So heres the story. I got orders and had to leave my car back home. The option was to sell it but I just couldn't do that. Its been my dream car and its in such good shape it would kill me to sell it. I've all ready been gone about 2 years from my beloved Trans Am. I have another 2 years left till I get to it. Its been well taken care of for me while I've been away. It gets driven a little and started frequently and stored in a heated garage. I've been putting money away every month towards it for when I get back. I figure I'll have about 7 to 8 grand saved. This is going towards new rims, hood, paint, lowering springs, engine work and other little things. Ok, now for my question. Everything on my car is stock. It has about 140,000 miles on it. I plan on doing a complete paint job on it when I get back. Which is going to include me taking out the engine and trans to paint the firewall etc. I'm trying to decide which route should be the best way to go and not spend a whole lot. I figure since the engine is going to be out I would beef it up a bit. I'm not looking for a drag car or anything just something that can hold its own on the street. Do you guys think it would be ok to throw a trick flow head and camshaft set on it without rebuilding the bottom end. Or is the high mileage of my car not going to be able to handle this kind of set up? Oh and the set I was looking at said it needs a minimum of 10.5:1 compression. I have not idea what that means and have no idea if the stock bottom has this minimum requirement. Another option I was thinking about is get the bottom end rebuilt and just get my current heads ported and polished with a mild cam? I don't know a whole lot about building an engine. I'm more of a body man than a mechanic. I am however an excellent parts changer As far as what heads, cam, springs to use etc. I'm pretty clueless. I understand its like a recipe and everything has to work right together. I've all ready decided to get at least a LS6 intake, new Air lid and getting a cat back exhaust. Any help you could give me I would appreciate it.

 

You already have 10.5:1 CR if its stock.

There are lots of routes that you can take on this. I personally would contact TSP or EPS and get yourself a cam ground for what your intentions are going to be. Nothing wrong with off-the-shelf grinds, but if you are clueless, that is probably the cheapest help you can get in choosing the right cam. It costs the same as a shelf grind anyway. 140,000 miles....Hmmm, I would definitely look at replacing the rod bolts if you are going to do H/C/I at that mileage. So as for your mild cam and have your heads ported option its probably going to cost the same to have a custom cam and a new set of budget heads with all the hardware. Relatively that is. If you dont plan on beating the crap out of the car at the dragstrip I wouldnt invest too much into the bottom end. Just do a compression check and see what numbers you come back with on the cylinders. That will ultimately point you to what you are going to want to do. I certainly would not want to ruin $2k in parts on the top end because a 40$ part let go in the bottom. I could go on with what I think you should do, but tell us what you WANT to do with the car.

 

Thanks Orange. All I really want is a reliable car that gets around 400hp. I'm not the type that goes to the drag strip or street races often. This is going to be mostly a weekend driver. The car is plenty fast enough on top end but out of the hole. I could use a little more. I think I would be happy with bolt ons, intake and lid but I just feel like its a shame to pull the motor out and not do anything to it. Does anyone know how much a typical rebuild costs? Thats the kit, all the machine work, new valves, rods, etc? This is my main problem. I just figured by the time I bought everything for a rebuild I might as well get some good stuff instead of going stock. I just don't know the best option.