Its that time of year where the government pays me back for hte interest-free loan I give them throughout the year. After savings and responsibilities I should have around 500-750 or so bucks to do something to the Camaro. Im not really sure what I want to do with it, though. Most of the things I'd like to do cost WAAY more than that.
It has good brakes, 6 speed manual, good gearing, good engine, lightweight hood etc. Nothing spectacular though. To kick it to the next step you really have to spend a pretty penny. I could repaint it, because it sure does need it. I've got a huge patch of peeling clearcoat on one fender, and from there it's a quick downhill run. But painting doesnt make it faster or drive better or more practical.
Im thinking I will get some new rear lower control arms that dont use solid polyurethane bushings. I'll get some that use a polyurethane ball joint type bushing. Several types are sold for these cars, but it will allow each side of the rear axle to articulate independently much better without binding, but thats only $100 or so.
I'd like to, obviously, go for more power, but the compression ratio isnt high enough for a serious cam that would, IMO, make a noticeable difference. Something like an xe274 that's 230/236 duration, or a 280H would lower my dynamic compression to the high 7's from the low 8's, and Im afraid that will just make for a very sluggish engine. I could get a middle of the road xe268, but thats only one size bigger than my cam. It would get me maybe 20hp if I was lucky. Not a huge return on the investment and work involved. I think the engine will stay sealed until it breaks at this point. It's all matched fairly well, upgrading one part means upgrading too many others.
Spending $400 on a cam swap and to another 25-35hp, but lose some of the awesome torque curve I currently have, get worse gas mileage, but hey at least thte idle would be lumpy and sound awesome. But still, for what I built the car for, autocross, lumpy idles and straight line power arent really all that useful.
Just to throw things out there, I could get a nitrous setup for sheer fun factor, but my engine uses cast pistons and the rings arent gapped for nitrous, so I'd have to limit it to 50-100 shot ranges. Plus nitrous gives the autocross guys fits. They dont even want the bottle in the car. Plus you gotta pay to fill it up. if I blew the engine doing it I'd be furious with myself...
I could buy a 5.3 or 6.0 liter LS long block and get ready for an eventual engine swap, but I have to get a new T56 made for those engines, and those are $1500+ the cost of the swap itself.
I could go LT1, and as the Dizzle will tell you, those LT1 engines have a lot of potential with just a cam, and they come with roller cams and great fuel injection systems completely stock. To put a roller cam and equivalent EFI system on my engine is a $2000 endeavor.
So then that leaves one last thing on the car I think needs to be addressed....
The wheels. I am gonna have to be REAL cheap on those, because wheels without tires are useless, and tires are a $500 investment by themselves.
I can get wheels exactly like the ones I have for $100 or less. Put some cheap rubber on em and use em for autocrossing without scuffing up my daily driver tires... I really hate these wheels though, maybe they're not as bad as I think they are? For getting something painless and cheap, they're the top of the list.
Stock 16x8 wheels:
IROC (85-90) 16x8 wheels. Will fit like stock because they are stock, just not for my year. Still limited to small 245 treadwidth tires, but a huge aesthetic improvement... Will require wheel adapters to fit properly.
90s Corvette ZR1 wheels. These can be had in the $400-$600 range. 17x9.5 or 17x9 depending on whether I get some meant for 4th gen Camaro SS models, or the original Vette wheels.
I gotta decide whether I want to cheap out on wheels so I can go autocross more, or whether I want to bling out and have the car stand out more.