If youve got the intake off and push rods loose for heads pull the front cover and do the cam. Whether its more of a hotair thing or not
All I know is these cars respond to bigger cams as much as any NA vehicle Ive ever put a cam in. If youve upgraded the air intake and fuel system, not to mention heads! Its only right to upgrade that puny cam.
I have experimented/abused my car for years. Played with Poston's gn107t cam , a stocker, and then finally the 204/214 Speedpro. Im talking day and night difference once moving to the 204/214. I remember entering an event at the track some years ago with the same unrebuilt shortblock thats still in the car. If memory is right previously I ran 14.1 @ around 100mph (I think). Only change I made before this event was to pull the stock cam and throw in my slightly used 204/214 from my .030 over block that spun a main bearing. First time trial run I ran a 13.5 @ I think 103.5 with no chance to tune on a 85 degree day. This was before progressive alky. I was still using my DIY kit though with F150 pump, hobbs switch and NOS nozzle and jets
For the new setup thats in the works I have a 208/224 Schneider.
I started following this thread late and havent had time to jump in. Glad to see some of the old crew did though. I am not going to even start on the topic title because Ive already given my opinion many times about how I dont think there is much difference between the 84-87 cars performance wise and that that is the way you should approach your project.
I have always said that alky injection was at the top of the list for additions for a hotair car. For me a bigger camshaft proved high in the ranking as well. Its all about moving that air. I cant say much as far as the intake because I put my engine together from the beginning with a ported one (bought the car with no drivetrain), so have no back to back comparison. I just used common sense on this part, sticking with the moving air idea (nothing but a big air pump right?). There are plenty of other mods that can be talked about to death (see sig) but I dont think I have to even mention them. They are common upgrades that everyone does, NA cars too, and yes even 86/87 so whats the big deal when a HA car does it? (that should really include the upgraded intake idea too shouldnt it?
). Only other thing I will bring up now that matters is the "wall" I felt I keep running into when it came to easily upping performance. That "wall" is the turbo. The TA33 has not been enough turbo from the day I installed it. I mentioned before the dillema I had with turbo choice limitations due to configuration etc, not just recently but years ago. I feel this is the one great advantage of the 86/87 configuratioin, I couldnt care less about the stinkin IC (what is an intercooler again anyway
). I researched spending $1200 to make a custom HA turbo stuffed into a inefficient TA style housing and finally made the [duh??] decision to grab a new GT6152 turbo on sale for $675 shipped. With the money I would have spent I bought a MAFT-PRO/chip, with cash to spare to go towards other parts (60lbers, 3400 vigilante, etc). Okay now I have to mention one other point, other than the turbo. With how seriously important I believe tuning is, the other issue Ive always pondered was engine management. Looking at the various ricers out there and the power they squeeze out of those little engines made me think about how more advanced their tuning and engine management must be. Tuning with the MAFTPRO hopefully will help a little
Planning on connecting a WBO2 to it too. Doesnt cost as much or as involved as other options out there (FAST etc). Should be interesting.
So yes with the GT6152 I will be moving the TB off of the turbo but it will still be hotair. Call it a '85-1/2 setup if it makes you happy
I might take my current setup and put it into my other car. Hoping to lay down some very nice #s in the not too distant future on what I like to think is a "evolved from common sense" '84 hotair setup. Not even close to a "sell out" '87 motor swap so dont even start. It will continue to be the "different" setup at the Buick meets.
Im willing to confidently bet that I could squeeze a 11sec pass out of my current combo but why? Although I would like to, just to say I did, my ta33 is dead and Im not going to rebuild it just for that. Its not worth it. Ive already made a name for myself in the area with my hotair car picking up where Dan Smith left off and passing him with nothing special (plus no slicks, no race gas). In the scheme of things not much more money into the setup (havent spent anything in years anyway) and should be relatively easy to run the #s I want to without having to squeeze.
