I recently got a '79 Camaro z28.

I had it for 2 weeks, only drove it once and bought $4,800 worth of engine and parts to upgrade it.

Here's what I bought, hope you all like...

GM 350 cid crate block
-LT1-LT4 connecting rods
-4bolt mains
originaly made 240hp with 208/212 cam@50 on 8.4:1 compression with production iron 72cc heads.

Comp Cam - 226/234 @50 498/501 lift

Vortec Heads - stock with fast burn style 64cc combustion chamber. with copper head gasket pushes compression to 10.2:1

full roller rockers- aluminum self guiding

intake- Edelbrock performer-rpm air gap

carb- Edelbrock 750cfm vacuum secondaries (not emmisions legal )

ignition- Mallory distributer with vacuum and electronic advance. Hypertech 54,000 volt coil, 8.8mm race wires

exaust- Afterburner tri-y torque step headers hooked to full 3" full dual exaust

Moroso high flow, low resistance waterpump.

fluid damper

Edelbrock timing gear set

setup for electric fans (mechanical fans rob 12-30hp).

Summit - high torque mini starter

chromoly pushrods

Jegs TH-400 Street Strip tranny

B&M Nitrous Holeshot 3000rpm stall converter

I'd guess horsepower estimate is 420-450hp. torque-??? but ill tell you it probably has alot.

Need to get a dyno run on it.

Hope you like my '79 Camaro setup

 

Here are a few pictures of car, and engine.

Old Pictures









New Pictures





New Engine

 

First off, welcome to the board. I hope you enjoy your new toy.

I'll make a couple of quick recommendations on the combo, if I may. First off, it's a basically sound combination. You may wish to pay some extra special attention to the valvetrain and heads, however.

1. I wouldn't use copper head gaskets. They're known leakers on the street. I know people who have pulled their hair out trying to use them. Some of the newer ones that have captured o-rings and such I'm told are much better, but the older ones that are just a flat sheet of dead-soft copper are for the birds. Never ever use them on the street. An alternative is the GMPP .028" composite head gaskets. They keep gasket volume relatively low but they seal up dead-bang every time and they're relatively inexpensive ($30 a set). I have been using them for the last year on several engines including my current blown 383 torque monster.

2. Stock Vortec heads are very lift-limited. In stock form the retainers will slam into the valve guide seals at only about .470" lift. And I mean they WILL hit, not maybe. You have to get the guides machined down to open up clearance to at least .050" more than your maximum cam lift. There's plenty of meat to machine them down to give you .600" clearance, which will be more than you will probably ever need. Also, the springs supplied with the Vortecs are too weak for a performance cam. You want to use the springs recommended for your chosen cam AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE INSTALLED AT THE PROPER INSTALLED HEIGHT. Valve float at a relatively modest RPM will be the result if you don't. Scoggin Dickey (SDPC2000.com) can sell you Vortecs already upgraded like this OR you can have your local machine shop do work to give you similar results on your current heads. The springs recommended for your cam are still 1.25" diameter just like stock so extensive machining and different retainers/locks are not required to get you where you need to be.

When all's said and done you'll be around 400HP at the flywheel with all the accessories and exhaust bolted on. Don't be disappointed. I'm talking 400 REAL HP here- not magazine hype numbers. A Z-06 makes 400 flywheel and you know how fast they go, right? You won't go that fast but remember your car is much heavier and the drivetrain is less efficient than a Z-06. And a little shot of nitrous on top of that (wink, wink) will definitely even the score at the dragstrip!

 

Thanks for the tips. I'll defintly get the work done. I tought the Fast Burn Vortecs would take the punishment...

About the head gaskets, I used that red gasket contact spray for copper head gaskets to make a better seal that contact spray makes it bond better. So far no leaks, not on my first old engine, and so far not on this block.

I guess I've been lucky so far. Plus when I blew the head gasket on 4 banger iron duke I used a copper head gasket and it didn't leak. I always thought was SHT

I had some racing nut tell me, "Use spray paint for a gasket."
He does this on his dragster all the time. But he rebuilds it like every week, so he can afford to tear an engine up.

I think there are multi layer copper, the thickness is .030 but they are like mega waffer thin.



I know a little about making power, but not everything that I need to know about the parts that I need to use. This is my second build with no real training. My sister's boy friend is tring but I think I am as stubbern as he is

I used the cam same setupon my old engine, but used old camel hump heads just shaved the top retainer caps down., but it a weind intake. So I thoughgt the vortects would be able to take the beating I was going to give with the cam.