LSX

My brother just picked up a Formula 350 TPI car yesterday... and we both come from the world of LS1s.. so.. what does it take to pull some decent times in these cars? What does your average exhaust and bolt on cars run with a converter? Pretty easy to run some 12s at least?...Any advice on the route to take? Thanks for the input.

Toyota h8r

save yourself a headache or 5.........pull the tpi and drop a bone stock ls1/ls2 in....

problem solved.....i went and did a tpi build and was severely disappointed


i used to own a lt1/t56 trans am......and the switch to built l98 is a joke

to get the tpi motors running hard basically you need to ditch the top end of the motor and cam..

--Holley stealth ram/mini-ram
--afr/world product heads
--lt1/lt4 hotcam
--lot of tuning
--converter
--rebuild 700r4 to hold power or do strong 5spd/6spd swap
--gear change

for all that do a ls2 swap...and reap the rewards of the superior design and weight reduction of LS motors.....

seriously i built one motor.....now i have to redo this car

LSX

Well I have owned four 4th gens (two LT1s and Two LS1s) so I understand that this TPI car wont be smokin' LSXs necessarily.. I just want to know the best route to take on a budget (what works what doesnt type thing)...

I assume TB...Longtubes...Cat-Back...3.73s...Stall (what size do these motors like?)...Maybe some N2O to take us the rest of the way?....

TPI

Its kinda lame that the first response the dude gets here after he and
his brother just bought a really nice car, is derogatory toward TPI.
To be honest, just having one TPI, LT1, and a LS car would be my dream
garage.

All of 'em excel at something and all are very fun.

12's are not difficult to get, but suspension plays a bigger role
when you start making the power. You wont see 12's at all with
the factory heads, cam and exhaust, the best you could possibly
come is mid 13's which is respectable anyway. Of course the only
exception to this would be NOS.

Heads, heads, heads! Aluminum L98 heads, AFR 195's or the Vortec
L31 truck heads are nice options.. but, there is like 20 different ways
you could go. To make any kind of power, you gotta go aftermarket
or update em! Ive been wanting a pair of vortecs for a long time now...

You wont have to touch the rotating assembly, unless she is old
and needs it. Exhaust id go with the SLP 1 3/4inch header if you
pushing for 12s, or Long tubes to a true dual setup, if you have
the capability. Everything else falls with cam profile, tune, injector size.

It does take a little bit of know how to gets these cars moving,
not like the LS where you buy a cam and have 430 horse. So,
if your not trying to turn a wrench... NOS can get you running
right along with your other F-bodies without too much sweat.

Don't know how long she'll last though!

NemeSS-TyranT

iTrader: (1)

if youre serious on going fast with a 3rd gen, its either a conventional sbc heads/intake or lsx. not even a lt1. i ditched the tpi in favor of warmed over sbc and went 10.8's. didnt make sense to me to build up a big ci sbc anymore. lsx will make more power with oem heads.
all my cars are lsx power nuff said

TPI

Dont buy a TB just yet, not until it needs it, the 48mm will get the job done.
I wouldnt touch stall/gears or anything till your motor is running, then you can
get creative with the complementary stuff.

You could upgrade the TPI runners with SLP siamese or the AS&M LTRs,
which I love to death. And, port the intake base moderately/buy aftermarket
If you go with better flowing heads.

N20 could possibly end the discussion entirely!

Toyota h8r

see another person believes in my idea lol....get rid of 80's gm screw up AKA TPI and spend money wisly on a ls swap

MTXaudioSYSTM

same thing i have . 90 formula

LSX

My brother and I both understand the idea behind the LS1 swap...I have had an 01 SS and now have a 98 SS and my brother had a 99 WS6....

He cant afford to have the downtime or major teardown for an LS1 swap, so we want to take the TPI as far as we can... If that means Carb swap or spray, then thats what he will do... but a motor swap is out for right now anyway...

SO...Is the TPI Longblock no different then any old school SBC or are there some key differences? I appreciate the info..

Toyota h8r

the 350 long block is same......the heads have funny center four bolts in intake that are at 72 degrees vs older heads having all intake bolts at 90 degrees to mating surface. If you decide to go carb all it means is you have to oblong the center 4 bolt holes in the intake. Other than that its a 9.7:1 compression and 1 piece rear main seal motor

NemeSS-TyranT

iTrader: (1)

u can use a ltx hot cam or so, and go with standard sbc heads and intake with carb. it will all work with tpi roller block. throw a plate on there and go match some ls1's.
my sbc heads flow pretty much same flow as stock ls6
fs too!

LSX

In the long run are we way better off swapping to a carb'd set-up? Seems that some of the TPI stuff is pricey enough to warrant the swap. ie. $400+ for runners alone?

NemeSS-TyranT

iTrader: (1)

whats the point of the runners, if the heads are the prob.
a torker2 intake cost around 100$ and some strong alum heads will make some power. get some decent heads, intake, and even with stock cam the improvement will be noticeable.

TPI

have no idea what happened, computer latency!

TPI

I uttered basically the same thing as the two posts up above, except
for runners. They wont be money well spent in stock form... but read
the rest of my post.

LSX

Gotcha...heads are the main pitfall...

That being said... with some decent heads the runners are next in the restriction line-up? Followed by TB at that point probably?...

So does the TPI intake have standard SBC intake angle? Or does it have the Vortec profile?...

Shadygrady

iTrader: (3)

Just my But I like my tpi.Restrictive?Yes.There are plenty of people iin the 12`s with modified tpi.Even more with aftermarket port FI systems.125 shot will put stock 5.7 tpi in 12`s.I`ve seen it.If I had the money I`d go heads,cam,Holley stealth ram with injecters and proper tune 12`s should be easy.HSR can be picked up pretty cheap.I picked up slp runners and tpis base(not yet installed) for less than 500 bucks.Should wake my engine up pretty well.Should be low 13`s or better.Mid 13`s with bone stock TPI.Know a guy that got 12.9 with stock heads and cam.Just a stall and sticky tires and tune.Think he was running HSR though.Read the stickies on top of TPI board.

If all else fails you could go the route a guy around the corner from me went.He got tired of fooling with v8`s all together in his 88 iroc.Now hes got SFI 3.8 turbo buick power running low 10`s

TPIPontiac350

Good Info for sure appreciate it! Im LSX's brother. I love this car i just wanna get it going and i appreciate the info. So what size Stall is good in these 3rd gens?

avro206

I have quite a few mods...and a 2400 stall. I don't think you'd need higher then that considering your doing less mods.

Just IMO, do a cam before heads. Heads are not the problem. Stock cam is pretty weak. Do full exhaust, headers, runners, cam then heads.

TPI

The stock 48mm TB will support up well up to 400HP, I would save my cash.

Before you invest in the TPI intake, research the alternative intakes
that can sit untop of your l98 with minimal effort. The stealth ram and
mini ram can produce fast times. Not exactly the best choice for a
daily driver car that has to pass smog inspections though.

avro206' advice about the cam is nice,

If you keep a TPI setup and already bought good heads, Id do the intake
base first and port match it to the heads as best you can. In between doing
all that, pick a cam within your limits. Note some, but not all cam swaps
usually need tuning (sometimes alot) if your staying away from the ECM
friendly cookie cutter cam grinds.

Anyways, Id just hog out the stock runners and use the money
to help toward a nice roller cam, the runners can be bought last if
needed.. they only take 10minutes to install on a car.

Toyota h8r

aluminum heads..ppsssssh money wasted that could be put toward better flowing stock ls1 heads muahahahaha

im in the process of saving for my swap my tpi 327 is pissing me off and it going at the end of the year lol

NemeSS-TyranT

iTrader: (1)

ya no prob here hoss, all my cars are equipped with ls heads even my dd truck makes 270rwhp with 5.3 engine.
i did have to lay the smack down on a tpi 3rd gen the other day, and a few days a go a gt stang. lol

mrtater99

iTrader: (1)

The first thing I would do, and one of the cheapest is taking a grinder to the runners inside the base so that the heads are sucking from both runner tubes instead of one. I've read some posts on here of people who are doing this and getting great results from it. Part of the problem with the tpi is such long total runner length. I'm building a 5.7 with tpi, 58mm tb, lt4 hot cam, and looking for a good deal on 170-185cc heads. The first thing I did was cut 2" of wall out of the base between the paired runners. If you don't like the results, you can pick up another base for $20.00 on up on here and ebay. By gutting the base, it removes the need to do anything with the runner tubes. My 2 cents worth...

mrtater

RevItUpZ28

iTrader: (1)

I'd recommend this link to anyone new to TPI

http://www.compcams.com/Community/Ar...?ID=1737510521