Upgrade advice - '89 Vette

[Hawk196]

I have a '89 vette that I've decided to invest some money in the engine.

I've seen some threads that state you can't just buy parts and install them (ie: cam, etc) and you have to set a goal on what you want to accomplish.

The goal I have for my car is to add some horse power and improve the low to mid range torque.

This is what my car has now. CAI, Borla catback exhaust, 2800 stall converter.

What I'd like top do:

cam set up/package (cam/lifters/rocker/springs/push rods). A mild/street cam.
New fuel pump, water pump and oil pump

Now here is where is gets interesting. My mechanic says if we do the cam, you're 16 bolts away from pulling the heads...then why not add some headers. I'm really not that knowledgeable with getting work done on the heads, but I think I'll do shorty headers.

I live in northern NJ, so a visit to Cartek for a custom tune is in the plans as well.

I really appreciate any thought/advice as I revive a car that I've had for 20+ years

I've looked around the web at places like jegs, eckelers, summit, but I'd like to get recommendations for places to order from once I finally decide what parts to get.

So ideas on good part brands and some specs on parts(cam, etc) that would get me to that goal of 60+ HP and more low to mid torque would be great

Thanks,
Hawk196

 

[Midnight 99]

Your engine is 25 years old. I highly recommend pulling it and going through it from end to end. Tank the block. At a minimum have the cylinders honed. New rings and bearings, cam bearings, timing set, etc... If your intention is to keep the original heads, have them ported and polished, a valve job, new valve springs, rocker arms and push rods. If you are keeping the original TPI intake, have it port matched to improve flow. In my opinion the 2 best cam manufacturers in the market today are Comp Cams and Lunati. I used Crane Cams in many of the engines I built back in the day but I don't have the faith in them that I did back then. Check out the Voodoo series from Lunati. You can make some horsepower gains without altering the external appearance of the engine if that is your goal. Good Luck!!

 

[Hawk196]

OK, after some research and good replies from members I've decided to go in this direction (remember this started with a leaky manifold and mushroomed, fix manifold, cam is right there, while doing the cam the heads are only 16 bolts away)

So here it is:

new manifold
cam & lifters
valve springs and roller rockers
a piece of exhaust pipe to replace cat (QQ plates, no emissions testing)
different gears
Dyno tune at Cartek(closest to Northern NJ)

The gears seem like a good upgrade to "wake it up"

I want to stay away from heads and headers(this is where the budget spins out of control)

Thoughts?

Now with those mods in mind, can you guys go into detail about specs(cam, etc..), brand/model and place to start ordering....money is burning a hole in my pocket.

TIA