okay before u all start flaming me ive read for two or three days and have found alot of answers but many contridict each other. i own a 305 tbi of course and am gonna be getting headers as my next mod. i already have a three inch cat back and flowmaster 80 series mufler.

my question ive seen alot of recomendations for the hooker 2055 but that is just as expensive as the edelbrocks and i dont necesarrily need a y pipe. i can have a y pipe custom bent for probably cheaper than one bought by the place that did my exaust. here are some of the delimas im faced w/. i have no cat so im not legal would it be easier/more cost effective to lose the smog pump (buy the pulley for 40) that to keep it and run air. also what headers fit my heads i belive the engine is either an 87 or 89 firebird engine but still 305 tbi. two more questions will headers effect my egr ( not enough pressure to push it open) if i go w/ 1 5/8 and 3in y pipe. oh and will this cause me to run lean from not enough fuel?

thanx in advance and sorry for the length of the post but just tryin to get some straight answers after searching through endless past posts that seem to go against each other in some places!!

 

I really don't like the edelbrocks. They have tiny runners and tiny collectors. I have a friend with the hookers, and they are a pain in the but to change plugs on, he had to get the accel shorty plugs to even get them to fit, other than that their great. I have 3 friends with hedmans. One of them has the coated ones. None of them have complained yet. The flanges are a little thin compared to some of the 300 and 400 dollar headers, but none of them have ever had a leak. The y-pipe that you can get for them is pretty cheap considering and fits wounderfully. I'm pretty sure you can get the headers and Y-pipe for less than 250$.

You can always benefit from tuning. Whether or not your exhaust mods will lean you out too far I couldn't tell you. I doubt it since these cars were pretty rich from the factory. You may want to look into data logging and maybe into chip tuning. Do some searches and see what comes up. You'll see theirs plenty of debate about the off the shelf chips. Some guys have dropped several tenths off their times by tuning their vehicles themselfs.

 

yeah i know i can prob. benifit from tunnin w/ or w/ out the headers but i wouldnt do that unless i built an engine but this one other than minor bolt on like this and intake manifold and such id like to stay away from tune if its possible. but what about the egr question and running lean anyone also some opinions on the AIR injection or not

 

u have no cat and air still? get rid of it, no point. egr is run off the vacuum, so no problems there, u might cuz its gonna move the exhuast faster but not enough to cause a serious problem

 

so i wont run rich after all? also does anyone know where to get the smog delete pulley other than gmpartsdirect.com i think they have it on back order? and whats some headers that would fit w/ the heads i have i think from either an 87 or 89 firebird 305 tbi cause id hate to have to change plugs mine are almost brand new less than 5000 miles on em. but thanks for the help so far

 

Nothing to ad other than welcome to the forum Fayette Co. KY.

 

Dude just get some headmans they are like 120 bucks or something.

 

yeah i will probably get the headmans but what about the running lean thing cause thats the last thing i need, if id have to get a custom tune id just wait. and what about he smog delete pulley do u guys no any where to get it other than gmpartsdirect or for any cheaper than 60 bucks shipped? you all have been a big help so far thanx!

 

are you here in fayette co. kentucky?? thats not whats in your sig?

 

Do an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and bump the pressure a few psi. That mod is fairly cheap and will help with the lean condition if it happens.

 

Your gonna have to datalog and learn about your system to even know if your lean or not, thats half the battle, your less than 100 bucks away from burning your own proms. I can talk a monkey through the steps of modifying their bin enough to do the same things that an afpr does. Look into it.

 

BM

I would love to learn to burn my own chips. Should I just by a aldl cable and start with that.

Bill

 

well i have a desktop pc but no lap top and no acess to one so it would be pretty hard for me to datalog would it not and id always be afraid of changin somethin and it run ****ty and not be able to get it back. i was just wondering if others run ****ty w/ headers or if its just a myth w/ few people experiencing problems w/ out burn.

 

oh and one more thing if my car wont run lean then will it be better to get the hooker long tubes cause i dont wanna loose torque one of the good things the car does have at this point. but as said weary of doin this after hearing things like running too lean or egr not working properly just looking for some answers but thanx for the help so far keep the advice commin.

 

bump thanx

 

Well if your concerned about price, i paid 85 something for a brand new set of headers last year and a new y-pipe for 100 something, and you'll probably need a different pipe bent up where the cat went,
As for the smog pump you can gut that and run a shorter belt theres a thread out there that shows and talks about how to do it, that's going to be cheaper, if your worried about fuel then id do the unlimited TBI mods (adjustable fuel presser regulator) and Band-Aid it for now, your 02 should do the rest...
you can run all this just fine but someday you should get into tuning, you'll hear this numerous times from others on the board, and its true, but the real truth is we just knocked off a 10th and a half off your 1/4 times

good luck

 

Bill,

Yeah, buy or build a cable and start there, thats the best way to get into tuning. Even if you decide you don't want to later, you can always use a cheap scanner. You do need a laptop to data log, but really you can get away with a desktop if your just making basic changes like Global fueling (aka fuel pressure) in the chip, and get rid of things like EGR and the speed limiter. You can't change something and not get back to where you were. You will ALWAYS have your stock chip, and you can always go back to a known good bin and go from there. I sometimes get 20 or so burns into trying to fix a problem only to find out it was something mechanical like a bad ignition module and just have to go back and start from there.

 

why cant you run a smaller belt instead of the delete air pump pulley? i do. does not an f body allow this?

 

what size of built do u run now with it not going over the AIR pump?

 

i forget. i think was 52-54 inch ? i would run a string around the pulleys and get a measurement and buy one belt under and one over in size and see which one works best. return the one that does not work. that is what i did as i got 2 diff suggestions on lenght? belt runs straight accross from A/C pulley to ALT pulley. air pump removed in total.

 

It does. Some people just opt not to spend the money on the delete pulley and just instead by a new belt and route it differently. It's their choice:

-If you want to keep a stock appearance and the stock belt, than buy the AIR pump delete pulley, GM part number 10186167.

-Or you can just buy a new belt (part number 968K6 at most auto parts stores) and reroute it.
https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...rpentine.shtml

 

what about the tensioner?

 

okay so ill probably get the headman long tube headers seems cheap but ive heard good things here and i belive i read long tubes improve torque right. as for the ultimate tbi mods if you mean all of them like tryin to port the heads my dremel broke so thats not an option and as far as the burning chips goes all i would want to do is the basics like fuel pressure and smog delete and mabey an egr delete too but not real sure. how do you actually put the data on a new chip is that w/ the scanner or that special cord or what. and r there any good tutorials out there for someone not using a laptop or the most basic stuff. seen alot of tutorial and the ones i read are more in depth i just need the basics cause do not plan on installing a cam or heads onto this block but mabey in the future w/ a new engine but i am interested. thanx all

 

retain tensioner.

 

i was just gonna get the delete pulley to save some trouble but if its that easy to just take it out and run a shorter belt then ill do it that way. but i have power steering and ac and stuff is that picture for all that i thought i read on another post that pic in the tech section was for routing a non power steering vehicle? and as i said in last post if someone could please help narrow down a chip burning tut. for me since i wont have a laptop right away and just on the basics like fuel pressure and emisions deletions, and fan switch stuff like that thanx.

 

Here is a diagram that should help. You need the shorter belt to route it in the manor pictured in the second one down.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=309253

 

fuel pressure is set mechanically however you need to tell the chip what it is set at. look at DIY Prom board and read "stickies". that will keep you busy for a while learning ABC's 1-2-3's of prom tuning. i think Traxion's intro to prom burning is sitting there.

 

My cat had been hollowed out by one of the previous owners, so about 6 weeks ago I removed all the emissions tubing from my LO3. Looks SOOO much better and much easier to work on now. I kept the AIR pump in there for the time because I've heard of the serp belt flopping around with the A/C on. I don't want to risk throwing the belt so I left the pump on until I get the delete pulley. You can remove everything except the pump in a few minutes, but be sure to plug the manifold holes if not replacing the headers the same day:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=300706

 

I grew up off Stone Road in Lexington. Jesse M. Clark Jr. High., would have gone to Layfayette if I didn't go to Lexington Catholic.

It's been a long road since Kentucky for me.

 

lol yeah thats cool to see i have someone in here at least familar w/ ky if not in it. id say it is a big change in cali from ky.

 

BM,

That sounds great. I am going to try to purchase a new cable. Do you recommend anywhere? I already have a laptop.

Thanks

Bill