Hey, how are you classic guys doin'? Look, I need a little advice.

My 2001 already has 50,000mi+ on it and I want to put it in the garage for a while, so I'll need another car to put around in. I've been particularly interested in the last variation of the 2nd gens. Now every one tells me that stock they're the slowest Camaros ever and what not...but I've already got an LS1 so I can overlook that for now.

I love the body style the most of all the Camaros, however, and the fact that it's made of metal and all that, but what is the engine like and why is it so weak??? Why did the later 2nd gens get so slow???

Anyways, I found a '79 Z28 (with CA emissions) and I was wondering the pluses and minuses of owning this car. And what can I do to it to make it keep up with the LS1? Also, the car's interior is poopimis brown, so would it be possible to change the interior to black?

Thanks a lot guys, I am really excited about getting into this car.

BTW: The car is a 4spd manual. Thanks...

 

I have a 79 Z28 with a 4 speed and 3.73 rear end. When the car had the stock motor it wasn't what you would call fast.It worked good enough that I could beat 305 TPI 5 speed Irocs in the quarter but that really isn't saying much.As far as the car goes I love it. I love the body lines and the way everything is layed out inside the car. The only thing I don't like is highway driving with the 3.73 rear end it rev's 3000 at 60 mph and if the car you are looking at has 3.73 gears in it you will get sick of people telling you that you should shift out of second when driving in fourth on the highway.The stock motors were low on the power because of emision laws. They can be woken up with some distributor work carb tuning, headers and dual exhaust and throw in a different cam while your at it. This might not have you beating everything on the street but you will notice a big difference from what you would have started with.

 

It depends on how much you want to spend on it. I will tell you now, I ran 16s all day stock, then low 15s with just headers and duals without cats and an open scoop/K&N. A carb and intake will get around high 14s I bet, and a cam mid 14's. If you have the cash, you can get some entry level heads, and build the car up as much as you wish. After all, it's a carbed 350, the cheapest engine to mod, period!!!!!! The 4 spd will probly blow up after you make some power out of it though, so I don't know what can be done, as rebuilds don't really help a lot with those weakass T10s. Richmond makes new Super T-10's, but even the strongest one holds 375 TQ If the car doesn't need to pass emissions in your state, you can wake the car up EASILY. You might even be able to keep the T10 or buy the super t10 rated for 375 TQ if you don't want to build the motor a LOT................What exactly is the goal here? A mild car for secondary/daily driving? My car is mild enough to be a daily driver, if it didn't keep blowing up like all old cars But, basic things like a full exhaust system, carb and intake, good distributor, and maybe a small cam (if you don't want to get heads later on, or do it all at once). You can be as crazy as you want to be. It depends on the cash you want to spend. Don't make it TOO powerful if you don't want to spend a lot, you will break the T10 and the 8.5" 10 bolt, and get 10 mpg

 

In about 1975 or so, the government stepped in and made all automobile makers reduce emissions of their cars. Since this idea had never been previously done, most of the companies didn't have a full idea of what would work and what wouldn't. Anyways, as the years went on, chevy did the one thing that generally reduces emissions, and that is to reduce horsepower. This went on, until about in '83 or '84, they finally started doing things correctly, that would reduce emissions, and let horsepower stay high. So, for a '79Z28, they didn't reduce the power quite so much as they did in '81 and '82, but it's more reduced than a '78. If you go older, the cars get more powerful. Kinda weird, but it's true. So, nowdays in the 4th gen crowd, with the world being used to emissions, and what would work and what won't, they're able to have high performance vehicles, that don't pollute as much as they did back when they thought they were doing a good job. If only this sort of technology was available in 1975. We could have a whole world of difference in new camaros..

So anyways, that's why a 1979 Z28 and a 2002 Z28 are worlds apart. Newer technology.

As my screenname says, I've got a 1979 Z28. So, I can pretty much guess what your car looks like Pictures would still be nice

As for the pluses and minuses of your car, I'm guessing that during the cold, it'll run like a pig. Once it warms up, it'll be better. Obviously, there won't be as much power as your 01 has, so I won't get into the differences between power.

If something breaks, you can almost guarantee yourself that it won't be as expensive as your 01 will be. Nor, generally, are performance mods. It'll also be a LOT SIMPLER to work on. Not as many sensors, wires, and whatnot. The only thing you'll have to worry about, is the emissions stuff. I'm not sure what a Californian '79Z has equipped in it, but I'm betting it has a smog pump. As my car doesn't have one, and never did, I don't know what the plusses and minuses are of that.

So, as for the minuses, it will probably be a lot worse on gas mileage than your 01. My car, with 100,000-some odd miles on the original 23 year old engine, gets about 12 MPG. Then again, my car is running like total ****, so that'll explain the low MPG A couple of other minuses, just drive it around for a little while, and you'll find out the differences between the two cars almost immediately There's a lot less noise protection in the older cars, as there is in the new ones, there's a lot less technology in it, though depending on the situation you'll have power windows and locks.

So, enough of my novel writing Pics would be nice, as well as just any misc information about it.

Welcome to the world of the second gens!

 

Don't worry about breaking the third member, they are a lot stronger than most people give them credit. Mine came out of a late 70s ws6 transam and all i did to it was put 3.73s into it and it has handled everything ive thrown at it.

 

A basic ovalport 454 will drop right into the engine bay - performer rpm dual plane and a 1/2 inch plate system will fit under the hood - will have to cut for clearance if you want a air filter.

Now you will have something to run with your other car. Beware - corners will come up faster than you expect.

IMO

MAT

 

The reasons why they didn't perform well in 1979 can be summed up this way

The carburetors were small and didn't flow well + they were tuned for emissions, not performance. The intake manifolds had small ports and didn't flow well. The heads had very small valves and ports and didn't flow well. They had dished pistons, which lowered compression to about 8.5 to 1, which also hurt performance. The camshafts were very mild and were only good up to about 4500 rpm. The exhaust manifolds, exhaust piping, and catalytic converters weren't capable of flowing enough air to support much over 200 hp

In short they just were not performance engines at all. The good news is that with some money you can make that sucker scream !

 

All those are good reasons why I only dyno'd 137 hp to the rear wheels , my car's got a redline of 5000, though the car falls flat on its face at anything over 4500. One of these days I'm going to start a thread on what a good 79 camaro buildup would be, by using the original 350 block and turning it into a 383.

All in all, they're not too bad, but one of the first modifications to go into a late second gen camaro, is a bigger better and faster engine. Once you do that, the rest of the car is pretty good (After exhaust of course)

 

137 rwhp ? hahahahaha ! Oops I slipped, sorry about that Believe me it won't take much to add 100 rwhp to that # . As a matter of fact 200 rwhp isn't all that difficult to get either . Like you say, the rest of the car is already up to the job !

 

Yea, well it's the original 23 year old POS 350 engine, and it's starting to go out :P Bad rings I'm guessing are among the funner things. I'm guessing that in top top condition, with the same stuff, it'd be about 150 rwhp. I've got an engine that was going to go into my '79 RS, that'll be going into the Z Should be about 350 HP. Then I'm gonna build up the original Z engine to a 383 stroker... *insert evil laughter here*

mmm...700 hp...

 

eh? they used quadrajets for the most part (well, performance engines anyways) - 750cfm, and vacuum secondaries so it wouldn't flood the motor.
Yeah, they were tuned for emissions, but there is alot of tuning you can do to a q-jet to change that.

Anyways, to the original poster - just get headers, modern hi-flow cats ('70's cats were the 'pellet' style ) and a good 2.5" dual exhaust. Also, get a new coil and module for the HEI - that'll give you all the spark you'll need. Then, do a rebuild with flattop hyper pistons, some porting, and a moderate cam. That should get you 300-350hp.
If you want to drop a little more $$$, get new heads (vortech would be great for a regular driver) and an aftermarket manifold, then you can be knocking down near 400hp.
The carb? Quadrajets are excellent, return better fuel economy, and will give you much bette response down low. Get the Doug Roe book "Rochester Carburetors" It'll tell you everything you need to know about how these babys work. Just be sure to get a manifold that will accomodate a spreadbore carb - the Performer RPM Quadrajet manifold would be perfect.

 

Actually you're right they did have q-jets on them which are excellent carbs ... in spite of the bad rep they have with the people who don't know anything ?The electronic Q-jets were a bad idea though . The intakes they were mounted on in 1979 were better used for paper weights. Ironically enough the 454 in my '71 is fed by an Edlebrock Performer RPM 850 cfm Q-jet. It's a great carb !

 

only if you want to hotrod the car. For a stock engine setup, they should be great. They only flowed 650cfm, though...

I think an excellent daily driver would be a 350 with vortech heads, vortech performer intake, q-jet, and a mild cam
Actually, GMPP sells a vortech crate that gets you a vortech-headed 350 with 9:1 compression. Comes with a cam in the 200's or 210's and 330hp/380lb-ft. cost is around $2200 - excellent deal

 

It also has a warranty