Need Some Good Advice On What To Do With My 82 Camaro

[brettmcl89]

i just recently bought an 82 z28 with a 350. its got edelbrock goodies but other than that nothin major. now my buddy has a 67 mustang an he's puttin a crate 302 in it im not to sure but i kno its rele torquey an has decent hp. both of my buddies are big ford fans an they almost have me convinced that my car cant beat his. now heres the question. can my camaro beat the stang with the 350 w/o forced induction of any sort an still remain street legal? wat can i do to this engine? they keep tellin me that i wont no matter wat unless i superchage turbo etc...there has to be a way someone help me cuz im not losin to a ford..!

[Morley]

it all depends on what your engine has in it. You say it has a 350, but those cars came with a 305, so it is not stock. What "goodies" does it have? I have a 350 in my 85 IROC and I KNOW that no 302 crate engine is going to come close to me.
If you had the Edelbrock heads, a good cam and their intake & carb and were pushing 9.5:1 or better CR I'd say they are just trying to intimidate you, you'd take him.

[MrPbody]

Many Mustang owners have illusions of granduer... A supercharged 302 can handle a stock 350. A normally aspirated one cannot. 350 Chevy is the most popular performance engine on the planet and for a lot of good reasons. Perhaps your buddy's crater is a 347 or 331, too, just LOOKING like a 302.

Craters are vastly overrated, too. On a daily basis, we hear about craters and how they're supposed to make X HP. We usually find them making X-20%. That includes the Chevys, so don't get too puffy. A professionally built "custom" engine will STOMP most craters unless you're talking about an Eagle or Dart or something (BIG $$). The factory stuff simply can't hang with a well-built custom. You may save a few bucks, but there's no "free lunch".


Morely's correct, '82 had 305. It was either a 4-bbl "feedback" (computer interfered with) or CrossFire injected. Neither are as good as the traditional "high rise, Holley and a cam" setup. A well-built 350 should easily make 400-plus HP (GBHP) on 93 octane. Verify the casting numbers on the block and heads. We can tell you if it really is a 350, or a 305.

Jim

[brettmcl89]

hey guys thanks for the advice. um as for the goodies its got a 700 cfm 4 barrel edelbrock carb, edelbrock intake, edelbrock exhaust (which is junk completely ruined piping is kinked to hell) dont know what brand name but it has after market roller rockers, cam, im not sure if the heads are edelbrock but i can check, hurst short throw shift kit on the four speed tranny and a clutch kit but i dont know the brand name on that either. oh an i already got the casting codes checked at the chevy dealer just to make sure an its a 350. it was a donor that was pulled out of an 81 z28. i was thinking about changing the 4 speed tranny to a 5 speed or one of the 6 speed racing trannys from summit or something. bad or good idea?

[Morley]

Originally Posted by brettmcl89

hey guys thanks for the advice. um as for the goodies its got a 700 cfm 4 barrel edelbrock carb, edelbrock intake, edelbrock exhaust (which is junk completely ruined piping is kinked to hell) dont know what brand name but it has after market roller rockers, cam, im not sure if the heads are edelbrock but i can check, hurst short throw shift kit on the four speed tranny and a clutch kit but i dont know the brand name on that either. oh an i already got the casting codes checked at the chevy dealer just to make sure an its a 350. it was a donor that was pulled out of an 81 z28. i was thinking about changing the 4 speed tranny to a 5 speed or one of the 6 speed racing trannys from summit or something. bad or good idea?

The bad news is that the 81 Camaro engine was only rated at around 185 hp stock. And it had a weak 8.2:1 compression.
If you have an aftermarket cam, intake and carb I would guess your HP to be somewhere around 225-250. Now if it has a good lumpy cam and has aftermarket or ported stock heads with larger valves you could be a bit over 300 hp (semi mild cam) to near 400 HP (more radical cam).
the transmission is up to you but if it were me I'd sink the money into more engine.
A good set of aluminum heads with chambers small enough to raise the compression to 9-9.5:1 (something with 58 cc or 64 cc chambers). A good dual pattern cam (Lunati Voodoo cam or the like) a set of
Hooker headers (or equal) a good flowing dual exhaust with at least 2.25" pipes. Don't buy an aftermarket ehaust. You can run pipes straight from the headers back to the area just in front of the axle and put 2 turbo mufflers there. Then have some pipes made to go from the mufflers, up over the axle and out to the stock location for tail pipes.
Withthat set up and what you already have, I'd guess at going on 400 HP (350-400)