mptank

Hello there ThirdGen.

I've been reading through these forums for years now for misc. issues people have answered, but only now have I decided to get an account and come out of lurker land, so hello :].

My most recent beauty (an 88 Camaro) had an engine compartment fire (fuel line came detached from the carb.. wasn't pretty) and is restore-able, but all hoses, jugs, wiring harnesses, etc were completely lost [read: melted]. Aside from buying entire chassis' with blown drive trains to rob parts off of, would anyone know of a good place to get these parts (after market is fine) that wouldn't cost more than buying an entire non functioning chassis to rob parts from? The car wasn't stock, there wasn't much there at all (no A/C pump, none of the smog things, etc.. just engine and bare essentials), but I am having trouble finding reasonably priced parts to restore the engine compartment.

Now, that is going to be a lot of work-- a very long project for me. I've decided to park that car for now until I get the parts to start working on it. So here is my more important current issue:


I have an 86 TA that I *believe* has a blown head gasket, it would get a bit hot and I couldn't drive it much. Prior to that, it needed the fuel injectors cleaned and shortly afterward (~1k miles) it started to develop the heating issue. I parked the car (so it never did get too hot and ruin) and due to circumstances at the time I had no time to work on it. It has been sitting in the garage for 5 years now, and I'd really like to get the car on the road again. The car has a sentimental value to me and I intend to keep it, and I'd hate to see it just sit there.

So here is my real question: Is there anything that comes to mind as to what could possibly be the issue if it isn't what I suspect (head gasket)? The engine is a 5.0l TPI LB9 V8. The engine itself has never had a rebuild and is sitting at around ~140k miles-ish. I was considering yanking the engine and doing a complete rebuild on it since it had so many miles and original parts, and I'd like to drive it for a while before issues start cropping up again.

If I were to go the rebuild route, what parts would you swap out on a stock TPI LB9 for better performance? I've heard the cam shaft ("peanut cam") weren't very great in those and should consider putting a better one in. What else would you do to get the most performance out of this LB9? I have several thousand dollars to put towards doing this, but frankly I have no clue what needs to be done to get the most bang for the buck of out this LB9. I was considering possibly converting it to carb, then boring it to a 350 (5.7l), but I'm no expert at all, so I was hoping you experts here can help point me in the right direction as to what I may be able to do/buy/swap to this stock LB9 to get the most out of it.

I really love this car, I'd really like for it to be the loud rough idling muscle car I know it can be. Thank you for taking the time to read, any advice at all would be appreciated. I intend to make this "that one fast car" every F-Body owner has that they wont depart with, no matter how much the wife hates it :].


** Please forgive me for any mistakes or misconceptions I may stated/posted-- the only cars I know well are 3rd gen F-Bodies and I never was an engine guy, I can rebuild them but know little little about performance.

rusty vango

a better cam (comp cams website will point you in the right direction) ported heads. a edelbrock base/intake. their runners are good too. and if you can stomach it, headers and a free flowing exhaust. after this look at getting a custom chip burned to maximize your up grades. these things will wake it up nicely.

OrangeBird

iTrader: (1)

On the TA , at the risk of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" , Why would you consider any moves without first having troubleshot the issue ? You said it kept getting too hot and that you never let it get so hot as to be damaged . Great ! ... You also said you never looked at it and just parked it . This could be anything wrong from the simplest stuck/failed thermostat to the most fatal cracked block , but till ya troubleshoot it why would you jump straight to the "replace engine" step if your needing to get one of these two running quickly ? Were this mine to diagnose I'd follow standard protocols of overheating troubleshooting starting with an inspection of the cooling system including a pressure test and so on . Of course , if you ARE hell bent on the Tim Allen "MORE POWER !!!!" thing with it , maybe best to concentrate on one car only , sell the burnt one to offset some of the costs of the bigger engine (and it's bigger gas bills) and do up the TA right . Either way , I don't see the practicality of attempting to restore two cars at the same time unless your incredibly wealthy and have time aplenty to divide between two projects

mptank

Hello Rusty Vango. A Comp cam was something I've heard before would be great in these, although there are 3 types available (1900-5600 RPM, 2200-5900 RPM, 2500-6500 RPM) -- I suspect I'd be wanting the 2200-5900 RPM in this application for highway/interstate usage? Thank you for the suggestion on the Edelbrock runners, I never thought to even check if they made them. As far as getting the computer reprogrammed, is this something I'd have to get custom done based on the mods? Or are there better aftermarket/generic ones to swap the original with? Doing the general mods you suggest, do you think it'd be worth it to machine it to 5.7l, or do you believe the preformance gain wouldn't be worth the hassle?


Hi OrangeBird. I'd done some troubleshooting with it around the time I noticed it starting to develop issues. It would start, then a few minutes later idle really rough for a few moments (giving it fuel would cause it to die), then recover and the car would be fine again until next time it was started. Sometimes during its rough idles it would die completely and could only be restarted again by holding down the accelerator and turning it over several times in a row to get it started back up (sometimes it'd take several minutes). Shortly after around the time this started happening the car would get hot, which lead me to believe there may be a head gasket issue. I can't remember if I tried replacing the thermostat or not, and checking the pressure is a very good idea. I think I did replace it, I found a receipt for one as well as a radiator cap in the console from around that era..

These two issues may be related, but at the time I was working 60 hours a week couldn't afford to sink any amount of time into it, and now that it has been sitting for 5 years I'm afraid it will develop more issues shortly after fixing the original problems just due to sitting and having not ran in so long. I was considering a rebuild just because of the miles on it and how long it had been sitting. I don't mind getting stranded along side the interstate once every couple years, but I'd really hate for that to happen every couple months, hehe. But you are correct, I should probably just fix the issues at hand first and get it going again then worry about an overhaul later.

I'm not necessarily intending on getting as much power as I can out of it if/when I do the rebuild, but I would like to get as much power as possible without spending more than a 2-3 grand on the entire project. Just a nice little rubber laying street rod with a respectable amount of HP, but I'd like to do it right as you said. It doesn't need to run immediately, but I don't want it to turn into a year long project either.

I've considered selling the burnt one, but I'd get so little for it in that condition. I figured if nothing else, it could be used as a parts car for the TA in the future since they share a lot of the same parts. I'd hate to part it out and would rather eventually get it back on the road, but who knows. You are correct though, it isn't practical for me to tackle both of these projects at once. The Camaro will have to take the TA's spot in the garage for possibly several years before I even begin to work on it.

Thank you both for your excellent advice, thirdgen.org is the only place I know of where one may find experts like yourselves on these matters. I sincerely value your input :].


Any additional ideas, thoughts, or suggestions on which direction I should take this would be greatly appreciated :].