Some "Smog Dogs" that can really run with the right stuff....

There's a lot of '70's and '80's cars out there that have a reputation as "Dogs", that actually have a ton of potential. Here's a few "Diamonds in the rough" that could really rock with very little work and expense. # 1. 1971-73 Mustang / Cougar, 1971-74 Torino / Montego.  Almost all of these have 351C power under the hood. The problem is most of them were saddled with 2bbl carburation,single exhaust, and salt-flats gearing like 2.80:1. Edelbrock offers 4bbl intakes that are compatible with 2V heads. The 2V heads are much better for low-end torque than the 4V heads anyway. A 4bbl carb and intake, headers and dual exhaust ( or even just duals behind the stock manifolds ) will make a huge difference in performance. So will a simple axle-ratio swap. Changing the 2.80:1 gears for something in the 3.25:1-3.50:1 range will cut as much as 1/2 a second off your 0-60 and 1/4 mile time without hurting drivability or freeway cruising rpm too much. These simple mods will make your kitten into a tiger.  If you want to get really badass Edelbrock and Trick Flow offer high-performance aluminum heads, and Crane, Lunati, Comp Cams and others offer cams,springs, roller rockers,etc. # 2. 1971-1980 Camaro / Type LT / Berlinetta. There are millions of base-model ( i.e.-non-Z/28 / SS models ) Camaros out there from the '70s. Almost all of them have the workhorse L48 350 small-block in them, that was considered a "dog", mainly because they were saddled with 8:1 compression, a lazy cam, and 2.56:1 or 2.73:1 gearing. The upside is there's more speed equipment for a small-block Chevy than anything else on the planet. Scoggin-Dickey offers complete, brand-new Iron Vortec heads for $650 a pair. Vortec heads breathe better than any other factory head and many aftermarket ones. Their 64cc combustion chambers ( most '70's 350's are 76cc ) will bump compression from 8.2:1 to about 9.5:1. The compression boost, and the increased breathing will easily give you 40-50 more hp. You'll need a Vortec style intake manifold, but you were going to have to replace the stocker anyway-so that's a no-brainer. Edelbrock and Weiand offer performance Vortec-4bbl intakes for about $200. GMPP still sells the L46 / L82 cam-which has 224 duration ( @ .050 ) and .450 / .460 lift. This cam pulls hard to 6,000 rpm and will work with a stock torque converter and power accesories. Headers and dual exhausts will complete the package-and you'll have an honest 375 hp and 400+ lbs of torque with a good idle and great drivability. Swapping the 2.56:1 gears for something in the 3.23:1-3.73:1 range will help you put all that power to the ground. With drag radials or some sticky street tires these simple changes will have you running very low 13s or very high 12s in the 1/4 for very low bucks. # 3. 1971-77 Firebird. T/A's and Formula 400s get all the glory, but the fact is there are hundreds of thousands of base-model and Esprit Firebirds out there with 350 Pontiac motivation. The tune is the same-they were saddled with 2bbl carburation, single exhausts, and salt-flats gearing like 2.56:1. A factory or aftermarket 4bbl carb and intake and headers and /or dual exhausts will make a huge difference in performance. A mild cam upgrade-the Edelbrock Performer grind works great in a low-compression Pontiac and will really "wake up" a 350. The factory "068" cam works nicely too. Swap the 2.56:1 gears for some 3.23:1-3.42:1s and people who drove or rode in the car before will ask you if you swapped in a 400 or 455!!  The improvement will be that immense. # 4. 1977-79 Firebird Formula / Trans-Am. A lot of these cars had 403 Olds motivation. They got a bad rap. The L78 400 / 4-speed "real" Pontiac models that the buff magazines worshipped also had 3.23:1 or 3.42:1 gears. The L80 403 models had TH350's and 2.41:1 gears!!  Think that'll make a difference in acceleration?  I had a 403 powered Trans-Am that really rocked with a few simple mods. An Edelbrock Performer intake and headers and dual exhausts will really wake up some ponies. You'll have to re-jet the carb to compensate for the increased breathing-I'd start by going .003 richer on the primary jets and the secondary metering rods and go from there. Edelbrock and Summit sell Q-jet parts and accessories. The other thing is change the plugs. They come with R46SZ AC plugs which have an .080 gap. Even GM's mighty HEI can't bridge that at high rpm. My T/A had headers and a Holley Street Dominator single-plane intake and it would not rev past 4,700 rpm. Simply switching to R45S plugs ( one range colder and a .040 gap ) caused it to pull hard to 5,400 rpm!! A gain of 700 rpm on the top end. Switch the 2.41:1 gears for some 3.23:1-3.42:1s and hang on!  # 5. 1982-87 Camaro / Firebird. The L69 / LB9 / L98 Z/28's, IROC-Z's and Formula and T/A models are sought after, but the fact is there are millions of base-model Camaros and Firebirds of this vintage out there that have the ubiquitous LG4 305 Chevy V8 that wheezed out about 165 hp. Most people's first instinct is to simply swap in a stompin' 350 or 383. You can certainly do that-it's a bolt-in swap-but many people don't have the money or the ability to do an engine swap. And some may not want a huge power infusion, but would like a little more oomph-just enough to not have to take crap from little boys in Honda Civics and soccer moms in Hemi Cherokees. For those I've got just the ticket. An Edelbrock Performer intake and matching cam will give you a huge boost in power and torque all through the range. Some shorty headers and a cat-back exhaust will really help. 5-speed models usually had 3.23:1-3.73:1 gears which is perfect. Automatics had 2.73:1s which isn't. Swap to some 3.42:1s. The other thing for automatics is they tend to stick in 2nd and 3rd gear under hard acceleration. B&M and TransGo offer kits ( it's usually a valve-body plate and some governor springs ) that will allow automatic kickdown to low gear at speeds less than 15 mph and full-throttle upshifts, especially from 2nd to 3rd to 4th. These simple changes will allow you to show your taillights to those smug '80's and '90's "5.0" Mustang owners. So if you have or want to buy one of the cars on this list-you now know you can put some hair on it's chest pretty easily and cheaply. Mastermind