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Exhausting efforts
If you are going to install that ominous motor you might as well bolt on a set of headers, the factory iron manifolds combined with the single exhaust flow burnt exhaust gasses about as good as a clogged artery with a kink in it. Dual exhaust is possible but it is difficult and it doesn't provide much clearance. But if you must have duals on your 82-92 'bird leave the stock pipe where it is and wrought another pipe down the driveline hump in the floor (on the opposite side of the torque arm) this should provide enough clearance. Then exit the pipe out by the gas tank (if your car already has dual outlets just wrought the pipe in the same place) but make sure it doesn't touch the tank. Remember to make sure that the pipe doesn't touch the underbody of the car either, if it does a fire in the interior carpet is inevitable.
But most people just buy an aftermarket performance single exhaust setup. This is the best way to deal with issues of ground clearance and they don't flow too bad for a single exhaust system. If your 3rd gen is lowered don't even consider the dual exhaust setup, you will rip it off going over a washboard. One other thing to consider when dealing with exhaust is emissions. If you live in an emissions controlled area (look at inductions r us) you will need a catalytic converter on each pipe. If you are going to stick with the single exhaust, you only need 1 pipe. Note that when G.M. started putting a catalytic converter on each pipe (right past the exhaust manifolds) there was an increase in power.
Inductions r us
To gain a few more under hood "ponies" you should get an aluminum intake manifold. Most of the time if a 3rd gen had a carburetor it had an aluminum intake manifold, but not always. The carburetors equipped on these rides were computer controlled, if you are a "meat and potatoes" hot rodder and you like things simple you can pretty much bolt on another carb. The carburetor most often found on these cars was the Rochester Quadra-jet. To get another carb look for most any carb from the 70s. If you switch carbs from a computer controlled to a non-computer controlled you will need to perform a few other tasks (see getting wired) to some other areas of the car. Intake manifolds are another part that must comply with emissions standards; in order to do this you must have an E.G.R (Exhaust gas Recirculation) valve. This device takes un-burnt gasses and puts them back into the motor to burn again; this is a surefire way to reduce emissions without loosing a lot of power. You will need a matching intake manifold, a non-E.G.R. manifold cannot be converted to support an E.G.R, but you can perform a "vice versa" swap.
There were also a lot of third gen f-bodies outfitted with fuel injection. The types of fuel injection are as follows. 1) Crossfire injection. This kind of injection does not work when you are trying to make more power, unless you are leaving your car "as is" it will need to be switched with another type of injection. 2) T.B.I. (Throttle Body Injection) this is a mediocre setup and is capable of supporting good power, it is not the "pick of the litter" of F.I. setups, but it can be made to perform quite well. 3) T.P.I (Tuned Port Injection) this is by far the most versatile of the fuel injections. It can support everything from a 300 cubic inch engine to a supercharged 500 cubic engine and beyond. It also has long intake runners, which promote low-end torque. If swapping from a carb to an E.F.I setup some different wiring will be needed. If you are swapping an aftermarket E.F.I., ask the manufacturer what will be needed. If your car has a fuel injection system (accept crossfire) you can pretty much leave it as is.
If you want a carb setup, there are a lot of intake manifolds to be considered. Single plenum intakes make more peak power, but not a lot of torque below about 3000 rpm. This manifold CAN be used on the street, but it is not advised. Dual plenum manifolds are good through 5000 rpm. They create a very broad torque curve, make more low-end torque and they are very streetable. Single plenum manifolds are best used with a cam that makes power after 2500 rpm, and a 2500-rpm stall converter (at least). A dual plenum can be used with a stock converter (unless you have a high rpm cam) and a low-and torque that makes peak power no later than 6000 rpm. Bottom line, single plenums are best used for racing; dual plenums are for a daily driver.
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