I recently bought a '91 RS and I want to get the car in the low to mid 6's on the 0-60 MPH times and under 15 on 1/4 mile. But for now all i have to spend is about $900 including a bit of installation. I wanna know if this is a good route.

FYI, I wanna compete with mid-90s GTs.

High Flow Cat (CATCO)
Open Air Element
New Sparks and 8.5+ mm Wires
DynoMax Exhaust
Corvette Servo
Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator
MSD 6A ignition + coil (cap and rotor also)

Where will this get me? What else can i do, which is easy to install and low cost?

The car is my daily driver, so i can't count on losing any weight. I'll also put in a tranny and oil cooler. I also though about spacers but i heard i'd be cramped for space under the hood, and i've heard bad stories about underdrive pullies (electrical probs).

What about a new intake manifold? How much of a difference? Is installation easy? And would a hypertech be of any use at this level?

 

Well stick to speed parts. If you want to make go fast cheap well dont spend a lot of money on stuff to fine tune yet.
First start with a good High performance Tune up. Like Rapid fire plugs, Accel Cap and coil, MSD plug wires. And a full ignition. Then goto a full exhaust...Headers Like the Eldelbrock TES system, High Flow Cat and a Flowmaster 3" system. Also since you are going to want to race you will be operating in the upper RPMs so a set of Underdrive pulleys will help there. A throttle body spacers is also good to help a little in the mid to upper RPMs and a little on bottom.
Now to correct where you might be going wrong
An open element on a TBI is bad idea unless you are running a functional cowl hood because all it will do is suck heat off the engine(HOT AIR IS BADDDDDD!!!!!)
A corvette servo is not yet needed in your application, though a Trans Go shift kit would really help you 0-60 Times.
An adjustable Fuel pressure regulator is really for tuning because your intake is not like a TPI's. You just need a good cone to get a good mixture. The more mixing you get in a TPI the better becase it is injected almost right into the head. Also you dont want to run it too rich. I could explain further but I think I would just confuse everyone and not make much since, and there are guys on the TBI board that could explain it further and better.

From my brothers TBI, things that have made the Biggest Improvements are the exhaust and Going to a 3.73 gear in the rear. Ofcourse that also ment he had a posi unit installed to so now he can put a lot more power to the groung coming out of the hole which makes a BIG difference.
Also check the TBI board and find out what free mods you can find out about.
It wout be easy to get to where you want to go, but it is an achievable goal, it will just cost mor than $900. THough do not for get to plan for the future. Keep your goal in mind with everystep you take. DOnt overkill and dont cheap out. You will end up buying it twice that way.
Good luck and hope I was some help to you.


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86 Trans Am 355 TPI Rebuilt 700R4 with Corvette servo, modified valve body, and a B&M Torque Converter (2000 rpm stall w/ lock up), 87 350 block bored .30 with new crank. Reworked 305 heads with 3-angle valve job. Added in the rebuild was an SLP TPI cam, BBK 58mm Throttle Body,MSD 6A, Hypertech Power Coil, 1.5 Crane roller tipped rocker arms, SLP Intake Runners and Port matching in upper intake including fully ported plenum, TPIS adjustable fuel pressure regulator @ 46psi, Hooker shorty style headers w/ Thermotech heat wrapping, Custom 3” exhaust with Flowmaster muffler and chrome quad tips, Hypertech Thermomaster Computer chip, K&N open element cone filter on modified MAF per TPIS specs, MSD Wires, removal of A/C hardware and added a 1LE firewall cover installed. Also there has been a PST front suspension kit with Hotchkis strut tower brace added. Soon to have Intrax lowering springs.
http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Garage/9548/kyle.html

Kills:
95 Talon TSI, 96 Probe GT, 91 T/A L98, 89 RS, 86 Mustang GT, 88 Mustang LX 5.0, 92 Thunderbird V8. couple or ricers that I think were Civics or Preludes not sure what year, 95 Celica GT-S, 94 Chevy 1/4 ton 350, one of those NASCAR F150's

The Third Gen Will Never be Forgotten

 

High Flow Cat (CATCO)
Open Air Element
New Sparks and 8.5+ mm Wires
DynoMax Exhaust
Corvette Servo
Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator
MSD 6A ignition + coil (cap and rotor also)

As l understand it, w/ a TBI your biggest problem are 1) Cam, 2) Exhaust, 3) intake.
Therefore, l would get 1) a better cam, 2) bigger exhaust, 3) better intake. I would imagine you should be able to get all that and still have a couple of dollars left for nice things like corvette servo or such.

l just have a thing about attacking the problem at the root. On a TBI the cam/exhaust/intake is the root.

Just my $.02

Clayton

 

Low buck LO3 Stage One Mods:

Right now you most likely have a 2.73 open diff. First swap should be to go with a lower rear gear. If you dont plan on making huge power and running slicks a decent low buck route would be to swap in a used rear from a TPI car with posi and 3.42 gears. I assume you have an automatic. Another good mod that will help you out of the hole is a torque converter. I'm running one out of the mid 1990's vortec V6 s-10 pickup. Its perfect for a stock / mildly modified car with its 2000-2100 rpm stall speed.

The next step is to get that crap exhaust to flow. Low buck summit headers are $80. Pick up a 3" dynomax muffler and 3" high flow cat. Have a local shop fab a crossover pipe and an intermediate pipe.

Make the fuel pressure regulator on your TBI adjustable per the ultimate TBI mods. Take the car to the track and tune the timing and fuel pressure.

Used 3.42 posi rear ~$200
Gear oil and adative ~$15
S-10 Converter $120
New rear main (while your at it with the converter) $10
Tranny Fluid $10
Headers $80
Muffler, single 3" in / 3" out $50
Fabricated 3" intermediate pipe and crossover pipe ~ $200
High flow cat $100
Total cost: $735

These mods will give you some of the best bang for the buck available, not require extensive tuning and set up your platform for other future mods. Expect high 14's... enough to run with bone stock 5.0 GT's with average drivers.

Stage Two Mods:
The next mods you do will have to address engine air flow and will include some sort of higher flow TBI unit, high rise dual plane or low rise single plane intake, cylinder heads and camshaft. Eprom Burner (youre gonna have to start doing your own chips, not as hard as it sounds if you stay conservative on the cam)
Total around $1600 if you use milled vortec heads. You can get deep into the 13's with this setup.

Stage 3
Increase displacement to 350 - 383 and add NOS. Low 12 second TBI recipe with traction.

------------------
1988 T/A,
9" Ford, 3.50 gears, Auburn posi, 700r4 -w- 2100 converter
350 .060 over with forged 1 pc rms crank, and forged TRW pistons, 9.5:1 cr
Factory GM heads Pocket ported, 2.02/1.60 valves, back cut
Lunati roller 219/227, .479/.480, 112 LSA
Holley 700cfm 4bbl on TBI truck 7747 computer and chip by Howell-EFI
Edelbrock Performer EGR intake, Edelbrock TES and 3" cat

 

Okay, first off. Would a better ignition system take more advantage of a fuel pressure regulator, and prevent me from running rich? Esp. after i replace exhaust and air filter/intake. Would 8.8mm wires by themselves do it, or should i do the system that i have listed above?

Secondly, should i just keep the filter system i have now, rather than go with the element? I was thinking, I could cut off the snorkel from the filter housing, and somehow attach it to the top and base of the open element, so it helps cool down the air. So i get the best of both sides.

I want to do posi later on, but i don't want to do gears. The car is still my daily driver, and gears will cause extra wear on the engine and tranny due to a higher turn rate.

So how much will a decent intake cost me? Is it easy to install? I'm bad with engines, so if its complicated how much would it cost for a mechanic to put in?

I'll prolly just go with the dynomax cat-back system. As i understand it, it's bolt on and only $150. I've also found a borla system for $350. Is that worth the extra cash, or will it not make much of a diff?

And TBI spacers... are they worth it?

[This message has been edited by mostafa3k (edited February 15, 2001).]