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Trans Am Horsepower


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

Since I don't know the exact horsepower of my V8 I'm planning on putting in my ZX, I figured I'd take a guess based upon the answer to this question:

How much horsepower does a regular old 1986 Trans Am have? My dad raced one of his friends who had a Trans Am, and beat it with his Camaro (The car that the V8 and transmission came from) by about 4 feet, and since it wasn't a 4 car length victory, just 4 feet, I figure the horsepower would be about the same. Now, based upon that figure, could someone pick me out the best cam at www.jegs.com (I prefer jegs cause theres one down the street from me icon_biggrin.gif ) and tell me what the part number is and how many horsepower the engine would have with it? icon_smile.gif (I don't know enough about engines yet to pick out the best cam, yet I'm attempting a V8 swap, with the help of my dad and uncle of course icon_smile.gif )

 

So really, what would the Trans Am horsepower be, and then a guess of how many horses the Trans Am engine have with the cam of your choice icon_smile.gif

 

I REALLY appreciate ANY help you guys could give me on this. Your contributions are not only helping an aspiring mechanic, but also helping to give new life to a poor broke down 1979 280ZX icon_smile.gif

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James,

If I were in your position, I would call one of the cam manufacturers and get the recommendations directly from them. They will know what works best and how much cam the valve train will handle without upgrading springs, valves and lifter etc. Get the figures from them and then choose the closest one offered by JEGS, unless someone has experience here with this exact setup......

Tim

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James, I concur with what Tim said. Based on the motor's condition, miles, and other high performance parts (if any) any cam manufacturer can tell you what they recommend for your given application (V8 transplant in a ZX). Then, thank them and go down to Jeg's and purchase a cam that is closest to those specs. I think you'll be happiest with that. Just guessing HP is like picking out a needle in a haystack because of all the variables involved that we don't know about--talk to the friendly folks at a cam manuf. help line--you'll be miles ahead if you do. icon_smile.gif

 

Davy

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Guest Anonymous

Okie dokie...See what I mean about not knowing that much about engines yet? :P

 

So then what do those Trans Ams have then? A regular old stock straight from the factory 1986 Pontiac Trans Am.

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Before you go comparing apples and oranges, what motor do you have? In '86 they had a 165 hp 4bbl, a 215 hp tpi (both 305s) and a 235 hp tpi (350) The Pontiac and Chevy motors were identical except for things like airboxes or other packaging constraints. Most of the major cam manufacturers have excellent products. Crane is my first choice for a driver because they are significantly cheaper than most. They also have emissions legal camshafts. Another choice is one of the flat tappet cam kits from summit designed for the tpi motors. Should work fine in a carb application as well. Remember, the same size cam in a 305 will be effectively larger than in a 350.

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Guest Anonymous

Well, my motor is a stock '74 Nova 350 engine, for the exception of a GM high performance aluminum intake and a holley 4 barrel carb. I figure the Trans Am engine would be around the same horsepower as my Nova/Camaro engine since we raced and won, but not by a whole lot, and I always thought Trans Ams were pretty much the same as a Camaro for the exception of a few cosmetic things here and there.

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Without knowing which engine the TA had, I couldn't make a very accurate guess as to your hp. Too many other variables such as traction, launch, gearing etc. in the mix to base it on a race. A typical mid 70's smogger v8 with intake and headers (stock cam) would probably be in the 200-220 hp range.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Justin

I'm not to familiar with 3rd gens, but I'm assuming since it's a T/A and not a Firebird it'd have a TPI 305 at the very least.

 

What you have to keep in mind with TPI motors, is that although they look cool, they run out of steam up past 4500 rpm or so... On the other hand they're torquey as all hell. I believe the iron headed L98 in F-body was rated at something like 340 ft-lbs while only putting out 240hp.

 

This is due to the freakin' 17" long intake runners. Very good at generating port velocity, but too long to fill the cylinders efficiently at high rpms. This is something to keep in mind when selecting the cam. It's always tempting to get a nice lopey high lift, high duration, narrow LSA cam... but it would be sorely mismatched with your intake and would yield disappointing results.

 

If you're looking to mod the motor to generate high hp numbers I'd seriously look into starting off with the LT1 style miniram intake setup.

 

Of course, this is all assuming that it's a TPI motor.

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Guest Anonymous

Teehee...I had a '86 T/A about a year ago...have to say it's the best car I've had so far. I think all the T/A's were Tuned Ports, some 305's, some 350's...mine was said to have the 305, but it ran like a scalded ape...anyways, you might want to check out some of Crane's Compucams. Designed to work with specific cars, yada yada yada...now, i gotta get back to making the Z the best car I've ever owned....

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