Ok so I am a newbie to this board. Got some tips from my buddies at turbobuick.com to come here. I heard you guys are not to friendly to turbo buick owners. So I thought I would just come out and say it yes I own a 1985 Buick Grand National. So anyways I just picked up a '88 Trans Am for $1000. 305 TBI with the automatic. Has a new radiator, rear sway bar, stock replacement exhaust from the cat back to the tails , new battery, new alternator, tires are fairly new, it has 150k miles on it. But damn does it run good. The tranny shifts hard too. I am surprised at how well it runs and how hard it pulls for having 150k on it. Guy drove it mostly to school and back. It just needs a good paint job and some dents taken out(litttle ones). And some interior work. I only found one spot of rust on the car. Mostly just has clear coat issues and dents, and scratches. The underneath of the car is spotless, the guy actually stored it in the winter months........I was very surprised.

So, anyways I was looking for some basic mods I can do.....nothing special as I am just going to driver her for now....but something I may be able to use down the road to if I go with a 350 or even bigger. I am think a nice muffler to accent the stock replacement ****! I wanted to keep the snorkel closed air filter and put a top xtreme K&N on it and a stock K&N replacement inside........but K&N doesnt make a top big enough for it. Any ideas with the stock setup............probably just a K&N filter hey?

How do the power antennas work on these cars. Just come up when the car is first turned on and when the car shuts off it goes down. Mine stays up all the time. I already had to replace the hood shocks, hatch shocks, a fog light bulb, wiper blade, and have been cleaning it up.

Sorry for the long post guys...... :lala:

Later Nick

 

Hey what do you guys/gals think about taking the stock top off the air cleaner cutting a nice 12 inch hole in it(then there will just be the outer lip left to the stock lid). Putting one of the extreme tops from K&N on top of the lid that is left and using the wignut to hold them together and down? And having a K&N original replacement inside. I am just not to big on open elementals and having to mess with sensors.......Plus this would look aftermarket, but yet still remain stock in a way. :rockon:

Oh ya what do you think my car would run in the quarter mile.....high 16's? Was hoping to having my GN running but not yet so may have to take the Trans Am to the drag and race my buddies 74 Nova(12.4 in the 1/4 mile). I will definatly get my A$$ handed to me in the Trans Am. The GN is in the high 12's and I am hoping for low 12's. Sorry just had to talk about my other love of my life....

Nick

 

Welcome to the boards. Use the search option and you will find much on mods.
Here are some of the basic mods to start off with:
Open element w/ k&N (It will be more beneficial than using the extreme lid)
Ultimate TBI mods & adjustable fuel pressure regulator (check the tech articles on this page)
exhaust headers back
ignition mods (my opinion, some would argue, but it definetely helped me)
posi and gears
Best of luck

 

Forget about the extreme lid! It looks cool, but serves no purpose in our cars. For one, it is very close to the hood and really wouldn't yield a large gain. Two, it would defeat the purpose of leaving the stock air cleaner on there. Open element is the way to go unless you can fab a ram air or good cold air system like swerve driver did

 

Welcome to the boards, first thing you want to do is a full exhuast system : headers and y pipe,high flow cat or no cat, and 3 inch cat back.Also on the xtreme flow filter idea, just get a 14x3 filter and a lid to fit it and slap that in your stock base you should just barely be able to clamp it down with the stock wing nut, I ran mine like that for a while because it was unique but then switched to open element for looks and it does make a difference in power.Good luck.

 

Well I guess I am going to go with the open element K&N. The exhaust is going to have to wait as my GN is still needing work. But I am getting the cat out of there and maybe just get a nice flowmaster muffler in there for now........I should focus on the interior probably too.........thanks for the replies guys. This board is really cool:hail: I can see this will be my new hangout. What is my car capable of in the quarter mile any ideas? Expesionally with 150k on it. Should have a open element on it by then. Later Nick

 

if your just looking for bolt on's these guys nailed it. the biggest gains are going to be found with headers, and full performance cat back. your best bet here is to go 3" all the way. with 1 5/8" headers.

a TB spacer, and ultimate TBI mods are also a nice gain. beyond that, not much to do without getting into heads and cam. as far as producing HP. the rest of your bolt on gains will be found i suspension mods. and doing a gear/posi swap.

the other thing that no one has brushed on, but being a turbo buick guy, i am sure you are aware of, is computer work. there is a lot of gains to be made by burning your own chips. i would check the DIY board on hear, and read up about what these cars need to get into PROM burning.

btw, we have nothing against the turbo buick owners, there have just been several who have been very problematic on our boards. as long as you don't rag on our cars all the time, and tell us how much better you buick is, we'll all get along

also, most of the TBI cars in stock form run high 15's or low 16's.

 

Well brace yourself because your not gonna like what you hear.A stock Lo3 305 tbi will most likely run in the mid to low 16's in good running condition. On a good note though headers and a full exhuast will knock off almost a full second off of that time. No one ever said the Lo3 was made for performence thats why I swapped in a 350.Good luck

 

I know my Trans Am is a dog, but man I like it. I wouldnt bash on 3 generation F bodies........this is my 3rd one...........I had two V6 camaros. I like the firebird better though.
Computer chips.....I got a custom one in my GN.
So anyone got a link or a part number for the best deal on a cat back system........with stock manifolds(for now) and no cat(no emissions here)!! Not sure if I can afford to do any exhaust to it right now.....that is why I wanted to get a muffler and throw it on.....JUST FOR THE SOUND. I am not looking to go all out with it right now.......Just need to drive it everyday and keep her running good. 16's is what I expected. But, I must say it is a very respectable 16 second car. It has lots of potential. How many guys build up these 305? Just corious for when the time comes. I am sure a 350 swap is pretty common hey? But, like a 305 with heads, cam, intake, TBI upgrades, headers, full exhaust......what is that capably of ya guys think...........what about a supercharger worth it? Hey at least I am not think of swaping in a Turbo Buick motor........LOL.

Can you take the smog pump off these things?
Get a belt to delete the AC(it dont work)?
Any other free or cheap mods?
Nick

 

Yeah you can delete the a/c but youll have to find the 1Le pulley for it . I am currently trying to find one, but you cant find em very cheap. The smop pump doesnt do much but yeah you can yank it right off. A good place to find performence stuff is in the classifieds here or ebay if you dont mind used stuff. The best I have seen a modified Lo3 run is Low 14's N/A with just about every bolt on you can imagine.

 

The A/C delete pulley part # is 10055890

Go to http://www.gmpartsdirect.com to get it for $37.81 plus shipping.

BTW, ignore that it says "water pump pulley".

 

Is that AC delete pulley going to help with adding any power? It seems to be the same size as the AC pulley is? Or is just more free spinning?
Were did you get your dynomax cat back exhaust from AJ_92RS?
You web site says you paid 169 Bucks............that system looks awesome out the back of your maro!! I got dynomaxs on my regal and love them! Thanks, Nick

 

The a/c delete, as well as the smog pump delete, won't net you any real power gains. The main reason for the deletes is for space savings and better weight transfer. Seeing as you might remove the cat, you may want to look into removing that smog pump.
I agree with dewey on the exhaust. If you do only decide to put a flowmaster on there for the time being, think ahead and get the one with the 3" in on it. If you do plan on swapping in a 350, you may want to even think about 1 3/4" primaries on the headers, though they will be even tougher to install seeing as how I had to grind down the bolts for my 1 5/8".
Also, while you are doing the exhaust, you may want to think about putting a dump on there as well....

 

Thanks. I got it from www.jegs.com

That picture is outdated. Those are $7 chrome tips from AutoZone on there.

Here's an updated picture. These are Magnaflow 3-1/2" S/S tips, 18" long, with a 15* angle cut rolled tip. I paid $60 for those.

 

Thanks that is a nice system for the money...........did these cars all come with the same exhaust diamentions or are some different.........mine looks like 2.25 out the back?

I think I am going to start with a taller K&N air filter for it and drill some holes in the thermostat. Smog pump off and maybe even get the ac delete pulley, exhaust, and then start getting the interior back to stock condition...........dash pad, center consule stuff and a good shampooing. I got to fix the cruise control too.....damn thing.

 

TBI got 1 of the smallest dia exhaust
and i think its same size as the V6

read tech articles b4 making decisions
and do searches bout mods too