99huggerorangeZ

put in a roll cage that will stiffen the frame

proamature

to make a third gen fast, first pull the motor, trans and rearend, and replace with stuff that dosn't suck ***... like a BBC 540, th400, ford 9", and put in a complete tubular k-member, roll cage, and rear 4-link. get compression around 11.5:1 with aluminum heads, mountainous custom solid cam and spray about 300hp worth of nitrous at it. also, raplace all body panels you can with fiberglass, and get really really sticky tires.

it'll be fast, I promise.

but let it be said... it's wayyyy easier to go fast with a carb'ed setup on a high compression nitrous small block... go old school and forget all this lt-1 and ls-1 stuff if you want to be ungodly fast.

Axewhlder

Wow. Alot of good opinions here.

If I do get a 3rd gen then I was planning on swapping out the drivetrain anyway. Well, at least the motor to start. Then I'd swap things in order of which they broke.

I think it's cool as hell people are building 305's as well. You definetly dont see that much. I've always had a thing for the 327 myself. It's not that easy to find one of those laying around anymore either. Still, I think I'm going to stick with the 350. I just want to make it fast for the least amount of $$$.

Hmmm.. I few more questions...

I'm a 5 speed guy. I've had a few auto's and I dont like them. No real feel for the car. It seems 3rd gen's are damn near impossible to find with a 5 speed/v-8. I'm willing to bet 75% of them are autos. Is the transmission that comes with the 305 the same as the one that would come with the 350? How do they hold up? Would that be another part I'll be swapping out?

StealthElephant

What do you mean put a new rear in?

How does that work? How extensive is it? I have a posi rear and 3.23 gears, i know how the gear ratios work, but other then that i have no idea what i keep hearing people say replace the stock rear with a new one, how much work is involved? how expensive is it? what does it do?

ThirdGenZ28 92

I love the looks too, my favorites being 91-92s but Im a little biased Who needs and LT1 with nitrous to run 13s?? My stock L98 with a $300 SLP converter, $200 worth of Spohn suspension pieces, $300 for BFG drag radials, and maybe a total of $500 in misc bolt ons and muffler has gone 13.521 on a more than respectable 1.769 60ft and it sees 12-15k miles a year. Id say look for a 90-92 SD L98 car and for a limited budget you should turn respectable times stock and 13s(at sea level) with very little money thrown at it. I was messing with Windows Movie Maker 2 (beta) today, here's my L98 in action I just wish my best runs were caught on tape, I had to work with what I had...
Compilation

Axewhlder

Nice man. Your car is just about exactly what I'm looking for. If i had a choice I'd get T's though. Yea, I know they leak but it's the next best thing besides a convertable.

For the mods you did those are very respectable times. I'm a nitrous guy so I'd probably add a little bit to get into the low 13's high 12's. Not bad at all. You have me almost convinced to buy a 3rd gen.

Nice vid too btw.

StealthElephant

Correction, there is nothing better then T-Tops, come on now, we both know that you like being able to look up through the t's and see when the light changes green without having to shove your head up under the dash trying to grab a peak

jayman350

there are plenty of 5 speed v8s out there in 3rd gens, just don't go looking for a 350 w/ a 5 speed cause they didn't come that way from GM.... ever

if you want a standard then buy a 5 speed car and swap in a t-56 (6 speed) and that will handle all the power you can toss at it, the t-5s are fairly weak and thats why they never came behind a 350 in the 3rd gens

Stephen 87 IROC

Nothing wrong with my T-top car. No cracks anywhere in the body, at least where cracks normally occur. The floor has some wicked wrinkles in it from when I was still running a torque arm and LCA type suspension.

SFC and a roll bar stiffen up the chassis enough that you shoudn't have any problems.

I used to use the T-top shades to keep the sun from beating down on me while sitting in the staging lanes. They became a problem so I just painted the inside of the T-tops flat black. I managed to find some Lexan T-tops from a Formula to use and shave off some weight.

If you want to go with an unusual engine combination and be a real head turner, build up the 4 cylinder Iron Duke engine. There's lots of performance parts for this little Pontiac engine. You can get punch it out to 3.3L and can get over 350 HP out of it. How about having a 12 second third gen with a 4 cylinder in it?

Axewhlder

Well I already have a 4cyl that I toy with. I always wanted a v-8. There's nothing like one opening up and hearing that "v8 only" type sound. Gotta love it.

I cant believe that none of the 3rd gen Z's came with a manual. That just blows my mind. Essentially, if I want a 3rd gen with a manual and a 350, I have to swap out the whole drivetrain huh? Ugh..

ThirdGenZ28 92

Unless you can find the ultra rare 92 Firehawk yep no 350 5spds from the factory. Youll want a 5spd car and swap a 350 in or a 350 car and go with a 6spd if youre going to go thru the trouble, I like my auto w/ mild converter just fine tho...

baddest305

hey willie...glad to see im not the only "idiot" to build a 305
11.60 @115
1.58--60 ft times

SLP IROC-Z

Same here Willie, those are the exact reason why i want to keep my car a 5L, i think to many people get caught up in crate motors, large runners, huge throttle bodies and rediculas gearing.
when i bought an iroc i looked for the lightest, sturdiest and best potiential one they made. i have done less work then most people and proved that thirteens are easy to get to and a big wallet isnt what it takes. i have run a best time of 13.952 @ 97.08 in my 89 5spd 305TPI iroc. FREE MODS are where it is at in the beginning, theres just to many things GM did that restrict the TPI motors. ive done the throttle body coolant bypass, 160 stat, cut the bottoms off the air box, ac delete, emissions delete, take out the rear seats, spare tire, jack, added headers, K&N filters, dynomax exhaust, ported plenum, manual dual fans and hollowed cat.

as my buddy nick silver always says combo combo combo, u need to match parts wisely in order to get any where, all the components of the motor have to work together inorder to have full potential, nicks car will impress u, its a 1990 L98 with a reworked 700R4 slp runners, slp headers, slp exhaust, lots of suspension work and chip work and runs impressive low 13s and 104 mph! STOCK heads and cam. just goes to show that putting all that money into a motor isnt the first thing that needs to be done, suspension and free mods are first, if u cant put the power to the ground with the stock motor, how can u do it with 300HP?

third generation camaros and firebirds have LOTS of potential. if u wanna know waht ones are the "good" ones to buy, and since ur planning on drag racing, id stick to hardtop models, 89 and 90 are the best years for IROCs in the two years id buy 305 5spd or 350 automatics with the performance gears and dual cats.

tuned port injection was meant for low end and midrange power, so huge cams and massive intake runners and throttle bodies are not going to help at all unless ur bolting the tpi on a 406 small block stroker. keeping in mind the tpis low and midrange potential cams that make power in those areas will best suit it as well as heads the flow well and bump the compression up a tad, heads with 190cc intake runners will be just fine for TPI motor with a relatively stock intake. for 305s SLPs runners are a great choice with a little porting work will be better then the ASM runners or ASMs runners, a little more expensive but u dont need to do the porting work. the stock throttle body will be plentiful with the stock heads and cam a 52mm will be good for a motor with a larger cam and heads, a cam thats a little larger then stock will probably be ok with the stock throttle body as well.

good luck with ur 3rd gen, they are definitly great cars

91 F-body

My 91 camaro RS convertible has 238000 miles on it and I havn't had to touch anything major on the engine (just normal parts ie water pump alternator etc). V8/T5, although the T5 is going out but if I hadn't beat on it hard the last 30k I'm sure it would've lasted a lot longer. They don't like powershifting.

You can find extremly clean ones for so cheap, and there is such a huge aftermarket you can slap on. They can be made to handle over 1.0g's for reasonably cheap too, but if you want a car with the least amount of body flex just go with the hardtop. But then again, my convertible is pimp as hell here in cali and I get so many comments from everyone about how nice it looks.

They are easy to work on too, most everything is very accessible except the freakin heater core IMO they are the best camaros since you can have the ammenities of newer cars (power everything, cruise, great handling) with raw muscle of a built engine. I love the body style the best too. I'm trying to decide whether I want to hod rod out my convertible or just keep it a 305 cruiser and buy a 92z and trick it out hardcore. Just 1 more semester of college....

VortecZ28

Thirdgen F's have just as much potential as the fox stangs IMO.
Thirds can usually be had for cheaper than the same vintage mustang only because they are less popular than the tried and true mustangs.
Any SBC will hold it's own against an SBF. Thirdgens require a bit more work because most of it's drivetrain is weak.
The rears can be made to last into the 11's, the T5's will survive low 12's if your nice to it. same with the TH700s.
After that the cars start getting expensive