I have a 88 Camaro SC with a stock 305 TBI and it lacks (big time) the get up and go from a dead stop. I mean It doesnt even want to peal out. All vacume lines are nice and clean to the best of my knowledge. I want to add a little more power with out breaking the bank. Cant aford a super charger and I dont want to put a beafed up 350 in it as I aint got that kind of money.

Some people say NoS but I dont race it and dont want to risk blowing up my car becuase of a leak or something.

I was thinking about a new ECM (EPROM) Chip but dont want to fry my ECM. And im not sure of that will even by me that much really.

What do you think I should do?

I mean this is a nice and clean 88 Camaro and it doesnt even peal out. Not that I want to do it all the time but it would be nice to be able to show off a little every now and then.

Many Thanks,

Chris

 

Try a high stall torque converter. Make sure that you get a locking one. A 3000 rpm stall speed should smoke your tire when you feel the need.

 

Install lower gears. What are you running now?

 

You mean in a 1/4 mile? Geesh I dont know iv never really clocked myself (Im sure its not good though) Maybe 20-30 secs. lol. Everything under the hood is pretty much stock.

Im sure that might help a bit but I would have to unmount my tranny from the engine wich is a lot of work. I dont have a car lift. Just a Jack and Jack Stands. Maybe I can look into that.

How much does a decent high stall torque converter run with out breaking the bank?

I was reading the FAQ section and read up on TBI Upgrades and what not and it was talking about replacing the Stock AIR Cleaner with a Dual Snorkle or free standing Open Air Cleaner.

Will that make a noticeable differance? I have the Stock Single Snorkle Air Cleaner.

Is there any way to Tweak the ECM or anything like that?

This is only a 305 so I dont expect to get a whole lot out of it just more than it has now.

I also have a 69 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ with a 455 and Headers. And that thing just would practicly twist the rear-end in a knot at a stop light

Thanks for the tips.

 

Originally posted by jocool
What are you running now?

He wants to know the gear ratio that you are using.

 

if he says its stock car then its prolly stock gearing at 2.73s


I would upgrade to 3.42s, I plan to do that in the coming months...but its kinda surprising you cant peel out from a deadstop...

Yeah the LO3s are weak performance wise, but the amount of torque the car grants you is more than enough to do a tire spin...


First day I got the car I did one unintentionally pulling out of a parking lot....(I tried to pull ahead of traffic so I gassed the pedal down and spun my tires for a good 2-5 spins....)

Then on the way out of a neighborhood I mased my pedal down again trying to do the same thing and spun my tires...

Anywa,s yes open air elements make a difference, your current stock intake is just not enough to support our cars. For an example, take a coffee straw and just breathe around with that and see if you can hold up...yeah its uncomfortable..switch to an open element, you may not feel a gain as soon as you put it on, but give it 2-3 days and it will kick in. I felt a noticeable difference when I installed mine.

Work on the exhaust as well, I have a bullet muffler 3inch in/out and the car roars when you stomp on it Idles beefy, revs like a monster...it sounds so much different from the stock muffler and you'll shave off quite a few lbs in the back doing this (which is good and bad, because if you live in an often icy climate, your backend will often lose traction)

A bullet muffler is basically a straight flow pipe, I gained about 15hp just from this muffler and it put down about 7rwhp, the open air filter at best is prolly 5-10hp...

 

Something you may want to look into is the condition of the engine. I had a carbed 305 in my monte ss. Ran smooth as silk. But i had alot blow by in the cylinders. You would never know there was anything wrong with the engine. But i couldn't spin my tires even if I tried to do a full out break stand. I did once when i put the car in 1st gear, but thats not healthy. So run the car and pull out the pvc valve, and feel for a real hard "suck" on the valve. If there is, you have some blow by. Also you may see alot of smoke coming out of the valve cover, some is ok, but it shouldn't be hitting you in the face when you rev the engine.
i mean my car stock had, 180hp at the flywheel. I had a kn filter with some aftermarket exhaust, and I still couldn't beat a 91 saturn sl1 with a 1.8 liter. Also check for an exhaust leak. Even a small one makes a difference.

 

Something you may want to look into is the condition of the engine. I had a carbed 305 in my monte ss. Ran smooth as silk. But i had alot blow by in the cylinders. You would never know there was anything wrong with the engine. But i couldn't spin my tires even if I tried to do a full out break stand. I did once when i put the car in 1st gear, but thats not healthy. So run the car and pull out the pvc valve, and feel for a real hard "suck" on the valve. If there is, you have some blow by. Also you may see alot of smoke coming out of the valve cover, some is ok, but it shouldn't be hitting you in the face when you rev the engine.
i mean my car stock had, 180hp at the flywheel. I had a kn filter with some aftermarket exhaust, and I still couldn't beat a 91 saturn sl1 with a 1.8 liter. Also check for an exhaust leak. Even a small one makes a difference.

 

i have a 88' sport coupe also wich i upgraded to a 350. but when it was a 305 tbi with 140K on the motor it would rip the $hit out of the tires. idk how yours is running but it should have alot more power than that. my engine was pretty beat too a kid owned it before me and the 305 only lasted me about 2 thousand miles before it went. i'd try a tune up or clearing out the cat, when i got mine it was clogged to hell and it added some good power when i cleared it out.

 

Check and see what your base timing is set at. If a previous owner timed the car without unplugging a the EST wire, then your timing is retarded, and thus the problem. My RS with 211,000 on it's 305 will light up the tire big time, just punching it from a stop.

My suggestions on adding power:

Firstly, go out to your car with a friend. Start it up and let it warm up for a few minutes, and have your friend watch the exhaust. Give your motor some good revs, and have your friend watch for blue smoke out the pipes. Then, floor it down the road from your house and have him watch from your house for the blue smoke again. A little is ok for an old motor, but if you've got a lot pouring out, then your piston rings are probably bad, and you need to save for a rebuild or a new motor. If he sees black smoke, then it's time for a tune up, which is what I think is the problem.

IF you're not getting a lot of blue smoke, then get some Seafoam or some similar engine cleaner from your local parts store to clear your cylinder heads of any carbon deposits, as this will cause detonation and keep you from running advanced timing. Additionally, your car will now idle a lot more smoothly than before, if you had bad carbon deposits. Then, do these mods in this order:

1. Do a full tune up (cap/rotor/coil/wires/plugs/PCV, everything) and set the base timing to 4* advanced. The guys in the TBI forum will tell you how to properly set the timing on your car. You'll need a timing light if you don't have one.

2. Do something about your exhaust, if it's stock. Hi-flo cat (or gut it/remove it if you don't have emissions testing), and an aftermarket muffler. If you don't have emissions testing (or visual inspections that include under the car), the cheapest possible solution is to use a grinder to cut the pipe on both sides of the cat, and remove it. Then head to O'Reilly's and buy a $5 section of correct size flexpipe and 2 correct size exhaust clamps. Slide the flexpipe forward onto the front section of pipe and then back to bridge the gap between the pipes, and clamp it on with one clamp on each side. If you clamp it tightly, it won't leak. Even if you don't have any sort of inspections (like Nebraska and other states don't), most exhaust shops will not remove federal emissions equipment, and this saves you the hassle. Of course, if you do have inspections, you must have a catalytic converter, and a functioning one, so buy a newer hi-flo one and have it installed if that is the case.

3. Open element airfilter install is a must. $30 at your local parts store for an Edelbrock carb open element. Install is easy, and you'll notice the difference. Again, there is plenty on the TBI forums to walk you through how to do this.

4. 180* thermostat to accomodate advanced timing. $5 or less at most stores.

5. A chip from www.tbichips.com . Way, way better than a Jet or Hypertech, and cheaper too. The guy does a good job on a stock chip, I'd say a legit 10-15 lb-ft, and a much flatter torque curve. Make sure to tell him what year of car you have and what mods you've already done. If your car has a factory top speed limiter, he can remove it as well. I think the chip is $50 plus shipping. Installing it takes 5 minutes and a screwdriver, and you won't fry your ECM unless you've spliced live wires and are trying to fry it. The guy even ships the chip to you with instructions in the box on how to install it, if you're confused at that point.

All of those combined are probably $400 at most, depending on how you address your exhaust. I can tell you that for the amount of air an L03 is moving, that a gutted cat and glasspack on stock pipes would probably be adequate, and much cheaper than a hi-flow cat and name-brand catback. It depends on whether you can get away with it or not in your area. If you can get away with just gutting or removing your cat, I'd do that and get a decent muffler or glasspack. That might be $100 at most, way way less if you go with a glass pack, which is considered a legal replacement for a muffler in most states. Then the tune up, which should be about $80 at most, depeding on how nice of ignition parts you get. Again, on an L03, you're not going to notice a difference between affordable Borg-Warner ignition parts and MSD or Accel parts, so unless you must have the neat stickers, go with Borg-Warner. I wouldn't go with too cheap of stuff, like "Omnispark" wires.

I did all of that on a 170k TBI 305 with an automatic and 2.73s and was turning mid 15s in the 1/4. With a posi and headers, I think I could have touched low 15s. Not blazing, but fast enough to keep up with the average 305 TPI auto you come across on the street, and certainly fast enough to spin the "tire" (you probably have a one wheel wonder axle, and will only cut posi's around corners, like mine). My RS can handle most people who have no business street racing (N/A Civics & Eclipses, etc.), but any serious modern sports car will shut it down pretty badly, especially if it's a V8.

If yours won't even spin the tire right now, then the difference will be night and day, my friend. If it can't even break traction, unless you have a posi and don't know it, or very good tires, your car would probably turn something like a 17 at a track. So these would honestly be worth a legit 1 or 1.5 seconds off of what it would run now. You're not going to go much faster than mid 15s without getting a posi and getting into the motor, but a mid 15 is probably a lot faster than what your car is capable of right now.

 

I have a stock LO3 in my babe, and I can loose pretty much anyone from stop light to say 45-50 mph.

So yes, check the engine, something doesn't seem right. Most of the time we end up not having enough highway power, but we rarely lack take-off power.

 

I have a 92 RS that had the same 305 TBI (before I put in the 350). The best two modifications that I made were the K&N X-stream air filter and an 80 series flowmaster muffler. It was a noticable amount of power. Just to make sure you get the best performance out of it, make sure your plugs, wires, and distrubutor cap are fairly new. I set my base timing to 6 degrees (make sure to follow proper intructions for setting the timing if you do it yourself). I ran fuel system cleaner in the gas and got noticable results from the smell of the exhaust. I had problems with my transmission and all it was was the T.V.cable needed adjustment. (push the button and floor the gas pedal with car off)

I also used a pair of pliers and removed some steel ring from the air cleaner base which also helped. With regular up keep, a flowmaster muffler, and that air filter, I got a pretty noticable amount of power. Now both are in the shed (due to my TPI motor with no exhaust).

I tried the stage 2 jet performance chip at the same time as a tune-up. I think the tune-up did more than the chip, I dunno.

there is a picture here of the filter:
https://jshare.johnshopkins.edu/asch...l/000_0063.JPG

 

Tune up, comp cam, k&n air filter, and a new exhaust with unleash that 305. A chip will also help. 305's are also notoriuos for over heating. You might want to run your fans on a switch so your car doesn't overheat this should give more power. Also remove all the emmisions junk and gut your cat. That should cost you nothing and you will defiantly see an improvement in your hosrepower. Do not buy a open air element air breather. This will just suck hot air in your engine getting you no extra power. Either buy dual snorket air breather like the ones equiped on the 5.0 h.o engines. Since those are very rare and expensive. You can just flip your cover on top of you original air breather over and put it on backwards so that you get a space for more to come into the but you still get the cold air intake affect. A 305 TBI is able to run circles around a 350 tpi car any day but the the 305 was produced with no performace parts and was so rescrited unlike the TPI cars. Some bolt on performace parts that I listed above will give you good power. IF you want more drop a 400ci crank in it and you just gained 100hp. So now you would have 270 hp and around 350 ft/lb of torque. It quickly adds up dosen't it. So watch out you hard headed TPI guys the TBI is able to run your car of the park.

 

That's some mighty fine crack you be smokin, sir.

 

The only possible explanation is that you live around slow cars. The L03 equipped 3rd gens have many great things about them (awesome reliability, awesome MPG), but speed is NOT one of them, unless you've spent some serious $$$. I mean, enough to burn the tire, yes. Enough to loose pretty much ANYONE, no.

 

Ok Z03 you`re going to get major hell for what you just posted.
First off putting a 400 crank in a 305 is NOT EVER going to give 100 more horses.Secondly gutting the cat is just about worthless,either get a straight pipe or get a high flow cat you`d be better off.Third the only way a 305 tbi car will beat a 350 tpi car is if that car is either sitting still or tired as hell. As far as tuning goes thats one of the best things anyone can do for their car, a stock car even benefits from tuning.Before you start telling people what to do with their vehicle you need to get your facts straight.

 

as far as the original poster goes the best things to do to get started as if you haven't heard already is to make sure the car is in good working order plugs,wires,air filter bla bla bla.After the car is running good The whole open element/dual snorkle set up is a good choice.one thing you can do if you want to go with the dual snorkle is get a truck lid from any 80's model truck that would give you the ability to get alittle more air due to the taller filter.If you can get away with it.(if you don't have the smog police after you) is to get rid of the smog pump to free up alittle weight and take some stress off the serpentine belt. It doesn't free up alot of power but in your case every little bit helps.Something else I would recommend is a set of headers like hooker 2055's and the hooker catback,the exhaust is a major bottleneck for these cars.The last thing I'm going to say is some gears,3:42's to be exact.add a posi to that and it will make a world of differance.I know this post was long I just thought I'd be a nice guy and save you the pain of the old SEARCH phrase,I hope this helps.

 

*shrugs* Maybe it's the way I drive, considering I've left newer cars behind me when I drove my wife's 150,000 mile original 1989 SAAB 900 with the non-turbo engine.

And I said to a certain speed.


Let's face it, the ending scene in Fast & Furious, the Charger would have been so far ahead of the import 1/3 or maybe even half of the way

 

No offense intented with that comment, by the way. I just find it hard to say you leave people. I've been seriously left by a number of cars.

In regards to the F/F, as you know, you really can't take anything from that movie seriously. If you glance at your watch during the scene, they run about a 34 second pass on this road that's "almost exactly a quarter mile to the tracks".

 

I'll admitt it though, whenever I see a Lamborghini just cruising eeehhhh I try to lay real low


Yeah that gotta be the longest quarter mile ever