I decied yesterday to go for a drive in the mountains of colorado where I live.While climbing It seems though I lost a lot of power. I had to down shift to second with the engine wrapped ou just to stay up to 55 I have an 87 rc with 360 manual. What can I do to climb these hills with no problems?
need more horses
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Hows your clutch? Thanks Jason aka Honky Tonk
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Start with the obvious.
Give it a good tune up. New wires, plugs, rotor, oil flush, tranny flush, coolant flush, fuel filter, fuel system cleaner/treatment, full tank of premium gas, etc.
A free flowing air filter will free up some lost power. I like K&N and Holley.
Exhaust is a plus. Headers, dual 2.5" H-Pipe would work very well.
If you want to dive even more deeply into it, have your heads machined. Full valve job, gasket match job on the ports, some good valves and valve springs, and maybe even some roller tip rocker arms to get rid of some friction.
All will add power, most arent time consuming at all. Depends on how much you want to spend, and how much power you want. That head job will cost close to a grand at a good machine shop, while the tune up, filter, and exhaust may cost half that depending on brands, sales, and doing the work yourself.
Give it a good tune up. New wires, plugs, rotor, oil flush, tranny flush, coolant flush, fuel filter, fuel system cleaner/treatment, full tank of premium gas, etc.
A free flowing air filter will free up some lost power. I like K&N and Holley.
Exhaust is a plus. Headers, dual 2.5" H-Pipe would work very well.
If you want to dive even more deeply into it, have your heads machined. Full valve job, gasket match job on the ports, some good valves and valve springs, and maybe even some roller tip rocker arms to get rid of some friction.
All will add power, most arent time consuming at all. Depends on how much you want to spend, and how much power you want. That head job will cost close to a grand at a good machine shop, while the tune up, filter, and exhaust may cost half that depending on brands, sales, and doing the work yourself.
Hey JJ,
The high altitude of CO is limiting the available air-fuel charge size for your 360. Think about a mild cam with longer durations to increase the size of the air-fuel charge. The cam (and timing gear, while you're there) swap is easily done with the hand tools you have now. Other areas you can check for HP losses is compression lost through either the rings or the valves. Time for a rebuild??
The high altitude of CO is limiting the available air-fuel charge size for your 360. Think about a mild cam with longer durations to increase the size of the air-fuel charge. The cam (and timing gear, while you're there) swap is easily done with the hand tools you have now. Other areas you can check for HP losses is compression lost through either the rings or the valves. Time for a rebuild??
JJ,
I've got a mild RV cam in my 318 with stock manifolds and enlarged (3") exhaust sys (yes, I went with the larger cat converters) and enriched 2bbl K&N topped carb. I don't remember which brand cam was installed (during overhaul - 30/10/10), so I'm not sure what to tell you. I'm pleased with the performance of my cam though, you have to listen hard to hear the lope, but its there, and tons of low end torque and does extremely well at highway speeds. No vacuum sacrifice here, which was my main concern, for the brake booster and CAD system.
Rich
I've got a mild RV cam in my 318 with stock manifolds and enlarged (3") exhaust sys (yes, I went with the larger cat converters) and enriched 2bbl K&N topped carb. I don't remember which brand cam was installed (during overhaul - 30/10/10), so I'm not sure what to tell you. I'm pleased with the performance of my cam though, you have to listen hard to hear the lope, but its there, and tons of low end torque and does extremely well at highway speeds. No vacuum sacrifice here, which was my main concern, for the brake booster and CAD system.
Rich
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