I figure I will have to rebuild this '80 I'm thinking about buying.



Here's my questions:

If I stuck with the 12a motor, how much could I mod it to get more HP out of it, but not affect how long it would last, and still be a good daily driver? What kind of mods should I do and what's a reasonable HP goal?



Same question if I decide to drop a 13b in it...



Does that make sense?

Depends how hard you drive it. You could bridge it and not bag on it all the time. Would probably last quite a long time.

A 13B with carb conversion, mild primary and large secondary street port / sixth ports, standard intake and exhaust (header, cat back) mods could get around 170ish rwhp and be pretty streetable and reliable. I hope that is enough for a 2300 pound car.

No matter the set up you choose you have to reduce heat. Thats your real enemey.

--upgrade radiator

--upgrade oil cooler , or just get another one and have a duel set up

--HEADERS, a must

--New cat



as far as engine rebuild go go to Atkins web page

-- two piece 2mm apex seals, they are a tand wider. so they reduce wear

--inner and outer oil seals , they are not factory oil seals they are better.



The cool thing is that these will also let more HP flow.



good luck

Thanks for the info.

I'd love to have plenty of power and still have it last forever as a daily driver.