Jeerpud

Hello everyone, I bought a 1987 Z28 a little while ago and I am ready to get started working on it. I'm a little familiar with cars but I've never quite taken on a project of this size. I'd like to post pictures and updates along with the project and I was hoping to get some help and some suggestions as I work through it. Today, with the help of my friend, we took out the front seats and vacuumed the whole car but I'm just not sure where to go from there.

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Welcome to the thirdgen world. Looks like you got a good project. BIggest thing you got right now going for you is a motor swap. Get rid of that thing, I would go look for a 5.7 Liter LO5. You can get them out of Caprices and roadmasters. I got mine out of a roadmaster. YOure going to need the computer and all. I think youre going to need a different harness as well.I cant really tell becuase im looking at your picture from my phone. What motor is in there now? Can you post more spec information? And by the looks of your pic it looks like youve got a nice body

Jeerpud

It has a 305 but the owner before me took out the carburetor, the distributor, and the computer, and who knows what else. I had plans to start by swapping for a 350 but I wanted to keep the car as stock as possible so I was going to rebuild the 305 on the side while I at least have the car running. The one thing I was worried about with going to a bigger engine was if the transmission would be able to handle the extra power. It has a 5 speed manual transmission.

goomba82fbird

In my experience you should either replace the tranny with something you know will be reliable for the hp you want or rebuild the one you have for the hp you want. I would try to salvage the one I had. Better to be safe than blowing out your transmission

86T/A_Ram_Air

It will hold for a while. as long as you don't beat it everyday. if your going to go to a stronger trans i would suggest upgrading to a T56 out of a LT1 4th gen. they are pretty strong and have the same spline pattern as your 5 speed. you just bolt your T56 to you T5 bellhousing and get a T56 crossmember made for a 3rd gen and bam your good to go

89junkyardgta

I think in the interest of being able to drive and enjoy the car, you might want to see if the existing engine is saveable. If it looks ok (no water in the oil, plugs aren't completely gunked to hell, engine turns over, etc), you might want to just try to get it running again, assuming you can find all the missing parts. Though not the engine of choice for high performance, the 305 can work ok and it does respond to lots of the bolt on mods that 350's like as well, so if you ever swap engines, you can swap the new parts over as well. I would focus on making it all work again. Simple stuff. Lights, brakes, power windows and locks, heater motor, etc, etc. Just make it work again. You can make it better later, for now, maybe just get it working? Just my

Jeerpud

I talked to a corvette garage shop guy today and asked him to get some prices for different options. I think I'm going to take the engine out and rebuild it and possibly look for a larger engine in the future. The engine I have now turns over and all of the lights and other electrics work but when I tried to check the compression, not all of the cylinders had sufficient compression.

89junkyardgta

Keep in mind no matter what engine (350 or 305) you rebuild, you will spend about the same money to do either. I would direct you towards a Vortec head on a 350 block for a very good, streetable engine that will be easy on the budget. It has limitations and some some issues (like no EGR and a unique intake manifold), but you cannot beat the flow on the heads for their price. Also, put subframe connectors on your list of "to-do's". I have seen stock cars dimple or tear the roof metal from body flex. These cars really need the added strength.