I've done some lurking and poking around. I was going to leave my '95 Trans Am stock, but I recently found out the frame on my 69 Cougar is bent. And I feel like its time for something different, plus this car is in such nice shape and so beautiful...

Anyway, here are some questions. I know most of them have probally been answered in other threads, but anyway, heres go...

What is this optispark? What is so bad about it? What should I do so I dont have problems down the road?

How truly bad are the rear ends? Can they handle 400rwhp? Thats my goal, I'd like to see 11's on a summer driver.

How about the transmissions? The stock clutch? Should I replace those ASAP as well?

What would give me the most RELIABLE 400-450rwhp? FI, N/A, nitrous?

How much of a pain would it be to do at home, or should I pay a shop to do the work? I heard these engines aren't exactly easy to take out.

I am gonna have a nice budget to do this with, around 6 grand...and I dont exactly need the car done tommorrow either. I am no stranger to engines, but EFI is antoher thing...I just know my way around carbs, not really EFI. How much harder is it?

How about tuning? Will it be expensive?

Have fun guys, heh...

 

this should be a fun thread lol. it would be nice for all this information to be compacted into this one thread. i would answer these questions myself, but i don't know nearly as much as some of the experts on here, so i'll just sit on the sidelines for this one lol.

 

bump for whats going to be a very informative thread.

 

Yaaaaaaaaay I am useful.

 

The opti is nowhere near as bad as the internet ignorance would have you believe, name one other distributor that is routinely good for 100K on the stock cap and rotor.

With an M6 the power to run 11s will snap the axle on lauch if you hook which you will need to to run 11s, automatics are easier on it, softer hit.

The T56 is pretty tough, can't comment much on clutches.

400rwhp will get you 11s in a f-body IF you make it hook and drive decent and someone like www.advancedinduction.com and pretty easily deliver that on a stock shortblock NA, building the shortblock MIGHT increase reliability. Look at my sig my car is a summer daily driver and a bit on the porky side compared to f-bodies, NOTHING exotic or anything street shocks and steel wheels for the slick and street tires in front and I have not run it in any really good weather yet. This setup is easy to duplicate just by calling them and with traction and a good driver would be easy 11s in an f-body.

The engine is not bad to work on it is the f-body around it that is a PITA, but I say do the labor yourself.

EFI is MUCH easier to work with if you let it be, the instananious feedback the sensors give is wonderful and makes tuning much easier if only you are willing to learn A $100 ebay laptop, $65 in cables, $90 for Tunercat, and $90 for Datamaster and you can tune rather well, $200 for a wideband setup and you have all the tools to dial it in perfectly. Sounds like a lot but think what you have in timing lights and jets and playing with reading plugs and such which this replaces.

 

Its your distributor mounted on the front of the engine, just wait for it to go dead and but a nice Accel peice and get it from JC whitney or northern auto parts and save $100 over summit. They are not as bad as people think just don't spray them with water or anything with a garden hose or something.

How truly bad are the rear ends? Can they handle 400rwhp? Thats my goal, I'd like to see 11's on a summer driver.

They will handle that untill you get stickies and dump the clutch on a preped track, if you wpin you will be ok, if you don't and you dump it hard... BOOM!

How about the transmissions? The stock clutch? Should I replace those ASAP as well?

Tranny will be ok for what you want, get a clutch...

What would give me the most RELIABLE 400-450rwhp? FI, N/A, nitrous?

A buddy of mine indirocz28 has like a 95Z 6 speed car and put down 4XX and 501tq on a 100 shot with ported heads and a mild to moderate cam. His is a daily driver. Once I start spraying it will make low 400 something on a 150 shot. Get a good fuel pump regrardless.

How much of a pain would it be to do at home, or should I pay a shop to do the work? I heard these engines aren't exactly easy to take out.

Get a few buddies and a good manual or two and its not bad.
I have seen to many shops to crapy work. I just god done fixing the screw ups from a shop on a local turbo Supra....

I am gonna have a nice budget to do this with, around 6 grand...and I dont exactly need the car done tommorrow either. I am no stranger to engines, but EFI is antoher thing...I just know my way around carbs, not really EFI. How much harder is it?

Its easier in the long run, easier to tune, more reliable. Make sure you get rear suspension, my buddy I mention has stock stuff in the back and you cna feel it twisting when he gets on it LOL

How about tuning? Will it be expensive?

Not really, if its a basic engine with a mild hit of nitrous, it gets expensive with big turbos and all.
I would go, clutch, 12 bolt rear, heads and cam, 100-150 shot. That will be all you need I think along with the fuel pump and an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, some injectors would help LOL. Throttle body.... or just keep the stock motor, thow and exhaust on it, spray a 150 on it and have 400 som odd horse to the wheels LOL!!!!!!

 

please tell me the cougar will be saved!!!

 

Yes, it will be saved. Putting it aside untill after college. I have one last race against a big mouth this friday with it, and then she goes into hibernation.

Thanks for the replies guys. To be honest, I am considering paying a shop to do the work though. East Side performance is one town over from me, and my friend told me they are like a premiere F-body place.

The rear end is the only thing that really scares me. I have a 9 inch from another project still sitting around though, so I could probally fit that in there as well.

JUICED, can you find out what cam he has? That combo sounds right up my alley.

 

If the 9inch is not for an f-body it will take some work to get it in.

He has a Comp cams extreme energey 230/236 550/580 and 120 LSA.

If it was me I would go LE2 or something and not worry about having someone port the heads and all. He just got a set of injectors for it also and is going to go with a fuel pump and jump it up to a 150 shot.

Should put him near the 550RWTQ mark on the bottle... not sure how long the stock bottom end will last though.

 

The LE2 package does sound like a nice deal.

Thanks for all the answers by the way guys, Ill keep ya up to date with progress.

 

The Opti-Spark is a good design poorly executed by GM. It may not be as bad as people would have you believe, but it certainly is NOT the norm for one to last 100K miles either. It's a hit or miss piece of equipment. Aftermarket would definitely be the way to go there.

The rear ends are good for a stock car, but in no way shape or form meant for a vehicle producing 50% over what it initially had as stock. People have broken them in stock cars, others have used M6's and launched with slicks to the tune of 1.6 short times a few times before it broke. Fact of the matter is that this is a part that WILL break once you try to get serious off the line traction. Search around for a used 12 bolt (I got a 5K mile Strange for $1375 earlier this year).

Reliable, 450 RWHP, and LT1 don't go together. Actually, let me retract. If it's a purpose built motor with all parts working in sync, then yeah, it could be reliable. On a stock shortblock, I wouldn't expect to see stock-like reliability out of it ANY way that you get there. You can do it safely with a Supercharger and a WELL WORKING intercooler system and GOOD tune, but then LT1 will eventually show it's age. Heads/Cam is extremely difficult to get to that area on a stock bottom end. It will need a LOT of RPM's which is hard on a stock shortblock. Nitrous............Could work, could go boom if anything goes wrong in a heartbeat.

Tuning is the least of your worries. You can get a good tuner to do a LT1 dyno tune for under $400 with dyno time included. There's a TON of combo's out there and most likely what you're going to come up with isn't going to be anything extraordinary and someone will have a very close tune file already worked up.

Depending on what you already have, $6000 could be plenty to get you a nice N/A 383 from VRE or Golen or the like for about $3500, then snag a set of AI's CNC TFS heads/cam setup for $2300 I think, and you're looking at a motor that would most likely get you where you want. If you're starting off bone stock, that's going to be a little more difficult, but doable still. Consider this: Depending on mileage/condition, you could sell your old longblock for a decent chunk helping to offset some of the cost as the package/setup I mentioned above is NOT an exchange setup.

Transmissions: The T-56's are stout. For an 11 second 450 RWHP car, I'd think about a good clutch and that's it. Replace the driveshaft with a LS1 aluminum unit and you're good to go.

 

Interesting idea with the 383. The engine in my car has 80k miles, as does the rest of the car. This thing is in absolutely mint condition.

I am not looking for an EXTRAORDINARY car. I am looking for a fun, fast, summer driver. Sounds like this is gonna be a nice starting point...

I also thought about supercharging it, packages are pretty expensive, but also probally the least hastle work wise (I have slapped a supercharger on a Moostang in a weekend). What is the average power at the wheels for a superchargerd LT1 otherwise stock?

 

the opti is only a real headach on the 1992 corvette 1993-94 camaro corvette and t/a the newer vented one is much better if you r gona spend the money look in to the msd

 

Depends on the kit... go procharger if you do...

 

(Fastbird93) Reliable, 450 RWHP, and LT1 don't go together. Actually, let me retract. If it's a purpose built motor with all parts working in sync, then yeah, it could be reliable. On a stock shortblock, I wouldn't expect to see stock-like reliability out of it ANY way that you get there. You can do it safely with a Supercharger and a WELL WORKING intercooler system and GOOD tune, but then LT1 will eventually show it's age. Heads/Cam is extremely difficult to get to that area on a stock bottom end. It will need a LOT of RPM's which is hard on a stock shortblock. Nitrous............Could work, could go boom if anything goes wrong in a heartbeat...



I can't agree w/this statement as I have 3 friends who have VERY reliable DAILY DRIVEN lt1's that put down over 450rwhp... 2 of them autos...

 

That, my friend, is an oxymoron. My opti went out and I bought an Accel unit and it was a bad part. But, I can't let one bad part rule out the buch, there's always a lemon...

 

Same can be said about replacement AC delcos

 

my opti lasted 105k, and i think it may have just been a loose wire, not the opti, but since i already had the msd cap/rotor and had the waterpump out, we changed it anyway...my car doesnt miss a beat now and ive got about 8k on the new opti cap and 14k on the plugs/wires