Camaro 3.8L upgrades

J

jstevens

Black Thunder
Guys and Gals,

Help. My son has a 1995 Camaro with the 3.8 litre with 120,000 miles on it and wants to add some go fast (cheap) equipment.

He wants to do a CAI but I'm skeptical as you get more cool sound than power. What should he do? What would you do?
 
Do a V8 swap and not tell the insurance company? 350 small blocks are everywhere, they're even used as Boat Anchors in Arkansas, and that would make a good project. Parts are no where as expensive as our's too...
 
The 3.8 liter is shared by many cars. Worthy of mention is the Grand Prix and GTP. All of which have many mods and power adders available. Check out clubgp.com or zzperformance for more performance ideas.


EDIT: If he wanted to, he could add on a supercharger :)
 
Heres the Link you have been looking for---->RK Sport.Com

This place has been making performance parts for the 3.8L Camaro for years.

This is IMO the authority on the 3.8L Camaro
 
Seriously, you start extracting horsepower out of a small motor with 120K on it - it will spin a bearing or turn into a grenade. How much power does he need first of all? The V8 swap may be the most cost-effective mod out there. At least you're dealing with a car that will accept the larger motor.
 
silver2004Marauder said:
The V8 swap may be the most cost-effective mod out there. At least you're dealing with a car that will accept the larger motor.
Click to expand...
My son has a '99 Camaro with the LS1, lots of go fast goodies available. I sure you can find a junker with less miles for an engine swap.

EDIT: I'll find out from my son what's involved in an engine swap.
 
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I agree....engine swap is the way to go....if you start adding go fast parts now at 120k you may granade the engine....then you have to get a new engine...much cheaper than a new car though.
 
Tell him to check out www.njfboa.org. That is the New Jersey F-Body Owners Association, there are several 6-cyl firebirds and camaros there that are DEEP in the 12s. 12secondV6 is one of them, lol, Savage_Messaiah is another. They are al nice people and any of them would be more than happy to help out. Also, as mentioned, clubgp.net is a good place to check out, there's a lot of N/A grand prixs over there that could help u out.

CAIs work better on S/C cars as opposed to N/A cars. A grand prix gt with a CAI gets around 5-7hp, the supercharged GTPs get around 12-15 and even more when boost is increased, so spend the CAI money on something else.
 
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My nephew has a V6 Firebird and has visions of making it a speed demon.
I encourage him not to touch any of it, save his cash, and maybe buy something else that is faster.

I think it would be cheaper to just buy a V8 F-body than to make a V6 have a V8. Projects like that have that nickel and dime to death thing.

I know it's easier said than done. A CAI is a couple hundred bucks at the most vs. holding out to get a couple grand for an old clapped out Z28 or something.
 
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