New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

Hey guys new here but I've been following a while now, new 87 T/A owner, same old questions. About the car, it's a 5.7 swap on a T5 transmission. Now I'm looking to get more power out of it. I'm not going to race or anything, just need some inquiries. I was planning to do heads cam exhaust and supercharger. Any thoughts or opinions are very welcomed!

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

Headers (if that doesn't include itself in exhaust).

i recommend an AFR guage also. They are very helpful in tuning your car to a good ratio ( more power if you get it set right ).

Depending on your cam of choice, change the rear gears, most likely 3.73 or 4.10 is what you'll want if it's not a daily driver or a highway driver. It'll give you good results acceleration wise but not MPG lol.

Good luck!

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

That's the thing it's going to be a weekend driver. I was thinking of putting in 3.55 to kind of save my self from getting killed on MPG. And yes headers cam exhaust... the works. Mine is a GTA WS6, I'm pretty sure I have posi, does anyone know what gears came with this car originally?

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

My rear from an 89 Z had a plate on the 3rd member that was stamped with the gears it had.

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

I will definitely look there thanks man. Also your Z is clean man looks great

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

Let me know if you find it. It'd be good to know if that was done on 87' as well. And thank you, been busy doing a lot of work on it lately...

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

I need a few things done as well. I plan to do a full restoration to the car. But for now I need to do the flex hoses, replace the MAF sensor and the distributor module to get the car running right. She's running extremely rich. I only get about 280 kms to the tank. And I need a new headlight assembly and motor

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

Luckily the headlight assembly and motor is easy to find new parts for. These cars are fun and fairly painless to work on when keeping things to stock specs. Are you going to share any photos or start a build thread?

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

Easiest way to tell if it's a posi is A) jack it up on the rear yoke, spin the tire, have somebody on the other side and then turn the wheel either way, if they spin the same way then posi, could also hold the tire and have another person try to spin it. B) do a burn out and look for both tires spinning.


65 at 3k rpm is pretty good for weekend driving. Either way it's a v8 you want some power out of, she gonna drink either way.

Little trick at guessing your gear ratio if you can't find the tag, is again, car on a jack, and spin the tires. Start at one spot watch the driveshaft where it bolts to the rear, count how many revolutions to one turn of the driveshaft and that's your ratio. 2.73 would be 2.73 turns to one.

if you don't wanna burn too much gas I wouldn't go with too much of a bigger cam maybe just a refresh? The rear gears can really wake it up.

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

Should I start one ? Hadn't really thought about it. The cars Ina decent shape in terms of it being clean. Just needs a once over in inside and to be painted

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

I need to check the gears, was thinking going 3.55 cause I still want to go on the highway and Cruise. I just want to the option to blow away other cars when I want. The stock T/A isnt that fast but it's quick. I love how I never lose control of the car. As for the cam I was thinking of going with a lumpy one to give me that old school muscle growl you know ?

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

Well if your going with a new cam , use the gear that the cam calls for. The cam in my car is pretty decent in terms of flat tappet's, an it calls for 4.10 minimum. Got to watch your vacuum too depending on cam size. What were you thinking for duration, lift, and lobe separation?

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

Brother you just spoke Chinese to me, I'm not sure about all that stuff. All I can tell you is I just want about 400hp and alittle more torque to mess around with. I don't want to race the car. I didn't know I needed to match the cam with the gears so thank you for bringing that to my attention. But ultimately my plan is to drop a supercharger and up the gears to 3.55. A long with it I want to do the headers cam and exhaust.

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

Can't find my book right now but I'll find it tonight some time and show you what i mean.

what rpm do wanna run up too. That's also something to think about, cam range is important. They all play together, rpm range and gear are what will really make the car.

What size blower? I hope a 671 haha.

Re: New owner 87 T/A need ideas
 

I was hoping to get a stage 1 I think. The procharger of not the factory vortex supercharger. Right now I do 2500 rpm at 140kms so I'd like to keep it around there