1979 Camaro Opinions

[Anchorism]

Ok so my friend just bought a 1979 Camaro with a base 350. I told him i would help him get it running right, and get him on his feet into the muscle car world. But, i need some opinions. Its currently running, but not so great. I believe its the ignition system, so i recommended he upgrade the plugs, wires, and distributor. I know there are many different brands, and personally i like the MSD with NGK Plugs. Any others that run great with a base carbuerated 350?

[grn95t/a]

hard to go wrong with msd stuff, would also recommend a ign box

[blazin_slp_z28]

base 350's in 79 had roughly 175/185 hp. very low compression and archaic emissions controls. unless he's doing a total rebuild, i wouldn't put a whole lot of $$ into high end stuff. the HEI distributor and a good set of plug wires should do just fine. most problems on those carb'd cars come from vacuum leaks as they used vacuum to control just about everything. being that old, the hoses are probably cracked and dry rotted. might get some better performance by going to a 600 cfm 4150 holley (with adapter plate since it's a rochester quadra-junk on there now). basic tune up with fuel filter change should help. don't forget the timing light!!!!! good luck. if he needs some spare parts, let me know, i might have a few lying around and if not, i know everywhere on the web to get that stuff.

[socalmach]

John, your our hero!!

[blazin_slp_z28]

such is life in mullet world.......having owned 4 and one in the garage, ya learn a thing or two.....that or it's the mullet and years of early 80's music...

specs.
8.2:1 compression
170hp@3800/270 ft.lbs@2400
mechanical timing should be (no vacuum advance, meaning, disconnect and plug the line going to the vacuum advance on the distributor):
-6 @idle
0@1100
12@1600
16@2400
22@4600

with vacuum lines hooked up and a gage installed, shourld be 0 degrees at 4" vacuum and 24 degrees at 11"...

those are factory specs

with a dyno and some tweaking, you can gain some by adjusting a little here and there...i'm sure ed could tweak it right in.

[Anchorism]

I believe the previous owner had installed a eldelbrock 4-barrel, but ill look at it this weekend to make sure. I am going to talk my friend into the MSD and NGK though.... if hes going to build this car, he needs to build it right.

[novajoe]

Before you start do a few basic checks. Check all vacume lines, look at the old plugs (a good indicator of the condition of the motor) and do a compesion test on all clynders, This will help you get it tuned in with as little problem as posable. The MSD is overkill on that motor with out a head cam swap. If the dist is bad or worn you can get a new HEI for about $50 that will work as good as the MSD on that (stock) motor.

[grn95t/a]

i still say go with the msd stuff if his future plans are to build hp, no need to buy stock stuff now and performance stuff later. just a waste of money, which is hard to come by these days. but it all really depends on what his future plans are. just want a good running stock motor. then yes stock stuff is fine.

[blazin_slp_z28]

that's what it sounded like to me, a stock motor with good looks....hard to get performance from 8.2:1 compression unless it's blown

[novajoe]

Nowdays you can buy a crate motor cheaper than rebuilding the stock motor.

[cooter]

one major thing DO NOT PUT NGK PLUGS IN IT !!!!!!! ngk is for imports. Trust me in that car run ac delcos. I live in hampton and have a 79 also if u need help let me know. It is a big debate on plugs and with my experience ngk/ bosch imports. delco for gm, autolite for ford and champion for chrysler. I have seen it first hand guys buy the cheap plug or some high end plugs and put it in thier cars and it runs ok for a while then a miss will enco

[grn95t/a]

never had a problem with ngk's in any of my gm's. and it's funny too, that a ton of people using nitrous use and recommend ngk's for the lt1 and lsx engines. just go to ls1tech, ltxtech, z28.com, camaroz28.com, nitroustech.com and go to the nitrous sections and do a search on plugs. the most run and recommended plug is the ngk. but of course they will be coming out more often than a regular plug change interval. but still if it were the case as you say then they wouldn't be in there in the first place.

not trying to bash you dude, just adding my 2cents...

[Jazz]

Actually NGK's are a good plug and recommended for a lot of boosted and turbo applications. Hard to beat for the money.