you recommend a hooker cat-back? (IMO, i think flowmaster is overrated). Thanks again

CloudZRoc

Try goin with the SLP Headers I hear there the best for Headers on our cars...

Mark A Shields

Without a doubt go with the Hooker cat-back. Sounds mean plus I definately noticed a power gain. There is a sound clip of it on the exhaust board somewhere.

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"Putting any amount of money into a RICE BURNER is like wiping your a$$ with a turd. "
'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
3" Hooker CatBack w/Aero Chamber muffler
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi
Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

Matt87GTA

The Hooker Super Competition headers can be ordered directly from Summit (or pretty much anywhere else) already coated (Hooker part number 2210-1, $569.95 from Summit, coated). They do not come with a Y-pipe and there is no way to make a Y-pipe for it that will go to the stock location without introducing a severe restriction into the exhaust. Mufflex sells a Y-pipe for the Hooker SCs and it can be ordered with an O2 sensor bung welded to it already ($275). Or you can have a Y-pipe made for it. The Mufflex Y-pipe has dual 3" Y 'legs', that match the 3" collectors of the Hooker SC headers, and it combines into a 4" collecter behind the transmission. At that point you may want to get Mufflex's cat-back that is made to work with their Y-pipe to make it all come together nicely. They sell a 4" cat-back with a Spintech muffler that has a 4" inlet and dual opposite side 3" outlets. If you use a different cat-back, you might have to do some cutting and/or welding to get it to fit right. Although I think the Flowmaster cat-back might work if you get a 4" to 3" reducer.... Not sure.... There are pictures of the Y-pipe on the exhaust message board and on Mufflex's website (here's a link to some pics of the Y-pipe, look near the middle of the page for it http://www.mufflex-performance.com/new.html )

That setup, of Hooker Super Comp 1 3/4" primary headers with 3" collecters and 3" Y-pipe legs, into a 4" cat-back, is hands down the best exhaust setup for our cars. It is also around $900 for coated headers and the Y-pipe alone. Then tack on another $300 to $500 for a cat-back, and you are talking about one expensive-a$$ed exhaust system. Not to mention it is no where near emissions legal....

If emissions are an issue for you, or the cost factor is a problem, the SLP 1 3/4 shorty headers are very nice as well (around $400 depending on group purchase status and discount(s) status) and will support well over 400 hp. They come with a Y-pipe and can be ordered with the A.I.R pipes to remain emissions complient. They also connect to the factory catalytic converter. Add a high-flow converter and a nice cat-back (Flowmaster 3", approx. $300) and you will still have enough exhaust to support some big power and retain the emissions equipment (if needed) and the factory style mounting locations.

Hope that helps.

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1987 GTA L98 MD8
355, TFS Heads, LT4 Hot Cam
My GTA

The Minnesota F-body Club

JPrevost

For your information, if you're still running stock TBI then I'll put money down that it's not making more than 240hp at MOST. Reason I know this...hmmm...because TBI with the 350 injectors and stock ecm will run you lean under WOT if you have any mods like bump stick etc.
Definatly consider one of the following choices, one being more time consuming but more rewarding, you figure that out.
1) Go with a carb after you do exhaust work and cam swap.
2) Keep TBI, get into custom eprom burning for $300 (price of a good carb) and take the time to program your own eproms. There is even free software that will speed up the eprom burning process for our cars (8746 ecm). It's basically copy and paste and it'll give you a great fuel curve. I highly recommend you stay with TBI if you have this as a daily driver and keep it under 300hp. If you go above 300hp (after heads, cam, exhaust, and intake) you'll probably want to get a 2" TB unit from Holley for like $200 on ebay. I kept TBI and I'm SO glad I did.
Carb is definatly easier to make power. Tuning can be done fast and easy. TBI requires a the right tools to get it all done. Hope to see you over on the TBI forum and your first mod should be this: Adjustable fuel pressure regulator. It's in the tech articles on the home page.

Z28DJP1987

HP estimate?? Try checking it on a dyno first
before any additional Mods. My opinion.

BAK12484

first off, thanx everyone for your help

as for the exhaust... im in michigan and we dont have any emmissions laws, and i can really give a damn about polluting mother nature w/ my car.... and im only 17 so im not moving to another state where'd i have to worry about emissions. I think i'm gonna try and get a price to do a custom exhaust, leaving out the cat...i may even go straight back from the headers, but im not sure where i'd mount two mufflers - so it really depends on clearance and money

second... the car is carbed....what kind i dunno really. Next time i see my car i'll try to find out (storing it in my grandma's garage for the winter...still dont' have insurance on it). I'd eventually like to get a holley carb when i get some money.

and lastly...thing about getting it tested on a dyno first is that i haven't found a shop around here that has a dyno (tho cant say i've searched really hard)...and really dont have the money to spend to test it... anyone recommend that G-Tech thing that supposedly measures HP, 0-60, 60-0, 1/4, etc..

thanks again, i appreciate it