New guy writing a novel

[T-Man]

Hey, im the new guy around here, and feel WAY out of my league, but here I go anyway. Betterthanyou recccomended me here. I have a 1987 Chevy S-10 with a 2.8l V6. I have a new exhaust on it, a 2.5" dumping infront of the rear wheel, and I have put an 360 degree airfilter on it. I am gonna pull the AIR pump here in a week or so, just to clear out engine space. The only other mod I have is a little EGR restriction I have done. Here is my goal. I want to build the fastest STREETABLE naturally aspirated 2.8 that I can build. It needs to pull down at least 14 mpg as I drive 220 miles a week to see my girlfriend. I have pulleys onthe list next of mods. Those should be on in the next month or so. I am a poor college student, so my truck budget is pretty slim, and I am a junkyard king. I am also working on a TB assembly, milling off the top rings, and gonna polish it. Thanks guys

[sharkey]

RE: New guy writing a novel

well, im building a pretty stout 2.8l ironhead motor for my cavalier right now. from what i figure from my desktop dyno, i should be pushing 200hp. that should drop me into the mid 14s in a 2700lb car. this motor is likely gonna cost about $2500 canadian

now if you were to duplicate what i was doing, im guessing you may hit low 15s. an s10 is a lot heavyer than a j body.

what i would recomend doing is find a complete 3.4l, wiring harness and ecm from a 93-95 camaro with a standard tranny (the auto trans is electronic controlled by the ecm, if the tranny isnt hooked to the ecm it sets the ecm into limp mode). this will give you sfi- port fuel injection (better gas mialage than tb) and 160hp on a bolt in motor. then do some things like porting heads, a cam, ect and getting that 14 second run would be more feasable.

or just drop a 4.3l or a 350 in it.

[T-Man]

i dont mean to be a dick, but i dont wana put a 3.4 or any other motor in it RIGHT NOW down the line its gonna have a small block, but right now, i want to build the 2.8

[sharkey]

ok no prob, just a sugestion. i usualy recomend trying to get the most out of what you have, but in the case of an easy and cheap swap that will yeild you a lot less money or better power, i recomend that.

if your goinbg to build up a 2.8l that may get you into the 14s, its gonna cost you. there are few bolt on mods. here is some things that are going into my motor.

-probe industries sportsman race pistons- they are 9.5:1 forged pistons. they are only avalible from www.fierostore.com and you must run the specific rings for them.
-clevite 77 main, rod, and cam bearings
-high volume oil pump
-arp rod bolts
-arp main studs
-custom ground solid roller crower cam
-stainless valves
-1.6:1 crane cams full roller rockers

machining
-hot tank and magnuflux block and heads
-mag rods
-beam polish, resize, and machine wrist pin bore for floating pins
-bore block
-balance rotating assembly
-square deck block
-resurface heads
-port heads

thats a short list off the top of my head. when you price out to build a motor, figure $750- $1000 in just machining alone (not including head porting, that can cost $1000s in itself depending on what you want).

[Juglenaut]

Granted a 3.4 has a larger block, but it is by no means a Bigblock.

I would have to agree a 3.4L would be more practical as less money would be needed after the swap to meet up with a fully modled 2.8L.

You should be able to drop a 350 SBC in there, and still can cost less than a modled 2.8L.

SBC=Small Block Chevy, if you were wondering.

Of course you don't have to go out and buy the most radical 350 out there, just find a decent 350 block as a starting point, later get a perf crank, then later get pistons, and so on.

You can even use a 350 sm block and make a 383 stroker monster.

If you really want and have limited gains stick with the 2.8L, as there is a brick wall you will reach when it comes to reliability and power comparison to and engine designed around high power levels.

[1QUICKHATCH]

well if your on a thight budget stick with the stock short block, port the heads, add a cam somthing like a crane 260 or 272, headers, lots of tuning. Then work on the suspension and the rear gear. should keep you happy till you get a sbc in it!

[614streets]

Your extremly limited. Camshaft , 400 tbi (4.3 or holley) and headers.
Also Nitrous Oxide.

I still have a VIN R S10.

http://614streets.com

[T-Man]

Thank you to whoever it was that said that SBC is a small block chevy. I have quite a bit of technial knowledge. Hell im going to school with a major in automotive technology. (4 year program, so im not gonna be turning wrenches all my life) I know this block has limitations, but I want to see what can be done. I know what has been done, but I want to know what I can do. First off, my mods need to be weekend projects. I am 4 hours away from my garage. Which means Im also 4 hours away from my roll away tool box. I have a small , but complete one here at school. That is why the swap is out of the question. I dont have the time or the place to do that. If I can get a garage to work in then it might be a different story. I am looking for bolt ons and tuning tips for now. I am working on the TB right now to make it more effecient, and am soon gonna put a 4.3 tb and manfold to fit on it soon.

[sharkey]

being you have to have weekend projects, id say gen another set of heads and an intake and start porting in your spare time. put some good valve spring in them, get a 3 angle valve job, and have them all together. it would be easy to bolt on a pair of heads in a weekend.

[Juglenaut]

i dont mean to be a dick, but i dont wana put a 3.4 or any other motor in it RIGHT NOW down the line its gonna have a small block, but right now, i want to build the 2.8

Sounds like you are saying or impling a 3.4L is a bigblock.

I was using sarcasim. Grammer just rolls off, I couldn't figure out where to place another comma or perhaps a period.

Don't worry I am no better on wording given the amount of beers I have had or lack of coffee, one of the 2.

[X11_STE]

Since it seems like your determined to stick with the 2.8 for now (good choice btw 2.8's are great motors) here are my recommendations (mostly good easy weekend warrior projects). These may take a little bit of looking around to find but would be well worth it in the end. Since your truck is an '87 I'm going to assume it has the thottle body crap (sorry, no offense, I just dont like them).
Parts List:
A Holley 390cfm 4bbl. Carb (You could get a bigger carb but them you'd be flooding the motor and have tunablity problems).
A Edelbrock Torker II Hi rise intake (Yes, they make them for the 2.8 S-10).
Find a Citation X-11, Fiero, or an A-body (Celeb, 6k, ect) (in the bone yard) that has the H.O. motor and grab the heads. On a Citation X-11 the best way to tell if the motor is an HO or no is to look at the VIN, if the motor code is an X the keep looking, if it's a Z you've hit the jackpot. On the Fiero, the 2.8 was always an HO. The other cars, find a first gen (iron head) MPFI. The HO heads had bigger valves and are easier to work with.
Finally, I would recommend finding a good cam. Edelbrock has a nice one. If your trying to stay GM, find an X-11 bumpstick. Very good for power. This may take some trying but is worth it. BTW I have a early NOS X-11 cam F/S.
This should keep ya busy for awhile and leave you with something you can be happy with until you swap the SBC in.
OOOOHHH, before I forget, I STRONGLY recommend that you change the oil pump. The 2.8 stock pump is notoriously weak and prone to failure (I've seen a 2.8 eat 3 in 2 years!). When you replace the pump get a HIGH VOLUME pump, NOT the HIGH PRESSURE. The hi press will destroy your engine.
Any questions kick me a PM,
Jeremiah
P.S. Sometimes you can get and find all these items in one shot cheap, ie I bought an '84 X-11 for $500 that has the carb, intake, heads, and all. Reason the car was so cheap, it has a snapped crank!

[sharkey]

fyi, there were 2 castings of ironheads, the small valves and big valves (also known as HO or fuel injected). anything with fuel injection has the big valves, so basicly anything 86+

[geoffinbc]

He has big valve heads already. The Edelbrock intake is lame it has small ports on one side and big ones on the other. Same with their matchig headers. This is done so one bank makes high rpm power and the other bank makes low rpm power. It makes the overall torque curve more even.

In actual fact the stock TBI manifold is quite good. It has plenty of material to allow for porting. If you jump to a 4.3L TB coupled with a port job you would have quite a well flowing manifold.

[X11_STE]

Sharkey, I know. Thats why I explained how to find the HO heads.
Betterthanyou, your right, he does have the big valved heads but if he found a set in the bone yard, then he'd have something to p&p or play with/rebuild. Also, if you look at the 350's from the '70's, the trucks heads were more for grunt torque whereas the camaro's were more for hp. Honestly I wouldnt put it past GM to continue that trick today. And IF GM did this in the '80's putting X-11 or fiero heads on would be better for performance. As far as the edelbrock stuff, I honestly cant say anything as the car I bought is still complete. But can you bolt up a 4bbl carb to the T/B manifolds w/o modification? As a matter of personal preferance, I would take a carb over a T/B anyday.

[Doubt_Incarnate]

if your doing an sbc swap, just save your money. the 2.8's are cool, but v8's are like 2 times the size, twice the cool. no point in wasting time/money on a teaser. unless its practice for you. as for porting iron heads there isnt a whole lot you can do. i dont know much about the s-10's but i think they have a 8.5:1 cr. werent they only 105hp? the HO motors were 120 or so, if you swap pistons and cams, add a set of headers, you should be close to 150 i think, then your tb mod, pulleys, youve got the real exhaust already. how about a case evac setup? draw a vacuum in the block theres been a few hp found there. alot of times i see kits that use the exhaust system to draw this out, no load from a pump. find another way to pump water other than the motor.

would the rockers from a v8 work? assuming they were a higher ratio making such a thing worth trying. i no iron heas arent splayed, so they might fit.