got some experience with american engines lately., i spent all winter buying up tools for this Options

[3sgteLuke]

about a week ago my buddy and i went half and half on an old camaro engine thats been sittinging around in a shop since '89. its your typical small black and i figured id get an engine teardown and rebuild under my belt. first impressions really highlighted the reason for the deterioration of american brands over the years. dont flame, i like some american cars, camaros included, but the further we dug into this engine the more i was turned toward japanese engineering. for one thing the routing of all the coolant passages was ridiculous, im not gonna get into detail but wouldnt you want to cool the hottest part of the engine first? then the whole rocker mess started. To require such an overbearing system for just two valves per cylinder... sigh. The reason behind low revs became apparent when we worked out way to the crank case, at first glance everything looks alright but after the oil slaked off the internals just looked sloppy, and poorly machined like it there wasnt any real effort in design... im not sure if that makes sense but i know when a part has been poured over time and again to perfect it as much as possible. maybe im just splitting hairs but all the japanese engines I had seen apart put a better impression on me, especially mazda bp motors with their ever useful piston squirters. For now were gonna rip everything out check it, clean it, then reassemble with new gaskets to sell to our buddy dave. So far all parts are well with spec (plastigage ftw!) since the motor only had 80k on it. well probably going to change the water pump and oil pump before slapping on a holly carb and such. dave wants it to replace his 350... why? i dont know, but his camaro runs like ass with his 5.7 and shot tranny. long story short japanese > american for a million reason and counting.