1980 Trans Am build thread....oh yeah its official

[newb]

Originally Posted by Calesta

Ah, but there are HUGE gains to be made in just the heads of these old engines.

This is true. With my 390 that has stock 9.8:1 compression I found a set of unworked hipo heads to be a pretty substantial gain.

[philyphreak2127]

You guys should vote on that pole for me!

[TurboMirage]

i wouldnt be surprised if the internals were junk judging by the amount of rust INSIDE the intake manifold.

[INJEN78]

Originally Posted by TurboMirage

i wouldnt be surprised if the internals were junk judging by the amount of rust INSIDE the intake manifold.

agreed..thats bad..

[nplsdvr]

TurboMirage: I'm glad you brought up the rust again. Noob question (and I don't mean to hijack) - What do you do/can be done for something like that?

(Just trying to learn and see if something like that is worth spending money/time on.)

Thanks!

[newb]

Figure out how the water got there in the place, fix it, and make sure it cant get there in the future. Its definitly worth spending time and money on if you plan on ever runnin that particular motor again. If your just gunna scrap it, then it wouldnt matter.

[Luis998]

How's the build going?

[philyphreak2127]

the build has stalled due to no money. the rust inside the intake manifold is because the carb that I just replaced leaked BADLY. it leaked a retarded amount of gas, and let water in when the water got there. The intake manifold is being replace anyways as well as the heads hopefully soon after that. Before this car ever hits the road most if not all of this motor will have been replaced. I know the internals are still good as it started recently. before I pulled the old carb off. trust me this project has no set budget. I will replace every last part if I have to.

[philyphreak2127]

Got bored of not being able to work on the Trans Am so I started to pull the heads. I plan on replacing the head gaskets, and intake manifold gaskets as soon as I get paid next week. Next step: ARP headstuds. I am going to sand the stock valve covers down and repaint them and make them look halfway decent. I also plan on doing a minor port job on the heads, as well as port matching the new intake manifold when I end up getting it. I am hoping to push around 250-300 horses before I take a break on motor work to redo the suspension. Updates should come either later this week or the middle of next week, and they should be pretty big.
Soon to Come:
headstuds
head gasket
intake manifold gasket
intake manifold
starter
spark plug wires
headers
cat-back exhaust
new bf goodrich radial gt tires

[TurboSol256]

Save your cash and Swap 454 or swap in an LS1 Then stick your middle finger out the window and wave at the "fox bodies" behind you thats what i do in my del sol lol.

[TurboSol256]

That is a lot of cash to save though lol

[TurboSol256]

and i saw a question about puting chevy heads on a pontiac block. i dont know about that, pontiac use to make their own engines and everything like the pontiac 400. i dont think you can put chevy heads on it.

[TurboSol256]

How do you edit your posts on this forum instead of doing another post. And 383 stroker is sweet, but i would go big block on that bad boy if i were you. Nice TA by the way.

[TurboSol256]

Originally Posted by Taco15

I got a friend who built a 383 stroker in his camaro. It has less than 1k miles on it. ALL upgrades. cam,P&P, BBK throttle body,headers,valves,rocker assembly, all new forged bottom end EVERYTHING.

for sale cuz it couldnt haul the fat ass camaro fast enough. He got beat by a semi built 302 forxbody worth less than 3k.

interested? :LOL:

"every upgrade" i dont understand why ppl say this, its not a video game. plus there is not SG on that list so thats not "every upgrade" anyways. and i doubt a 302 stang beat a 383 stroker. your friend must have had like 50 subs and 25 amps in that camaro. And chevy sold ford the 302 anyways. look at a pic of a69' camaro ss on the hood it says "302" if you dont believe me.

[newb]

Originally Posted by TurboSol256

And chevy sold ford the 302 anyways. look at a pic of a69' camaro ss on the hood it says "302" if you dont believe me.

THE dumbest shit I have ever heard. The only thing the Chev and Ford 302's share is cubic inch displacement. And even then, its not the exact same.

Tip: Read the damn thread dates. And dont bump the same thread 5 times in 15 minutes, when no one else is postin in it.

[disableddan]

Good luck man! This dude I work with has an 80 or so Camaro with the t-tops and a nice 350 and it's a decent ride. Kind of shaky and creaky but it's cool. Good luck with your ride, nice lookin paintjob! And you get to start sort of from the ground up, which seems like it might be easier some times....

[double0Si]

And chevy sold ford the 302 anyways. look at a pic of a69' camaro ss on the hood it says "302" if you dont believe me.[/quote]

Swing and a miss! LMAO... Thats like saying a B16 and a VW 1.6 are the same engine.

Anyway my idea is to follow Project F-Bomb in Hot Rod Magazine (twin turbo Second Gen.) Or theres one in Popular Hot Rodding for the suspension/brakes mods. I believe theyre pulling around 1 G on the skid pad and really killing the slalom. If thats not your thing and you just want straight line speed theres about a million cubic shit-tons of info for suspension settings for that. Either way please for the love of god upgrade its brakes. Those stock ones are terrible and dont even belong on... say... a Civic

Engine wise you should go with a 5.3 out of a Tahoe or Silverado. This may sound rediculous but throw on some heads, and a cam and that stock 300HP becomes more like 475+ This has been done in hot rod a few times and theirs kits everywhere to retro-fit it in. You can snag one from LKQ for less than 1500 last time I checked. May sound like too much but build that 301 up and for the same price you'll still be pushing a boat anchor ever on the brink of explosion with less HP.

Whatever you do good luck with the build.

[double0Si]

Also no Camaro SS EVER came with a 302. Thats what the Z28s had. SS's Had the 350 and the 396.

[sevenhillsbilly]

the 302 is also a smaller version of the 327 and 350 small blocks. it is the same prinicipal of the 305 and the 350 big blocks
the 302 was the dz code motor and cranked out about 325hp

[CRX-YEM]

Originally Posted by sevenhillsbilly

the 302 is also a smaller version of the 327 and 350 small blocks. it is the same prinicipal of the 305 and the 350 big blocks
the 302 was the dz code motor and cranked out about 325hp

I think you mean 396 and 400big block as the 305 and 350 have always been small blocksThe 350, 327,302, 305, all share the same block so they are physically the same size. It's the internals that distinguish each of them. Different bore and stroke etc...

[newb]

Originally Posted by double0Si

Engine wise you should go with a 5.3 out of a Tahoe or Silverado. This may sound rediculous but throw on some heads, and a cam and that stock 300HP becomes more like 475+ This has been done in hot rod a few times and theirs kits everywhere to retro-fit it in. You can snag one from LKQ for less than 1500 last time I checked. May sound like too much but build that 301 up and for the same price you'll still be pushing a boat anchor ever on the brink of explosion with less HP.

Not a bad idea. You could also pick up an LQ4 or 9 6.0 liter for just a bit more. And in that case, if you get an '01 or newer they already have pretty nice aluminum heads. Not a bad platform at all.

[TurboSol256]

redo your research, gm sold ford its 302 design that was in the 69' camaro SS.

[TurboSol256]

Originally Posted by TurboSol256

redo your research, gm sold ford its 302 design that was in the 69' camaro SS.

im not completely sure it was a 69, but it was an ss

[newb]

No it wasnt in the SS. Ever. It was in the Z28.

History lesson. The earliest Ford 302 is a Windsor block engine. It is larger version of the 289. The 289 came out in 62 or 63. Chevs 302 came out in 67. How could Chev sell the design to an engine they hadnt developed themselves?

[TurboSol256]

yeah i just found that 67-69 z. They only made it for some Trans Am race and they had to put it in so many cars for it to be production model for them to be able to race it. but who cares the point is chevy> ford.