Here’s my dilemma. I have an 87 I bought dirt cheap. Body and interior and great minus a few small things. The engine turned out to be junk. It runs but knocks. Here’s the kicker. As I am now in the process of pulling engine I find someone swapped it to a 305. Yes 305. Now at the time I bought it I looked it over. All the dressings were corvette but I never really dove it to see casting numbers.
So here’s where I need advice. My intention with car is to get it up and running before it sets to long and I lose interest. For driving it WILL NOT be a daily. It WILL BE a weekend cruiser if weathers right, maybe a night or 2 during the week for screwing around. Wisconsin weather is driving for me from April ish to October ish.
I’m wanting to do most everything myself. I have the ability and good assortment of tools needed. I haven’t done any cam swapping, head changing, and that sorts but not one bit afraid of it.
I’m trying to keep some stuff simple like keeping the TPI because I don’t know enough of wiring and that to jump into something complicated.
I have some budget restraints. Currently for the engine I have $4K for that alone. Now buying a crate because I have NO 5.7 core return I lose all core charge money on top of cost.
What is a good route to go?
I have searched for engines locally and such and not finding much. I did find a newly rebuilt 5.7 L98 out of an 87 IROC Z. I did check those casting #’s and it runs plus I can hear it run for $1K.
Let’s be honest we all want as much HP & torque as possible. I’m guilty of it and want it. But that also comes down to dollars and cents. Since I have a budget which is a way I should go. I have no problems changing bits and pieces either on the TPI I’m just trying to stay within budget. Again that’s up to $4K on the engine alone. I have stripped and junked original exhaust as it was garbage and nothing really salvageable.
is the a better fuel injection? FITECH OR SOMETHING AS WELL? I don’t know. I’ve been trying to search so much. I’d just like to get to a starting point.
Thanks

 

You found your solution. My suggestion- based on your notes-- is to put the car back to as close to stock as you can. Part are plentiful and things will bolt in as they should. $1000 to bolt in same year, and numbers is a solid deal.

 

87 should be ready 128 aluminum heads? That is for an 87 corvette TPI, not sure what the 87 camaro TPI heads came with.

With $4k though I would do a stroker. Find a block locally and build it out. Decant cam and a miniram. You will be running right up against your budget but a stroker miniram with a cam could very well be 400rwhp if done right.

Alternatively just throw that 87 camaro TPI in and run it. Maybe swap in a better cam while it is out of the car.

 

I'm with Bill: get the IROC motor and send it for now. Here' the thing: you want to keep the stock TPI for now, and I completely understand why. A stroker or better heads or aftermarket cam is going to be hobbled with that intake, though, so I don't think it makes sense to spend real money on a bigger/better engine underneath that intake. I'd get that $1k 350 in there and drive it a while. If you want to look at real power upgrades in the future, you can then start assembling something on an engine stand while you keep driving the car.

 

So do you guys know of what intakes to look at?
I found the ones by TPIS and it says they’re unavailable. I’ve seen other mentions of edelbrock and Holley but they all say unavailable. Is this the case with all of them? Or what ones are still out there to look for?
I appreciate all the pointers and what and where to look.

 

The TPIS Miniram is the obvious choice, so I'd suggest looking for a used one. The Edelbrock Pro-Flo XT looks good, but I haven't seen any numbers on it yet. Finally, the Accel SuperRam is a good street option if you can find one used.

 

If you can hear that IROC motor run for a grand, hell…can’t be any worse than what you have now. As for that 305, although it’s no performance engine I had one in my Oldsmobile 98 Coupe and it was bullet proof.

later,Tiny

 

The 305 is toast. When I got car home I put new fuel pump in and it fired up. Loud low end knock and oil pressure drops from 30 at start up to 2 quickly. Plus then I drained oil and there was a pretty little stream of glitter at the end. It was almost magical 😊. Just warm and fuzzy watching it drain.

 

Oooh yeah, i’ve had a few of those “Disney Moments” watching glitter flow from an unexpected orifice. Glenfidditch or **** Creek often follows.

later, Tiny

 

I would go with the 87 IROC motor and like someone suggested earlier, put a mild cam and I would add new springs, seals and 1.5 roller rocker arms on that motor.
Then like suggested before, drive the car, spend some time finding a good core and get a cheap stroker kit from Summit or Jegs and build that over the winter or 2 and then swap that motor in. As mentioned earlier, 383, Mini-Ram is the way to go, basically the holy grail of L98, 400 plus horsepower and gobs of torque in a light weight vette IS fun. Lets hope that a new batch of Mini-Rams are produced. A bunch of us are waiting for this.

The Alternative is to tear the IROC engine apart and have it bored 0.030 over and rebuild it with good pistons rods and crank. a good cam in a 355 with upgraded heads and a good exhaust. This can be done within your budget. Good Luck with which ever path you chose.