Engine dress up kits

[Andy]

Seeing as theres quite a few third gen experts on here...

I'm getting more into fixing/doing up cars, and with the car season around the corner, I was thinking about picking up some stuff to do the Camaro with. Mainly an engine dress up kit.

How easy are they to fit? Its a '91 305 TBI with all the smog, would be nice to get rid of some of those pipes and perhaps get some bling in the form of an air cleaner and rocker covers.

Cheers guys!

[Gator]

polishing the aluminium parts goes a long way on those engines

[Big Mouse]

Isn't there someone on this forum who's done a little bit of car polishing?

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

How easy are they to fit?

Fairly easy, dependant on exact set-up . . . Smog will be more time consuming but not impossible.

Quoting: Andy

would be nice to get rid of some of those pipes and perhaps get some bling in the form of an air cleaner and rocker covers.

Get yourself a Torker II, an Edelbrock 550cfm and you're on your way . . . My Z28 used to have a 92 305ci with that set-up on a it worked nice . . . .

I'll find some pics . . . .

This was her with some shiny on.

[Gator]

his is a TBI  Dean thats a lot of work to do that

[Roadkill]

Yeah, I know . . . I just hate injection.

[Roadkill]

Mind you . . isn't the TBI "carb like" . . . I think the neck is smaller but I wonder if you could get an adapter for a standard 14" air cleaner . . ?

Just thinking out loud . . . I can't even remember how the TBI's are laid out, now.

[Andy]

As it stands it looks like this... (albeit, with a bit more oxidization)



Dean, yours is like what I mean, but does the smog stuff take a lot of work hooking it off?

Cheers for the replies guys!

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

but does the smog stuff take a lot of work hooking it off?

Not sure . . . plenty of people loose it with little or no issues.

As far as I know it all connects to the exhaust manifolds so that can all go with a set of headers (you can pick up painted headers for $150, by the way).

I'm guessing that picture isn't actually your car ?

[Andy]

Nah, its just a library one, That one is the same colour as mine thought..

Mine has a lot of white oxidation on the front of the manifold and on the top of the air filter.

What I'd like to do is make it a lot more shinier and clean, ie. not as many pipes etc. but mainly, rocker covers, air filter cover, and get rid of cold air snorkel.

[philoldsmobile]

loosing smog isn't as straightforward as people will have you think..

it may or may not run correctly (ish), but you may end up in limp home mode (depending on what you remove and what fault codes this records) You could also loose converter lock up without the computer functioning properly.  Loosing the lock up may not sound like a big deal, but your trans will run a lot hotter, and could ultimately fail..

its really a huge can 'o' worms...


BTW - cold air snorkel is there for a reason, on a hot day you can loose a surprising amount of power by removing it, why not try and track down an L69 dual snorkel air cleaner from a 305 HO thirdgen, and get it chromed? although its for a carb fed engine, it can be modified for the TBi, and works far better than any of the shiny type air filters.

[Roadkill]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

and what fault codes this records

Oh, yeah - ECU's are another thing I hate . . . mine's in the bin !

Flintstones technology 4 teh win !!!111

Some Header companies produce headers WITH all the smog gear on them . . I know it doesn't get rid off it but they'll work better and look better, too.

As philO says the snorkel has its uses but I never, personally, had intake related cold-starting (or hot starting) problems with my 305.

[Andy]

Quoting: Roadkill

Quoting: philoldsmobile
and what fault codes this records


Oh, yeah - ECU's are another thing I hate . . . mine's in the bin !

Flintstones technology 4 teh win !!!111

If it were possible would love to just strip the bay out. Technically, by the fact he owns it, its not my car lol. My dad is very understanding. Anything that needs fixing or changing, i can do.

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

would love to just strip the bay out

I've never looked back . . . First the Aircon went . . then the battery, then the heater matrix . . . then the fan motor, then most of the electrics, then the ECU . . . there's still more to go.

As I say . . I've never looked back.

[philoldsmobile]

i never had any issues with either hot / cold starting, or carb icing after ditching my stock air filter and going for an edlebrock open element in my camaro 305, but i did notice a notable loss of power against the stock filter on hot days, especially after driving through a town or road works, then opening up on a main road - the diet of warm engine bay air the carb was sucking really hurt power in this situation, quite noticeably.

on the flip side, it was noticeably crisper on a cold damp evening..

[Andy]

Love welded covers, adds that handcrafted touch.

What block is that? Is that a stand manifold?

[philoldsmobile]

as RK is offline, i'll fill in what little i know about it for him.

its an LT1 from a 94? Trans Am, not sure on the manifold, but i believe it may be a GM performance parts item.

[Gator]

Quoting: Roadkill

Oh, yeah - ECU's are another thing I hate . . . mine's in the bin !

absolutely its just a piece of electronic junk designed to keep your car on the drive for months

[Andy]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

as RK is offline, i'll fill in what little i know about it for him.

its an LT1 from a 94? Trans Am, not sure on the manifold, but i believe it may be a GM performance parts item.

Cheers boss, will go and read the thread... my bad

[philoldsmobile]

Quoting: Andy

Love welded covers, adds that handcrafted touch.

those were more hand crafted than most, despte being for that engine, the alternator clashed with the right hand cover, not a little bit either, about 15mm had to be cut out and sculpted back to allow the back of the alternator to clear!


if you look at the back of the alternator, just below the center line, you can just see the section notched out of the cover. they then got a piglet polish!

[Rocky]

Just stick a TPi motor in it. My standard (cough) 5.0 is  pushing out nearly 300bhp now EFI rules

[Andy]

Quoting: Rocky

Just stick a TPi motor in it. My standard (cough) 5.0 is pushing out nearly 300bhp now EFI rules

Haha, if I were to stick another engine, i don't think it would be just another 305.

Its not so much the motor, its just getting it looking nice under there. Very envious of all these shiny bits, where as ours is just standard..

[F Body]

Quoting: Roadkill

I've never looked back . . . First the Aircon went . . then the battery, then the heater matrix . . . then the fan motor, then most of the electrics, then the ECU . . . there's still more to go.

No heater in Florida would be fine, but fook driving around in the UK without one, did you ever find any carpet

[Roadkill]

Quoting: F Body

did you ever find any carpet

That's not a critical part at the moment as a pending job is to relocate the handbrake as the centre console is gone, now.

Quoting: Andy

What block is that? Is that a stand manifold?

It is, indeed, an LT1 (or a Gen II S.B.C) from a '93 Firebird.

The manifold is the ONLY Carb conversion (I know of, anyway) for a LT1-to-carb.
It is a GM performance part.

The valve-covers were semi-necessary as I did require additional clearance . . however they've been a b!tch from day one !