The Camaro Club (UK)

looking for a bit of advice im looking to get a bit more power out of my 5.0 305 tbi engine in my 1991 camaro not looking for anything daft just a bit more grunt

i plan on fitting a 5.7 next year so not wanting to spend a fortune on this engine

current mods

smog control removed
a/c removed
open air filter
cat back borla exhaust

cat will be removed in the next few weeks along with a full service


ideas please

Well theres loads of info on thirdgen.org on how to make extra power from your 5.0. Heres a few ive done

Bump up the timing, stock is probably set to zero or worse, when idle should be advanced maybe 4-10 degrees it depends on engine.
Helpful to have a diagnostic scanner so you can see if your getting knock, the ecm will retard the timing if that happens but its a good idea to avoid it.

Larger airbox, theres twin snorkle air boxes around, mine came off a dodge ram from the states was cheap and i knocked of 0.5 seconds of my 0-60 with it. Have the 1/4 mile times to prove it and was consistant as well.

Cooler thermostat, these cars came with a 195 stat thats way to high, go for a 180, 160 is too low really.

Finally and most important is the exhaust, i havent worked on my yet since i want to rip the whole thing off and go stainless. I have the headers i just dont have a garage i can work on for months to weld up the pipes. Some magazine managed to gain around 60-70 hp and torque from just changing the exhaust to long tube headers and a 3" pipe.

If you havent bought it i wouldnt bother with a 350 really a 305 you can make over 400hp with decent parts on them. Theres a racing league in the state that does just that, standard block and crank just has aluminium heads, intake and a decent cam.

Case is a 5.7 is a bit small, really not going to see much difference, unless u make it into a 6.6.

If want more hp just go mad like me and get a 7.4l

thanks for the cracking advise

i havent bought the 350 and from what im reading wont need to either

regarding the headers i have looked into these but all the ones i have seen say they wont fit injection heads is this just down to the smog control pipe work or are the heads different to non fuel injection

i really would like a nice set of headers and y pipe to join up to my borla system

Yeah its do with the smog pipes on the manifolds you dont really need these to pass emissions since its before 92. Long tube headers give the largest gain something like 20hp over the shorter ones. Also a 1 3/4 tube can be an advantage over 1 5/8 depending on whats been done to the motor.

Dont wrap the headers that will make them fall apart in short time and if you want to last its a good idea to get ceramic coated ones. You can get them coated at a later date but its really expensive to do that in uk compared to the states.

Think alot of y pipes are custom, dont know off the top of my head. Do borla make headers as well?

borla do headers for a couple cars just not mine iv already tried them

the smog system has already been removed from mine made the bay look less cluttered and made no difference to how it runs

y piece not a problem to get made as i want to remove the cat anyway so was going to put car into longlife to get pipes made

can you recommend anyone to get the headers from

Well to buy parts from distributors is pricy in uk, its nearly always cheaper to import them from the states, at least thats my experience. Probably even u buy from uk its not going to be in stock i wouldnt have thought, so ur have to wait till it comes from the states plus pay more so why?!

Ive used summit racing, they have most parts and you can search by vehicle so it makes it easy plus they ship to uk. Theres also Jeggs but they wont ship to uk so ud have to mail forward it from them. Theres a few other places but summit racing has everthing and they helpfully send u a catalogue to dribble over as well

As for the pipe themselves heres what id go for in the mild steel range:

Hooker headers long tubes 1 3/4" primaries and i think its a 3" collector

http://www.holley.com/2210-1HKR.asp

Hedman do a 1 5/8" primaries and also as far as i know a 3" collector part number 68468

http://www.hedman.com/Ultra-Duty-Street-Headers

Theres stainless ones as well depends what u want to pay, still be a good idea to have ceramic coat, otherwise engine bay tends to cook!

http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/

Have a nice selection if your loaded

i need deeper pockets for some of there stuff would these be worth a punt

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEDMAN-68470- ... 822wt_1037

Yeah they arent bad but these are same thing in stainless for less bones:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/82-92-Chevy-Cam ... d5&vxp=mtr

Going to last longer for sure and nice and shiny

Woolfe are based near me and so are usautomotive, they are great for small items i need in a hurry otherwise like i said
its cheaper from the states by a long shot.

Dont bother with hedman headers they are a rubbish fit, hookers are better for the money. We are suppliers for stainless works headers which are the best you can get but are expensive but are the only longtubes you can get for a TPI. 1 3/4" is a bit big for the 5.0.
And the cheap stainless headers on ebay will fall apart quickly they are chinese copies they look great but are made of too thin a material.
Its better to spend the money and not have to replace again in the future.
I can probably better any price you can get bits for once you have to pay for duty and VAT.

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