1992transam

Hi everyone What are some good cheap mods for my 92 T/A i want to slowly get the car better but right now i am 16 and have a minium wage job and looking to maybe get some more power on the cheap if that's possible lol!

no new tires

Speed cost MONEY.

-Tip, stay OUT of the food industrial and retail.
Get into warehousing. All the internet ordering stuff and what not has warehousing BOOMING.

--Theirs warehouses starting at $16/HR

89FormulaLS

dont think I am talking down on you because I literally had a thirdgen in highschool and was in the same position as you. enjoy your car as it is now, work hard in school and get good grades (scholarships are free money and a lot of it), you dont have to impress anyone right now.

Do well and you can afford to have nice stuff later on.

its no **** expensive to go fast. Most guys you see with these cars that go 7-8 seconds in the 1/4 mile either make over 150k/yr or have been doing this little by little for 5+ years.

mmadden55

Headers and exhaust to start. Then high lift cam

Jp's camaro

Save up some money and get some headers and a nice cat back exhaust system.

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

a set of rear end gears like 3.73's will give you a great seat-of-the-pants feel for acceleration.

otherwise, intake and exhaust mods.
more air in and out = more power.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Look up all the free mods listed somewhere on this site. When you're bucks down, nothing beats free.

1992transam

Thank you to everyone for the info i was thinking about getting a 3.73 gear for the car, It came with a 2.73 and it still does burnouts and pulls real hard when you need it to! In what section might i find the free mods?

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I thought we had them all in one place in the How-To section. I guess they're gone.

Anyway, google "TPI free mods". Pour yourself a Dr Pepper and start reading. I wouldn't necessarily do all of them, but a combo of bumping initial timing, cooler t-stat, opening up your airbox, getting an airfoil for your TB, etc., makes a difference.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Nevermind. Here you go:
https://www.thirdgen.org/tpimod1/

Drew

iTrader: (58)

I can't get behind the "free mods". On a speed density car, they're pretty much a waste of time. You can't adjust the TPS on a 92, and there's only one correct setting for the IAC valve. There's no MAF to gut. With all due respect to Tom Keliher, most of the suggestions in that article aren't going to make much difference.

For a 92 LB9 without the performance package, there are two things that hold the car back. The entire exhaust is the same garbage as the 305 TBI. Throw away all that trash, and at least get a set of HO manifolds from an early or late 350TPI car, along with a good mandrel bent Y-pipe and 3" cat, or dual cats, and a good 3" catback. If you can afford it, headers. There's 25hp right there in the exhaust.

The other problem is the 2.73 gears. While 3.73s might sound good on paper, it has a nice ring to it, rolls off the tongue... TPI engines make all their power under 5k RPM. By swapping in a set of 3.73 gears you're going to spin the engine out of it's sweet spot. Stick to 3.42s or 3.23s. And a gear set isn't something you just buy and bolt in, you're probably talking about $400 in parts for a set of gears and a good limited slip differential, plus a few hours of qualified skilled labor to have them installed. Gears are not something a 16 year old should be trying to setup. Instead, look for a second hand rear axle assembly from a 93-02 Camaro or Firebird with 3.23 or 3.42 gears, and just swap in the entire assembly.

Those two changes will make the car feel entirely different. All that said, I wouldn't let my 16 year old self within 50ft of my cars with a hose and a sponge, much less any kind of mechanic's tool. Thirdgens aren't terribly difficult to work on, but they're pretty unfriendly if you don't know what you're doing.

Big&BadGTA

iTrader: (1)

Agreed. Never understood the fascination w 3.73s in a car like this. Maybe if running slicks 24/7, but who does that anymore. Jk.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Although this is the Power Adder section, something tells me you're not ready for one. You got some very good suggestions above, so consider them. If it were me though, I would start with the basics to get yourself familiar with your engine bay. Some new plugs and wires, and maybe throw some better parts at you're factory ignition system. Do the basics too, check your fuel pressure and maybe even up it a tad by getting an adjustable regulator. An exhaust system won't really do much right now but make a better exhaust note, and with a factory camshaft and heads, you're not moving enough air to see any real benefit from them, but if you're planning on some good engine upgrades like heads and cam later on down the road, then yes, by all means, get a better exhaust system to be ahead of the game. If you really want to feel a difference now before Spring gets here, then save your money for a used, but good, stall speed converter. I can give you some recommendations on stall RPM, but I would need to know if you really are serious about the 3.73 swap, or were just considering it in passing. You might be able to find someone locally who has a small shop, or even a credible backyard mechanic, to install the torque converter for a couple of hundred bucks. Well worth it, believe me. I would also contact one of our sponsors, Tuned Performance, and have him burn you a chip to adjust the timing in the bin a tad as well as the VE, they are easy to install, not too expensive, and well worth it. Without installing heads, cam and intake, that's about as far as I would go, personally...

- Rob

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

Did dyno testing on a heads cam tpi car. Gutted gained nothing. Did read a few g/s airflow more but saw no difference on power at the 270 whp mark. I would leave them alone on stock to mild cars. If you aint maxing out the sensor early in the rpm range, i doubt its gonna help

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

Automatic? 2500 or so stall speed converter best bang for buck ever

Next find some used 3.23-3.42 gears and maybe even posi (zexel torsen) out of a 4th gen fbody from 99-01. Cheap and works. Even easier/better if buy whole rear end for 300$ give or take, as you get bigger brakes now.

Good cold air source on intake side can help.

Last is to buy chip burning software for under 250$ total to do your own chip tuning. If you are serious about these cars, now is the time to learn how to tune them. You can do alot on the 730 ecm including boost in the future if so desired. No better way to learn than on a stock car. Can find a few hp usually with playing with timing and leaning out factory rich tunes

1992transam

Once again thanks for all the good info the car does have stock manifolds but when i got it there was no muffler or cat and it was running terrible i put a 26'' glass pack on and now it is running alot better still does not have a cat. i will look into a 3.23 gear instead and also headers nothing beats headers! And yes it is a 700r4

Vanilla Ice

Higher stall torque converter.
second hand 3.42 gear rear end. (might want to look into how wide a 4th gen rear is compared to yours before buying one)
Used headers/Y pipe/cutout.
This is the cheapest setup that will give you the biggest gains.

You can probably get this all done for $800 or less if you search used and install yourself.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

If you can't afford headers see if you can find a pair of 2.25" exhaust manifolds off of an L98, L69 or '85-'89 LB9. The N10 '90-'92 LB9s had them too. I see them for sale all the time for cheap.