i just bought a 1976 camaro that is original with the original 250 it runs as is but its not a perfect i dont know to much about these cars so i would like to know information about maintenance and issues with this car my goal for this car is to possibly turn it into a low grade drag car to play with at the track on weekends so any tips for performance or ways i can upgraded it would be nice i am keeping the engine as is not swapping it since a i6 with power is unique i am young and in college so i am kinda on a limited budget and dont know to much about this subject but i appreciate older cars and would like to keep it as original as i can but also with more power, thank you in advance any help or information will be greatly appreciated
Oh snap!!!! I can't believe I missed this thread. Another inline 2nd Gen Camaro owner. Same year as my first and second Camaro too. I have a '78. Differences between mine and yours are minor. I have posted on the PCV, EGR, THERMAC, EVAP, and EFE hookups up in other threads.
I'm in Illinois, so no-one sniffs my car. The previous owner had removed the exhaust from the catalytic converter on back, only the header pipe present. So I replaced that with a 2.5" pipe and the cat-back from the '77-'81 Z28 with dual resonators. I'm considering going with the Holley 390cfm, Offy intake, and Langdon cast headers. So the EFE valve to the exhaust manifold will be gone, and I just remove the steel vac lines that lead to the other side of the block and plug the temp valve hole there. It is replaced by the water heat from Langdon's Heat Plate on the Offy intake. There's no EGR provision, so I have to take the vac line leading to that off. But it is part of a line going to the EVAP canister, so I have to remove the tee that leads to the EGR and keep that line and the temp valve on the side of the water neck. I will replace the EVAP canister so that it has fresh carbon in it. There is a second valve on the EVAP this is in the carbs on V8s, but this one collects fuel vapor from the carb while the engine is off and directs it to the EVAP. The Holley is an open bowl design, so it does not have a hookup for this line. I may just put a port on the bottom of the air cleaner for it to hook to, or just delete those lines and use a V8 EVAP canister instead. To keep the air intake (I've created a secret ram air vent through the left parking lamp) which uses cool air instead of hot underwood air, I will use a baseplate off a 10"x2" open air filter and mount it to the bottom of the stock 10"x2" unit with the middle cut out. So my THERMAC vac line will still be attached and I'll use the filter in the air cleaner for the PCV system. And lastly there is the vac line to the advance which passes through the temp valve on the water neck, gotta keep this obviously.
I will find a diagram of your system and see if it is the same as mine. I assume this is a federal car and not a CA car with AIR injectors? I'll post some photos on the lines to show how it all goes together later.
BTW you have the first version of the integrated cylinder head and intake that they used in '75 and '76. Mine is the second version used on the last of the inline car engines from '77 to '78 (went back to the non-integrated head and intake in '79 for the last year the Camaro and Nova had an inline). So our two top ends might be a little different. It will be interesting to compare the two. I know their valve covers are different from each other and the non-integrated cover.
