I am going to do a tune up on the car that I just bought. It is a 1987 Z28 305 TPI. I want to make sure that I put the right stuff in to make it run as good as possible.

I have heard everything from soup to nuts from the people around me, but in my experience, none of the expensive tune up stuff seems to make a difference.

I am going to do the fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap and rotor.

Is it really worth spending like $3-4/plug for platinum in a 305??? I don't believe it myself, but, I definately could be wrong.

Let me know what your recommendations are so that I can make an informed decision.

 

just to add while your at it clean the iac passages and the tb.. plat plugs are good if you dont like changin em.. but lets face it.. they suck for performance.. and honestly plugs arnt hard to change on these cars.. well some whine.. but they really arnt hard at all... a good set of delcos will lasts ya long enough IMO..

 

If your looking for one persons recommendations, it aint going to happen! This post is going to get hit like a shotgun on this subject. I'll tell you what I did to my 88 for about 120 bucks of parts and other people will tell you what they did to theirs for more or less. You will have to draw your own conclusions as to what you want to do OK?
AC rapid fire plugs work good, I put mine in 3 yrs ago but have only driven 8000 mi. but, I also race autocross so they don't get babied! I also bought an 8mm universal set of accel wires. They have come a long way since they first came out with universal kits and they went together real good AND I got to cut them exactly as long as I needed for a perfect fit. I also got a heavy dudy cap and rotor, nothing fancy but good. you don't need a fancy big name high dollar cap and rotor for a stock engine. SOoo, as you can see, I put my money in the plugs and wires for long lasting reliabilty. My plugs are still clean and haven't skipped a beat even after my fuel pump went bad (low pressure=lean fuel) as hard as I drove it that way before I figured out what was wrong it should have fryed them! and the motor! I've got 138,000 on it now and it runs like a sewing machine. (smooth and quiet) like an L.A. sweat shop!
Good luck on your desision, I'm going to enjoy reading the posts on this one for sure!!!!

 

Yes, what sqzbox said. This will definitely be some fun reading! And when it's all over, you'll probably still be wondering what to use, lol.

But after you read that everyone uses something different, with success, it'll show you that whatever you decide to use will work just fine. So pick the parts that make sense to YOU.

But one side note, I always find it strange that so many think platinum plugs aren't good for performance. Hmm, if I remember correctly, for a decade or so, Bosch platinums were just about the ONLY plug used in the 800 hp Indy cars and just about all the Formula Ones also! I think that qualifies as being fine for performance, lol.

 

fireboyd, do you use bosch platinum plugs? Let me tell you my exp. with these! I put a set in my son's Avenger and in my Daughter's neon. In both cases, they lasted less than 100mi. and then turned to crap!
Per Mfg recomendations, I didn't gap the plugs in order not to chip the platinum off the tips! I did look closely to be sure that they did at least have a gap (poo poo happens).
Upon closer examination with a magnifying glass, the little hole in the end of the insulator had a small spot of soot on them but otherwise were clean. In both cases, I removed them and reinstalled conventional plugs that are still running fine after 2 yrs.
My only conclusions are that they are not too good in motors with higher milage. Might work good in new or low milage cars, but I wouldn't put them in my lawnmower!
Bosch says "If you don't feel the difference, Bosch will buy the plugs". Grant you, we did "feel the power" for 1 day but if I took them back I'd be lieing Right?

 

I assume you mean the regular platinums? I'm not currently using them, but I've used them in the past, and I gapped them. I kept a set in for several years and A LOT of miles without any problems.

As far as I know, the only ones that you don't gap are the +2 or +4, which I've tried too. But I've never noticed any difference with any of the Bosch plugs. Does that mean I can take them back too?

I love trying different plugs, lol. I've tried A LOT of different ones, and they've all worked for me. I'm currently using Splitfires, which are the only plugs I've ever FELT a difference with. I love them! But I seem to be the only person who's had any success with Splitfires, lol, which I find strange since I've used them in three different cars for many years and LOTS and LOTS of miles, having great results with each. That's not luck, so I can only assume that people are doing something wrong when installing them(probably not gapping them correctly or at all). For my next change, I wanna try the Rapidfires, if I don't go with Splitfires again.

 

You can't go wrong with AC Delco stuff, except for maybe the plug wires (I like MSD) they make the best stuff on the market for your average daily driver 3rd gen.

 

Custom-fit wire sets labeled specifically for 1987s won't be found because that was a mid-year ignition coil change. So finding wires for your car will depend on which ignition coil you have. "Early" '87s have the coil-in-cap iginition, and "late" '87s have the side-mounted coil module. So the wires for early '87s will be considered "non-HEI"(with no coil wire) used for pre-87 models, and wires for late '87s will be considered "HEI"(with a coil wire) used for 88+ models.

I went through all that searching for wires for my '87. So I hope that helps you out.

And like Ricktpi said, MSD has good wire sets, but Taylor and others also make good sets. Checkout Jegs or Summit for a large choice of wires and colors. You should be able to find stock replacement caps and rotors there too(MSD, Hypertech, Accel, etc.).