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If the car dies in sudden stops then something isn't right... Not supposed to do that. Not fun either unless you like to have to put it in Neutral everytime you stop. Go through all that just for the sound isn't worth it. I say just do the headers and glass packs and leave it at that for now. Maybe later a cam upgrade and more will be a good idea but for starters do just the Headers and Glasspacks.
That's my oppinion at least.

the 268H is a friendly cam in a stock motor, thats what it was designed for, the guy wasnt asking for a killer cam and a 290 duration cam is over kill, do not use a cam with over 218 degree at .050, that would be the most i personally would use for a basic stock set up, anything more and a looser convertor and gears are required plus top end work as well. the 268 is a bit bigger than an RV cam............if still concerned go down to a 262H play it safe.........or phone comp cams and they will proboly give the same advice i gave, keeping it street friendly was your request, was it not?

Order the cam ground on a 104 or 106 degree centerline. That'll give you the lope you want.

One last consideration - if this is an '87, does it have the full-on computer control, and TBI? If so, adjusting idle isn't practical, as the computer controls it, and fooling too much with the mixture, as is done with a cam mod, will - er - confuse the computer due to out-of-spec inputs. If this is the case (and I'm not sure about the '87 car - my '88 Chevy pickup had the full-on computer control), you'll need to see about a remapped chip for the ECM (Electronic Control Module).

If you decide to just defeat the computer, it may affect transmission operation. And you'll need to replace the TBI setup with a carb.

It's all do-able, but why I don't fool with the newer cars. Every time I take my fuel injected Harley in for a performance mod, I get to pay the fee for remapping the fuel. The alternative is an engine that may run too lean, which creates heating problems. On the bike, it turns the nice chrome pipes a lovely blue... On the car, it can create problems with the cat and so forth. My friend's daughter wanted to put a flowmaster on her 2003 GMC pickup, and was told that she'd need to buy the performance remap to do that. Or to add the K&N air filter.

What passed for computer control in 1987 was definitely looser than the OBD-II setups today, but you should consider this as you change parameters.

Good luck.

doing the exhaust first sounds like a good idea. no, theres no fuel injector computer thingies or anything like that. its about as simple as a chevy 20 years older. not that i know anything about chevys that are 20 years older. but still. it makes sense in my head. but that could be a problem...considering i just hit my head pretty hard when i wrecked my caprice a couple hours ago. i flew (yes i flew) off the road doing about 55, hit some signs, a mailbox, and smashed into a big hill/bank thing with mulch all over it. the car is pretty banged up. financially, this stuff ive been asking about is quite a ways away now. thanks for the help. ill put pictures up if you wanna see how messed up the car is. im glad it wasnt a honda or something or i might not be here. i was able to drive it right to the glass shop down the road.

Man, I am glad your ok! Post some pics if you can then, I wanna see how bad it is. Yeah those Honda's and Jap crap are not safe at all.

ouchies. i already got a new windshield, which was smashed.

ouchies. i already got a new windshield, which was smashed. the fan shroud got pushed into the fan which i tore off to clear it. the passenger side door didnt close very well. it was bent so i hit it with a hammer till i got it as close as i could to fitting right. other than that stuff my car is fine.

Probably be best, easiest and cheapest to go to a junk yard and find another door....

yeah...new door and fender from a scrap yard.......much easier than trying to pull those dents out. what year is the engine?

im going to look at an 85 caprice i was told about in a junkyard near me. are the parts interchangable? i think they are the same pretty much. anyway. heres a pic of the other side. not as bad. the front fender is a little crooked and stuff.

Only way to tell is to just go look at it. I think it will fit though. A 85 should fit a 87 and 88.

The caprice body used the same parts up till 91. Parts will swap from 82- 91 for sure, anything before that is iffy. As for your timing, there is some leeway. you can advance your timing up untill it pings. At that point, the computer backs the timing off 2 degrees from total. If you have a carb on your motor, its a Feedback style. Mixture is controlled by a solonoid, which is regulated by the computer based on info from the o2 sensor. If yours hasnt been swapped, do It. Youll appreciate it.

up to 1990 will work, not 1991.

You have an 87 to it's a CC carb on a 305, or CC carb on a 350 (if it's a police 9C1 model), or a TBI atop a 4.3 v6. You probably have the 305.

IMO you could obtain the entire wiring harness + ECM + intake manifold + TBI and swap out the computer controlled carb for the TBI injection. That also could be some work, especially for you. So if the CC carb works ok, then leave it and procede straight to the exhaust.

Headers are nice but they'll be louder, the engine bay will run hotter, and you can do nearly as well on a near stock engine by keeping the stock manifolds, and adding full dual exhaust + aftermarket mufflers + low restriction cats. The double hump trans crossmember from a 94-96 Caprice/Impala can be made to work on your car, and it would also allow the clearance for the 94-96 N10 factory duals. More detail on exhaust swaps is better left to the Impala SS forums (so I don't need to repeat old info here).

A dual exhaust is the best thing you could do for your car, hands down.

The next best thing would be a cam swap, or DIY head porting, but those are a lot more work. So to keep it cheap/simple, you want to read the DIY pages on how to make a factory-looking dual-snout air cleaner using junkyard parts. Then you port the snouts with flex hose to the radiator frame.

"you want to read the DIY pages"

Where do you find the DIY area???

Charles