It's funny that Roadkill and Motortrend started their videos on YT and moved to the big networks and their own service. And Powernation has moved full episodes to YT. I missed watching these shows on weekends when I got rid of cable.
5.3 wasn't a thing when this show was made and also if they wanted power all they had to do was change the heads intake and bump that cam up and boom 350hp
I had a '92 Firebird with that same engine. Bone stock it averaged 29mpg on the interstate with the cruise set at 75mph and 20mpg around town. I was delivering pizza at the time and kept good records for both mileage and fuel use. I never tracked the mileage for blasting down the interstate at 100mph because I was a good boy and didn't do that sort of thing...often. 😁
So why did they do so poorly? Maybe they only tested MPG around town? They managed 22.9 mpg so maybe that's what they were doing. Maybe highway would have resulted in 31.9 mpg
@@enermaxstephens1051 That's probably the overall average between highway & around town. If I averaged it out that way I'd have probably gotten similar results.
I'd prefer the 350 LT4 install with some twisted wedge heads,love the vacuum gage & all the info, knowing where a good machine shop that works on cars to you guys might be all over the place but for me finding a machine shop that works on engines is really like finding a winning lottery ticket thanks for the find,I miss my 91 Z28 and it's a real treat seeing more videos on the Camaro. Ya know the stearing was fun but not fun enough compared to the Mustang the Camaro could do 45 degree turns but could not handle anything passed that it would just keep going forward. I shur do miss a good set of Goodyear GSC's
Yes sir! The power of a built 305! This has to be the first time in history anybody ever rebuilt/upgraded a 305. Literal boat anchors. To think, a one -legged Camaro with a built 305 and skinny rear tires. Nice. All joking aside, I love all these videos.
Don't understand why they didn't put a set of vortec small block iron heads on the block instead of the junk factory castings would have been way more power and should have even been better fuel economy also i dont agree with putting narrower tires on a camaro u don't buy a camaro for fuel economy...
Fuzin Marsupan 20 years is quite a bit of time, unless you’re young and don’t really grasp that concept. Haha. But when you go from 30 to 50, yeah, things change a bit. :)
No wonder it was so anemic, like good lord those numbers were bad for all the work they did. Hell, a stock 5.7 from the same year probably puts down the same power. Jeeze.
Jade Riley the same was said back in the 60’s when people were swapping SBC engines into T-buckets and Model A’s because they made more power than the old flat heads. Technology evolves and so does car building. There’s a time and a place for the older engines still. People still build flat heads. You can make a SBC have LS horsepower, drivability and reliability, but you’re likely to have well over double what that Camaro was worth sitting under the hood afterwards.
The only thing hotter than the hemi under my hood is the warped exhaust manifold they all get at 40,000 miles that Ram doesn’t want to cover under warranty.
I would bet most of us whom watch the videos dont click the 'thumbs up' button. I have been doing that as I appreciate the efforts of folk to make these videos and do enjoy them. Without feedback , no one knows I do. I really enjoy these Power Nation videos, thanks for your hard work.
Turbos suck. NA with same power level is always better. Turbos kill the sound and introduce turbo lag and an NA engine will always go quicker when accelerating from 80mph onwards than similar turboed engine. Turbos have killed modern engines because now everything is a 4L V8 and soon because electric assistance everything will be 3L V6 / 2.5L i6. There's not a single car that would't be better/cooler with an all NA engine. That said 178 horsepower isn't even horsepower. This car would need +300hp to be called a real car.
@@epicon6 nothing you said makes sense. How does a turbo affect acceleration from 80 up? Air resistance and weight are the contributing factors there. Power is power, so it makes no difference. Turbo lag has basically become a thing of the past thanks to twin scroll, ALS, and electronics. The only advantage that natural aspiration gives happens off the line. If turbos were no good, oem wouldn't use them.
The producers of this show have huge balls...rebuilt motor $6 grand, 4 tires $400, rebuilt throttle body $400, spacer $100 plus labor for .9 mpg more! After those results I would have scrapped the whole episode!!
Don't forget the extra 2.6mpg also! Because why else would you spend thousands of dollars to upgrade a SMOG era V8 camaro if not for fuel economy? lol.
I built a 305 0.030" overbore. Flat top piston. Unported 376450 heads. Comp Cams 262 Camshaft, Springs, Retainers and Locks 1.74" installed height. Double Roller Timing Chain. Performer Intake manifold unported with 600 vac. secondary holley. 1 5/8" primary long tube headers. In pan welded crankshaft scraper with main cap bolted windage tray with louvers. Standard pressure oil pump. Home made 1" shortened gm points distributor housing, modified to accept hei pickup components and rephased for on point firing using msd's 6A CD control box. 25lb 153 tooth flywheel redowelled, drilled and tapped to accept Mazda's RX7 clutch disc and pull type clutch diaphragm using Mazda's original 5 speed manual transmission with home made adapter plate. 3.90 rear gears with 18" 295 rubber out back and 18" 255 rubber up front. 206.7 hp and 288.4 tq at wheels with 27-28 mpg. And that's with power steering pump, A/C, Belt driven Water Pump and Alternator. I have seen guys have 26 mpg with a 305 and an automatic in a full sized Caprice.
If we figure 20% for drivetrain loss to the rear wheels, which is about right for an auto 92 Camaro, its making 222 HP at the flywheel. Pretty much any SOHC/DOHC V6 in the last 15 years is better than that. Doing what they did would have cost any normal person thousands. An eBay turbo kit on the stock engine with no upgrades other than the turbo would have had them making another 100 HP easy.
@@Clapxiomatic you watch way too much youtube ,theres no such thing as "an easy turbo swap" lots of heat,poor oiling,tuning issues etc etc etc"and don't grasp this was 2 decades ago
Some of you guys will never know just how much better those center bolt valve covers and rear main seal improved our lives lol back in the day I had the same windage trey,camel hump heads,crane roller rockers ,and a .500 lift cam,just to hit 400 horses,which you can pretty much buy in any brand today stock...
Pulled the engine to rebuild the short block, and didn't really do anything to the heads other than paint them. Took the transmission out, but didn't get it rebuilt. Again, an excellent video on how to do everything wrong. OMG, the Nitrogen filled tire scam. Easiest way to tell if the engine is under load? How far has your right foot pressed down on the accelerator pedal? What you should have done? Cam swap, Dart SR cast iron head swap, headers, high flow cat(s), and exhaust system. Would have had more power, and the same fuel economy.
I had heard & seen some LT4's were finding there way to an anniversary Camaro's & 1LE's possibly & the Firehawk's, definitely finding a LT4 sitting in a Corvette coup or convertible Camaro SS convertible or a Ram Air 1996 is where it is at my man.
Back in the day Crowler (?) had a cam setup where you used 14:1 pistons but the final compression was 10:1(ballpark numbers). Hot Rod did a test case and got 30(?) mpg out of a 350. Something about getting a super mix of the fuel. As I recall they got a small increase in horsepower too.
wow, just willy-nilly knife edging the crank counterweights like that...the balancing guy must be so happy. I wonder if the new intake needed the old spacer. Its a higher plenum and a little grinding of the divider could replicate that on the old spacer. And its interesting there was no porting or at least a clean-up of the heads...were these Vortec units?
Yeah, I mean it's RWD which is cool, but it doesn't much sense from a budget standpoint. I like this Camaro series for the little tricks and tips to improve an engine, but a full rebuild for sub 300hp sounds like a waste.
Seems like an LS swap and gears would have gained a lot more power and MPG for less cost. Or at least get some new heads on that 305 while they were already torn apart. Who buys a v8 for mpg though?
It's really impressive how much work you put in this car. Even you "only" gained 34 hp I learned very much. What would you say is the restriction at the end? Is it the output of the throttle body? What if you fit in a bigger TBI?
Just read all 293 Comments and I noticed that all the comments are from the past 24 hours so I guess they removed this video or wiped the comments. Also noticed nobody mentioned that "They added some weight to compensate for what I took of the 6 counter weights" was not only completely wrong but shows that the guy that said it (or the person that wrote it into the script) does not know anything about balancing a crankshaft. For those of you that are interested in why they actually added weight, it is to simulate the weight of the piston, connecting rod, wrist pin, etc. because if you didn't it would be impossible to balance it.
Wow! That's a lot of money for an additional 35 hp. My 07 Trailblazer with the 4.2L inline 6 comes stock at 291hp. I could probably put at least another 50hp with a turbo.
2009 Cobalt SS. $5K Catless downpipe $200 GM stage 1 map sensors $80 Custom HP. E40 blend tune $250 Aftermarket intercooler with charge pipes $350 Total=$5880 321whp 380tq 28mpg on ethanol This was a great video showing how not to waste your time and money. Unfortunately those numbers are embarrassing considering an engine rebuild, new pistons, bearings, ect.
If you have the heads apart to do a valve job, why wouldn't you put them back together with the springs you want to run? Seems like double the work to me.
First, thanks for telling what to do if the crank clearance check is not correct. To often we see all these wonderful checks that always come out perfect. 14:30 You mention the cam card shows the open and closed “spring rate”. This is incorrect, it shows the spring pressure. Spring rate (typically in lbs./inch) tells us what the spring pressure will do as it is compressed and is a constant for a simple spring. Misuse of the term perpetuates misuse.
Yep the RS had a carb "Throttle Body" the Chevy S10's have a upgrade of a bigger throttle body highly likely the RS might have one to even finding a Y pipe is hard to know what fits. I could beat an RS with my TPI but not must faster the 1st gen V6's they were putting into the Trans Am's & Camaro's with the new body style is about the only thing the TPI could really beat that might make somewhat of an interesting conversation. I remember a manual Geo Tracker giving me a hard time on the highway.lol
Yes it appears that way and if anyone knows anything about the small blocks from around that time. Anything that was made in 87 and Newer those actually came from the factory with a roller style set up as far as a camshaft is concerned
chrissabat I know about the roller cams being in blocks back then, but can you use roller lifters on a flat tappet? Did I miss something in the past 18 years of engine building? Haha. I bet the friction reduction is amazing! Most cars had rollers wheres as trucks still used flat tappet.
I realize, the economy direction here are not typically what most want to see, but, I can tell you, after having built monster engines over the past 25 years, HP and Torque monsters do get boring. The idea of trying to beat the gameshow that has been thrown upon the USA called "planned obsolescence", I actually prefer build engines that are just fun enough to beat on, yet will allow for many flawless operation these days... The idea of turn key and go play, does leave a small trade off, which really does revolve around somebody's ego, of having to have the biggest, most HP, etc., Yet, I simply walk out to my stable that has taken years to fill, I get to make the choice of which mule I will take out and enjoy, and I simply open the vehicle door, sit in the drivers seat, turn the key, and go, and never have to worry about a thing, (per say).. It actually really is a complicated thing to build, a vehicle that allows this... As anybody can drop $30k into an engine, and be top dog, but that guy is always on edge worrying about stuff, dang near has a panic attack if his date sitting in the passenger seat, desires to drive that 30K engine through a drive-through and having the engine over heat or something.. LOL.. Tell me I am lying!!!! LOL... Is there vehicles that would out run mine, YUP, all day long... But mine, I get to just turn key and drive, in peace these days, I love it... If I desire to drive 800 miles to go see something, I grab a car and go... I am not having a panic attack over it. I am not trying to convince anybody else to go this venture, but the idea of when and why people by new vehicles, if for that exact reason, to be able to turn key and go... I just do it with older vehicles, that have been ground up rebuild... Kinda like one of my favorite to drive, is my 1988 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. 100% ground up . Yes, the car will tear up the street, but every thing was redesigned to last, over sized oil lines and coolers, ceramic ball bearing turbo cartridge, after market computer for the fuel system control as a few silly examples, and while on the highway or interstate routes, manual trans I get about 37 miles to every gallon (MPG) of course all done with fuel mapping of being efficient, with a trade off of lacking in throttle response and HP and torque, just enough to let it cut through the air and lug its vintage unified chassis/body around. Yes, I have other maps that with the cycle of the ignition key, can reboot different maps if I wanted to be aggressive with the machine, yet, to this day, I have not found the need or desire, out side of building the map and testing to make sure of the balance queue's of an aggressive map. but it is there if I want to, just don't want to. That same exact Turbo Coupe, I once a year, I throw an oil change at it before I leave, and one kit in the trunk, and stop at a quick lube somewhere on my way back and I drive from Indiana to California area to look at the ocean for a few days. As silly and wasteful as that sounds to drive 1900 to 2500 mile one direction over the course of a week or three, while stopping at many many MANY other locations in between, while it is important to just relax and take your time and stop worrying about how quickly you can get there, I just enjoy the calm journey. When I am done chilling at the beach, mentally, my thoughts are not, "Welp, time to head home, and it is all over", no folks, the journey isn't over until I am pulling the car into my shop to park it at home, I still enjoy the calm smooth drive home.... So far, I once had a windshield wiper come off or to say, rip away from the rest of the rubber mounting. I took the passenger wiper off and installed it on the drivers side, and flipped the passenger side arm to the locked up position, until I get to the next city to gain a pair of new wiper blades. (I didn't want the glass getting scratched from the metal clamping of the wiper assembly)... WORST DAY EVER, in my life, LOL... All jokes aside, I really enjoy having no worry's of taking one of my vehicles and just going, because I built them that way. Yes, I do have a few extreme HP/torque monsters, like a rock crawler, sure, it is fun to play with, but what a nightmare if I ever had to drive it more then 30 miles under it own power on the roadway system, not only would it beat the snot out of me, my back would hurt, I would have to pee sitting down for a week after my kidney's felt like somebody beat me with a baseball bat.... My street/strip race car, sure, that is fun too, but what a pain in the booty that is to drive, I hope I don't ever have to make a right hand turn some day, as it has a turning radius bigger then an ocean liner oil tanker barge (Yes, it turns right, just fine, just don't turn any direction left or right, while on the throttle) as it has locked rear end, chubby rear sticky's, skinny donuts in front, as most typical street/strip drag cars have. The cam and blower make the idea of a drive through scary risky, as the engine lobes and thinking you can lightly inch forward and stop exactly where you want it, lol... right!!!!!........Never mind any of the road course racing cars I no longer have, no matter what parts you throw at them, they wear out fast in the constant tension stresses that racing requires, so, those are vehicles that you become married to, as per the time required to just be able to drive them, as something is always going on with them, rather, not going on with them, lol.. These vehicles always got trailered to events so I could play with them, which are purposely built for those events, and is fine. But, I also, purposely built my "Turn Key, and GO" vehicles, so I can just drive them, with no worry's. I have more fun with these "Turn Key, and GO" units, then the other special purpose vehicles that I once owned or currently own. it could be, because I am getting old, and at age 45 or 46, (how ever old I am now?) I am tired of having to rebuild stuff that is either worn out or broken from the vehicle trying the channel all that HP/torque from the source to the ground in a linear fashion, it gets old, and never stops. Military vehicles are built to endure extreme situations of terrain, yet, are built so dang heavy, that in itself, is a never ending story of stuff wearing out, just from itself being heavily built, lol.. Bearings wear out, well, design and built the axles bigger... now you added more weight, needs heavier suspension to keep those axles and rubber on the ground and in check to the chassis.. more weight, now we need to reinforce the chassis, more weight... the engine doesn't have enough power to meet the Mil Spec slop and tip angle perimeters install a bigger power plant, more weight, frame needs to be stronger and reinforced again, more weight.. that is the point of all my nonsense here. Rebuilding a vehicle to a "Turn Key, and GO" is not easy to do. It isn't just like throwing as many parts and money at it, like many do. It is quite challenging to do this, to make a vehicle exceptionally reliable, and problem free for the climate in which you live or rather, the country in which you live, while putting great efforts into being safe but having range out of efficiency, that is the name of the game I play. There is my 2 cents of nonsense. The next unit I have been slowly dialing in, is a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee. and seeing if I can get one of those to have like a bazillion MPG, as the great motor that those have been for millions of owner, even in the stock configuration, not to mention, how many great people have made the various I-6 engine an absolute monster, I want to see how efficient I can get one of those next. Good luck and be safe everybody. Dru
Being that I'm almost 50 myself I understand and agree with you 100% my friend. I have traveled the same roads and most will not understand till they have traveled the road themselves. It's nice just to hit the key and go with no worries in your daily driver.👍
@@mechanicsteve2320 OUTSTANDING BROTHER!!!!! You already know this, but, working on a vehicle on the side of the road, sure, we both can make some amazing things happen with a piece of gum and a paper clip to get out of harms way, as calling for a wrecker, that is nonsense when you can see what the issue is, and would only take 4 minutes to rectify, all the while, I am tired of doing that, I am tired of showing up somewhere oily, greasy, because I was lazy and did a hack job on my own junk.. So many many years ago, I made the oath to myself, that no more, were my cars gonna be the worst running pieces of junk, while I made everybody else's run like it was brand new, I got tired of sacrificing myself and vehicle, because I was being lazy, and only made things harder on myself.. NO MORE OF THAT.. and I love it.. TURN KEY, and GO. So good job on you sir, for taking the time to square yourself up for the same desire, feels great, and what I laugh at, is how much that turn key and go, irritates other people, LOL.
Would of had larger injectors or moved to multiport fuel injection with crank trigger and had ls style layout, roller rockers even and a more aggressive high rpm cam. Valve seat, valve and intake port job. Fyi pistons are camground to seat better in the cylinder due to thermal expansion.
Can you guys please not cut out the machining its so satisfying and an awesome part of the video you guys could also just make machining videos and make way more money everyone loves that stuff plus they'd learn something
305 or not, as with any rebuild if you're wanting the engine to run its best you should (always) check cam timing. I rebuilt a lowly 4.3 and when we checked the cam timing it was off 13.5 degrees. Yes the engine would have ran, but not as good as it could with the cam timing where it belongs.
@Leon Wilcox Engines from that era definitely didn't make that much power especially the 70's due to the oil crisis most v8 cars were under powered. You'd be hard pressed to find a "Muscle" car from the 60's or 70's that made over 200HP
Eston Barrett there’s a few although given the way rating we’re given in 71 or 72 it may not be accurate for older cars. The Cleveland in my 70 mustang that I’m working on was rated at 330. Even then who knows, I think Detroit was underrating the hp for insurance reasons at the time to make them easier to sell.
You just installed the wrong diameter shims. Never checked for coil bind. Need spring locators. The knife edge on the crankshaft is a good idea, but definitely messes up the dynamic on the crankshaft balance by shifting weight the wrong direction. The block should have been decked and squared if it was torque plate honed. The balance of compression from having a square deck is important to performance and in this case economy. Changing springs on the engine when you had the heads off, is not the correct procedure. I know you guys are on tv, but does not mean you are correct all the time. Most of the time I enjoy the show.
Is it sad I spent about $1500 upgrading my 2003 Jetta tdi with bigger injector nozzles tune and bigger turbo and 3in strait pipe it makes 200hp and 300tq constantly gives me 40+ mpg. Can’t beat it as a daily driver that catches a bunch of people off guard
Adding in 18% hp from driveline loss this thing makes 210hp at the crank the same hp rating as a 350 tbi. Would have been a direct swap with only changing the computer to a 350 model. Or a 350 vortec with a g series vortec tbi intake and the aforementioned computer.
If I was going take the engine out I would have at least put heads and Holly TBI on it, but if you are going to do all that you might as well put a 383 in it.
All the work they did would have cost an average joe thousands in parts and labor. Meanwhile your local methhead with an ebay turbo on his 5.7 will blow your doors off making 300 WHP instead of a very pathetic 178 WHP.
I had a 91 with a 305 in it.Hated that motor.It was dependable but had about as much get up and go as a Snapper lawnmower.So why bother rebuilding one.
$4500 buy in for the car. The machining and parts cost for the 305 are about another 2 grand. I've bought into cars with much more than 175 hp at over 20 mpg for a lot less than $6500. And I'm not even an import guy😀. Would an ls swap meet the horse power need? Yes. Would it justify the cost if you want fuel efficiency? No.
You did give information so that some can make a wise decision as to weather it is the way they want to go or not . You stated facts not opinions as to the value . But what was the crank end play ?
