how do i make my engine faster for cheap?

 

i have a 1979 camaro z28 it has a 350

 

Biggest bang for the buck is nitrous oxide. On an engine in poor condition and tune, that may be more bang than buck though
A tune-up.
Performance mufflers.
Headers and true dual exhaust system.
Positraction (if yours is going, or didn't come with it)
Bigger gears in the rear end.
Beyond that, I wouldn't put any more money into your LM1, because in the long run it's better to build/buy a new engine.

 

where would i find nos

 

Your local speed shop or many online performance retailers. You can easily google it and come up with several places to find it, but as said earlier, if your engine is on it's way out, nitrous will hasten it's demise.

 

What do you have done to the car so far? Knowing this would make it easier for us to make suggestions.

 

a cam and intake swap could be done for around $300 and could add a lot of power. next could be a carburetor and headers.

 

Also depends on where you live, if you are in CA you have to smog it still.... Intake and cam seem to be the cheapest

 

If you dont have emissions

Headers with short dual exhaust, air intake set up, rear gears and posi this may need to have drag radials unless you like spinning the tires everywhere. And weight is the only free thing but to make a difference you must remove alot of it.

A good tune up and playing with jetting and timing can make a good diff but will need the track to show progress on that one.

The only cheap way to go fast is to drive someones fast car if they will let you.

 

I agree with what others are saying. Cam/intake, headers/exhaust or rear end gears are going to give you the best bang for your buck. Nitrous would do it too but it can be risky if this is an original motor with that kind of age and wear on it.

 

Gasket match the exhaust ports on the heads. A little port and polish never hurt either. I have a set of the Summit Brand Dart 2.02 / 1.60 heads and they are awesome. I also paid $525 for them new. They have gone up since

 

... exhaust cut outs is cheapest $26 a pop and about 20 hp...just dont let the emissions guy see em, he might not be happy, but they are of course ' race use only'

anyway, this is me, first rebuild the carb (go mechanical maybe?), new distributor, plugs, wires, good fuel flow/mixture then make sure you can blow it up with the new ignition components, because if your ignition sucks or your carb is decrepid then it wont matter what you do.

but, if you want good power now, then go with
distributor advance kit ( i've never seen one over $50 and you can pick up cheap ones that'll let you feel the power at the autostore for $6 and you'll feel the power increase on the butt-o-meter i'd run 32-34* @ around 3000, and see what happens)
an intake (an aluminum weiand high rise intake is good for about 20 hp on a stock motor),
headers (dump the large tube headers, without any other exhaust, probably another 20hp or more, and a ****ton of torque, so cut outs after the headers is ideal on the street),
true duals.. if you go exhaust i recommend keeping the stockish setup, just to stay emissions legal if needed, and sound police legal, but put cut outs in for when you want the all out power

then i'd go heads/cam talk to local machine shops might get em cheap, i got a set of corvette heads done up for $400, adn a cam is $100-$200 generally but until you get the heads your stock one should be fine, i mean a newer grind will make more power, but if you go cam too fast then if you replace the heads you'll want a bigger cam later anyway

now after that,rebuild the bottom end, heck, you could just put new bearings in, recondition the rods, and re-ring it, then spray the nitrous, stock i wouldnt go much over 100 though, but if you build it right spray higher.

but dont spray a tired motor, i cant tell you how many kids i've seen blow away perfectly good motors beyond salvage spraying because they didnt want to spend money, now they have to add the price of a new motor to the list,

power costs money, how much do you want?

 

if i were u i would jut order a free catalog from summit and go on from there that catalog will tell u pretty much everything u could do the camaro......

 

Do you want a "faster engine" or a faster car? Also do you want faster or quicker?

Is it an auto? What gears do you have?
Instead of just trowing money and parts at your engine then probably being unhappy when someone w/less $ in their car blows your doors off, decide what you want you car to be like. Do some research and learn what parts do what. Talk to people who have nice set ups that meet your goals. Then put yourself together a nice set up. A strong engine is only part of the equation to a good car. A good total set up is the key.

I also wouldn't do N2O unless you are sure about the internals and know something about it, or don't mind blowing your engine.

 

yea, rear gears will jump you to the next stoplight fast enough, get em for a couple hundred, stall converter will do the same... can also put smaller tires on for that extra tenth.

but for noticeable gains for little to no money, run 93 octane and advance the timing (using the power timing theory where you go til she pings) and use a cheap auto parts store mechanical advance kit. right there you'll pull noticeably harder and you have very little into it, like higher gas price and $6 parts, free labor.

but yea like he said, dont build a motor that sports no torque, but can however produce like 500 hp at 6500 rpm, and forget about your gears, your exhaust, your transmission, your tires, your suspension... the rest of the car wont let you use your motor anyway