i am sick of racing rice rockets and coming close or even losing to them. Well m yfriend got a turboed talon (80's) and wants to race. MY friend said that he would beat me. I have a '88 305 tbi firebird.
Well im getting sick of the slow tbi and want a tpi because i dont want to lose to ricers. well how much would it cost me to get a TPI, where could i get one, and would it even be worth getting one or just add more mods to my tbi?:hail:
thanks
btw what are all the parts i would need to convert to a tpi if i did this?

 

Just putting on tpi wont make your car fast. Itll net you a few more ft lbs and a couple more ponies but thats about it. FYI, if i remember the 88's only made 150 HP. The thing thats choking your car down is the heads, cam, intake, and the exaust, and as you go further into the mods, the tbi itself. Youll have to concentrate on getting a better set of heads and a more agrressive cam before you can make some power. And after all that youll need to burn a chip. I know i do. My 350 makes 225 HP but since the timing is so feeble, it makes that at 2800 RPM, after that, i have nothing. Even if you have tpi, if you dont burn a chip for it, youll never see the full potential of your setup.

 

A better idea would be to swap in a 350 for the 305 and still have the simplicity of a TBI. Plus the 350 would repond more to the mods that you make. Also check the Tech Articles.

or


Just invest in a LT1 cam, rockers and springs, do Ultimate TBI mods (try also getting a Holly 670 cfm TBI), and a nice flowing exhaust system (if you don't have those things already).

 

The Following list should take car of your problems....

• LT1 Cam
• Headers and exhaust system
• Ultimate TBI
• Gears & Posi
• rockers and springs

Converting to a TPI is a long, expensive and hard project from what i have heard......

 

Focus more on gears and exhaust first

 

I can do that too guys.

 

where did the 89 car get the 20 extra HP over the 88? Cam? or what?

 

it doesnt
the 88 firebird 305 TBI has 170hp
not 150

 

Im about to pull my heads to check the valves and piston (ive been having some major problems i think the 305 is dead) I also have a lt1 cam coming and if the block checks out im going to throw the cam in there. If the block doesnt check out im getting a caprice lo5 and ill be putting the lt1 cam in it. we will see how things go.

 

Start with the exhaust first!!!!!!!!!!!!!! take everything that came from the factory off from the moter back!!!!!!!!! Then get some headers and a y-pipe then get a 3-inch flowmater cat back exhaust system for a tpi car and get the tpi headers too.

 

I agree replace ALL of the factory exhaust with headers, 3" cat and 3" catback for a TPI car. Combined with gears and posi the TBI car will respond well.

 

someone posted this in another thread..... I think it's hillarious, my wife thinks that I'm a jack a$$

Here read this its funny as hell.***** kill story

 

What makes you think your 350 is putting out 422lb-ft @ 2800rpm?? 170hp @ 2800rpm should be about right (315lb-ft @ that rpm, a reasonable number)...
Just thought I'd point that out.

 

i like this...

 

Definitely start with the exhaust back. The L03 (and LG4) got ridiculously small exhaust parts. Replace all of that. If you want to get serious and beat on some ricers, you need to change the heads. You're wasting your time with the 187's. Don't bother with the LT1 cam either; go bigger. Trash the restrictive intake manifold. Get some gears too. Is it an auto or stick? Match the gears to your combo.

Hmmm all of a sudden, we're into some serious cash here......are you willing to spend it?

 

exhaust is a great place to get all the sound of a big gain, but realistically with an otherwise stock engien it isn't really money well spent.
any time anyone wants to mod a car the best thing to do is to start simple. look in the tech articles and do the ultimate tbi mods, the diy afpr(set it to where it was stock to get started), and the aldl convertor lock up switch if you have an auto. these mods by themselves will show y0ou a nice seat of the pants gain and give you more top end power.
teh next great bang for your buck gain is posi and gears. there are a few ways to go about this. 3.73's seem to be the best compromise gear fro street driving and strip performance, but between buying gears, buying a posi, and getting the gears installed you can be looking at $500. the gain is certainly worth that much to me, but not everyone has $500 in cash laying around to knock a half second off their et's.
the cheaper posi and gear method is to find a 3.42 geared 6-cyl in your local junk yard that throw a posi in that. there is no need to reset gears or anythign fancy, just swap the ring gear from teh stock open diff onto a posi unit and reassemble.
if you are going to do an exhaust, do teh whole exhaust. cat back systems are not worth anything but soem noise if you don't have good pipes leading to them. at least have your local exhaust shop make you a good y-pipe since tha tis the biggest restriction from, the factory.
traction is the key to winning at the track. at this point you have increased power a bit and with your new gear advantage will be abel to blow the tires away with ease. jsut get soem lower control arm relo brackets, boxed control arms, and move your battery to the rear. that shoudl give you enough traction to ge thte job done.
if you liek the gains you are getting and want to go further you can start getting into intakes and cams and stuff. the factory heads are not as bad as so many people seem to make them sound and are certainly capable of putting a car well into the 13's and out of reach of 99% of the ricers on the planet.
other little things you can do involve teh cars weight. teh lighter the car is the easier it is for the engien to push it down the lane. so take out that spare tire and jack and don't run with more tahn a half tank of gas. also, remove any miscellaneous bs that is in the car. your car doesn't need to carry 20 meals worth of mcd's wrappers down the track

later
tim

 

iirc, tim's brother has a pretty quick talon, he might be able to tell you something.....but those cars arent anything to laugh at....they can easily be made to run 13's with a couple hundred dollars

 

i have also seen a couple of first gen awd talons and eclipses with about 2500 in mods getting into the 10's!!!

 

the talon/eclipse/laser lien of awd turbo cars is nothing to take lightly. they can add as much power as they want and never worry about traction. their weak link is the tranny, the synchro's are not especially well designed or installed, so they have a little habit of grenading 2nd and 3rd gears.
for a first gen DSM the best mods are a ported 2g exhaust manifold and o2 housing, 3inch down pipe, 3inch cat back, short shifter, ACT 2600 clutch, better tires, and either a ported air box or aftermarket cold air intake. these few mods will knock nearly 2 seconds off of their stock et and are completely invisable from teh outside of the car(other than the ***** fart pipe on the rear of the car)

later
tim

 

Yes, this may be true, but DSMs are still junky cars.

 

well i better tell you what my car already has
its a 88 305 TBI firebird
i threw in a 80's style flowmaster, MSD blaster coil / advanced timing, bosch platinum sprk plgs, new clutch set, had to rebuild my tranny, a electri fan with a toggle switch, and spare tire removed.
i plan to do the ultimate TBI mods really soon and am ripping out my ac right now.
i am getting headers in less than a month and want to get posi w/ gears after that.
my cars running really clean and kill alot of ricers but... those ones w/ turbos and NOS put up a good fight or probably can beat me.

then what do you think is next thing that i should do

 

will the headers and cat back for the tpi fit on our cars(tbi) without doing anything?

 

yes they should i cant think of any reason why it why not.

 

they fit for my car...headers back....they were for a 350 tpi....

I got a full second off my time with full exhaust, 3.73 posi and msd wires, distributer cap, coil and a 14x3 open element.

 

as the proud owner of a DSM AND a Camaro,im going to have to raise the BS flag on thisyou are obviously confused and have never driven nor ridden in a early DSM .with little money and even less time these cars can be quick.and i dont mean 14's.i mean LOW 13's.do some research before you run your mouth off.and for the record,DSM owners HATE rice,and they HATE HonDuhs.they are nothing but a disrespect to the import scene.because yes,there is a difference between a ***** and an import owner.I am only one person that is proof of that.and NO this is not meant to be a flame.just the facts.

 

I think he meant "junky" like unreliable and problematic. I know they can go fast with very little mods, but they also blow up, although most any turbo cars blow up when someone turns the boost up w/o taking precautions and continuously monitoring a/f or EGT.
Our cars have their problems, but the engines don't usually fail or relatively expensive turbos start smoking(meaning turbo cars can't take abuse and neglec like an old chevy V8)

 

the first gen ones are alright but... my little bro hada 99 and it was junk also look at any 95-98 model galant they all smoke!!! they are junk!!!