I just got a '89 Formula with the L03 and 700R4 w/ open diff. Im definatelly soon gonna put a 80-series flowmaster on her, but im not expectin' much of a difference in performance from it. I wanna get something like Underdrive pulleys or TBI spacer... something around $200. Eventually im gonna get TES Headers, and Rear-end, heads, cam etc. But I want to have some budget fun this summer whille im payin her off. If anyone knows of some good "seat of your pants" bolt-ons I would love to hear about em.

 

My two bests don't quite meet your budget, unfortunately. I'm going to throw 'em out there anyway.

Gears & differential - My favorite so far. You can probably get just the gears for around $200 but you'll probably have to get them installed (unless you've got a super stocked garage). If you don't have a posi differential you'll want to get that, too. Then you'll be way over budget.

Headers - Gave a pretty good seat of the pants improvement. Not as much as the gears did, but, pretty good. Probably around $300, not much over budget.

 

I just noticed that you said you were gonna get gears and headers later...

Open element air cleaner made a small SOTP difference. None of the other little stuff that I've done did, though.

 

I noticed the biggest difference with my pulleys. It felt like I turned off 3 air conditioners. I got mine used for 50 dollars. obviously a K&N p/n E-1500 with the taller truck air cleaner lid is a good one for under 100 dollars.

 

question for anyone that will know..in jegs they have two diffrent types of 3.73 gears which one will fit are cars. i own a 1988 305 tbi.?

 

really? most people say it doesn't do much. Are they the all aluminum ones?

 

i would go with a 48000 volt jolt coil for summit itll take yu about a half an hour to install and you wouldnt believe the difference, oh and its only $50.

 

yes Tas, they are aluminum. But you are right, I have them on my Jeep, and they were not much of a gain. I don't know why, but on my camaro, they were a good SOTP gain. As for the coil thing, remember ignition parts must work together, a good set of wires, cap, rotor, and new plugs are also a must, so that 50bux just increaded to 150.

 

I didn't notice any difference with my pulleys. Didn't do any track testing or anything...just judging by the butt dyno. Not calling you for BS, just stating my experience.

 

if you dont have much mialage on your cap and wires, you dont have to worry about changing them, i didnt change mine when i put a coil on and i got one hell of a gain, oh andyou can get the cap and rotor for $20, wires for $30 for a descent set, $100 no offense tbi, thanks for reminding me about cap and wires, that would give him alittle more

 

tax and all, a good cap and rotor with brass contacts is 25-30, Taylor or equivalent wires are 50 or so, so I rounded up to 100, plus the 50 on the coil, that is how I got 150. But I see what you are saying, best case scenario.

 

Not only are you underdriving the accessories but you're also putting on less rotating weight. The aluminum weighs less and if you got a lighter flywheel/flexplate, racing damper, and aluminum driveshaft you'd feel it even more. Personally I'd rather have heaver parts on my engine. The advantage is when you're going up a hill the engine doesn't have to work anyharder because the rotational torque of the heavier mass has more momentum. It's a beautiful thing when you can cruise the highway without moving your foot.
If I had a daily driver or more money I would probably invest in pullies and that kind of stuff. I also wish I had the money for a 9" tcc but that's never gonna happen ($800, OUCH), I'll just stick with the 12" units and a tranny cooler .
Gears and good exhaust work. $15 should be alocated to an open element filter. If you don't already have one don't come back. This board should be called the "no stock air cleaner" board. Lots of TPI guys using the stock intake but no TBI guy could afford not to have an open element.

 

definetly go for an open element and you can get a set of hooker comp shorty headers for 141$ but youll have to have a y pipe made which i was told would run 125$ also go ahead and do all the ultimate TBI mods they are free and will help alot

 

part number 836-49-0046-1

 

Best seat of the pants I did was my Tk. Air cleaner lid mod and my Dynomax cat-back exhaust system. Better response and so far, better mileage.

Oh, and a tune-up did wonders, too.

 

that is probably the most overlooked, everyone mods their 15 year old car, and forgets to do a good tune up. so they never realise the full effect of the mods that they actualy do!

 

I agree.... I spend mega bux on fixing up and tuning up a vehicle before I even think about performance parts. Dont get me wrong, I buy performance brands in the process, but I make sure all services and fluid changes are up to date. If I buy a used vehicle, I save a 1000 dollars to bring it up to my specs and make the assumption nothing has been done to it so I do it all immediately after purchase. You will get out of the vehicle what you put in to it.

A good example would be, don't buy a 120k IROC or something and slap a K&N in and some pulleys and start flooring it every take off! Make sure diff, tranny, front-end, brakes, cooling system, power steering system, tune up stuff, and fuel system are all current first. Not to mention oil changed, etc. etc.... I used to be in Auto Parts sales and you don't know how many idiots came in wanted a K&N and a Chip for a piece of crap thirdgen that had never had a rear diff sevice, or the plugs changed...LOL

 

I'd say get into doing your own proms would be the best choice... even more so when you look to the long term.
Otherwise a higher stall converter from a vortec v6 s-10 will really pep things up... I run one and it makes a nice change. Gears / posi also give a pretty big seat of the pants change. I like 3.42's or 3.73's for a street car. To do the gears for your budget you are looking at buying used parts.