Hello all, I have a 6 speed manual 1996 Firebird with the WS6 performance package and I'm wanting to add as much horsepower as possible on a limited budget. The car currently has a bad head gasket so I would like to go ahead and bump up the performance while I've got it apart. I'm thinking a cam and headers but what else do I need to do? The car will be a daily driver so I don't want to go extremely radical but I definitely want increased power. I'm new to this but I have a mechanic friend who will be doing most of the work for a reduced price so most of my budget will go to parts. I have around $2,000 to play with.

 

How many miles on the engine? That could determine the extent of parts replacement for a cam swap. For the exhaust, are you in a location with strict emissions inspection? That will determine the path forward on headers. Do you have any engine modifications at all? Do you have an upgraded catback? ...160-deg thermostat? Have you bypassed the throttle body coolant?

After the cam you will need a PCM tune. Typically can be done via mail-order.

 

275,000 on the body. The motor was supposedly rebuilt around 200,000. No emissions checks to worry about. I'm not sure if it's the factory catalytic converter but I know it has a Flowmaster cat back exhaust on it currently. No mods yet. I have a 160deg thermostat for it. I just recently got the car for a decent price so I'm willing to put some money into it but I don't want it to turn into a money pit. Lol

 

Wow...275K! That could be a record.

The heads are always key to good power production. You could send them off to be ported since you'll have them off anyway. Do a search for Lloyd Elliot or Portworks to see what can be had. He'll port the heads and recommend a cam that will get you a nice bump in power for a good $/HP ratio...

The 160 thermostat does little for power production and hurts fuel economy and emissions output UNLESS you tune the PCM for it. More timing advance and revisions to the fan set points are required. Add that modification when adding the heads/cam and have the tuner take care of them at one time. I used PCMFORLESS.com and was quite satisfied...