you guys are going to have to excuse my ignorance on alot of things here, and i've been trying to do some searches, but i'm not really finding what i need. i'm finding alot of threads with alot of good information, but what i really need is something that goes over alot of basic stuff, that kinda ties stuff together...

anyway,

my question is, i have a stock L98(as far as i know... the only thing not stock under the hood is K&N filters), if i'm looking to spend 2,000 in just parts for the engine to build it up alittle(i'll spend more money on other things like suspension to go along with this engine)what would give me the best "bang for my buck"? the car is a daily driver, and i'm not looking to do anything wild with the car, but i also don't want to be slower then some new acura or have some full size pickup blow past me. i realize the first thing i need to do is make sure my L98 isn't horribly out of tune(which i don't think it is now to begin with), and i'll get that taken care of.

i'm looking for just some general ideas of what can be done parts wise for 2 grand, and what type of power/times this engine would have the potential for and stuff. i know that times for like a 1/4 will depend alot on a bunch of other stuff, thats part of the reason i want to know what i can get for 2 grand on the engine(i picked that amount of money because thats all i can ever justify putting into the engine, lol, i'm not rich), so i can figure out what i want to do suspension and everything else wise.

if anyone could also point me in the direction of some articles that would help me, that would be cool too. don't get me wrong, i'm not looking for someone to just type some huge post and teach me everything, i'm trying to search but i can't find something that just lays out all the "basics". i'd like to learn, lol.

sorry for this big post, thanks for taking the time to read it.

 

Exhaust first; then a converter and gears, somewhere about 2400 RPM and 3.42s with a good (not a Gov-Lock) posi. Those things will soak up most of $2000. Maybe after that, do some head porting, and a carefully chosen cam, specifically designed for TPI. Other little things along the way would include some better (NOT bigger) injectors, an AFPR, maybe advance the timing a couple of degrees. You'll probably also find that you need some suspension work; probably some LCA lowering brackets and some LCAs, to stop the wheel hop you'll be creating (if you don't already have more of that than you can stand).

The things about that car that are keeping it from being faster than it is, or that you should change first to make it faster, especially if it's not a G92 (dual cat) car, are not necessarily in the "engine". Granted, a TPI motor isn't exactly the most rompin stompin thing on the roads today; but unless the other issues aren't improved, you could put a Pro Stock motor in it, and it still wouldn't be very fast.

 

sorry if i wasn't clear, i ment i wanted to spend 2k on just the engine, i know its going to cost more for alot of other stuff. the car when i bought it already has a high flow cat, with what looks like a 5 inch pipe running back to a flowmaster, with two 2 1/2 inch pipe's coming out of it. i know i'm going to have to spend more money on the suspension, my plan was to figure out what the possiblities were with my engine with spending 2 grand, so i could figure out what type of power i was looking at, so i could go and figure out what i'd need for the suspension and other things. i want to do everything else first, and leave the engine last. lol, am i making sense? or is my whole plan backwards?

i'm not worried about the trans, the people before me put a TH350 in it(maybe not the best thing for a daily driver, but i'm living with it now, so, lol. i'm still getting like 16 miles to the gallon), with a shift kit. there's also a very new looking torque arm in there also. i have no idea what type of torque converter is in the car, or what the stall is.

i don't want to go out and spend 5 grand on suspension when i would have only needed to spend half that or something for the power my engine makes and for the handling i want. know what i mean? thats why i'm trying to get an idea of what is possible for 2 grand in the engine, so i can plan how to do the rest of the car without wasteing money of stuff that really isn't needed.

 

I doubt that it has a 5 inch pipe going back. The point is, no matter the mod, without headers and a free flowing exhaust, the mods you do will never realize thier potential. That is the very first thing to do to your engine.

Do you have emmisions? If not, MY first mod would be to ditch the TPI for something that actually performs. Then you can think about porting heads and adding a bigger cam.

No matter what though, you will need suspension to help the engine mods. Its not a matter of how much suspension. Either its a good setup or its not, you cant buy traction by a %. It hooks, or it doesnt.

 

thanks for your help.

i went out and looked. you are right, its not 5 inches. i did not actually measure it, but it looks to be about 3.5 inches. the car does also have headers(forgot to mention that, i don't know what they are). i really didn't think for what i wanted to do that my exaust would be a problem, i figured it would be fine. but, if you guys don't think so, i'll have to look into it.

i do have emitions, but i'm not 100% how strict it is. i know my car won't pass emitions as it is, because all the smog stuff has been ripped out. i live in PA, so i'm going to have to look into what the emition laws are exactly.

if i'm only planning on spending 2,000 ish total on parts, is it worth improveing the TPI? thats main my main question here, all other things aside. i realise there are alot of other things i have to do to the car before i really touch the engine, i'm just trying to figure out what i CAN do to the engine for that much money.

thanks for clearing this up. i know i need suspension, i was just saying that i'm not including the money for suspension in with my 2,000. does it take the same amount of suspension to make a car with less torque hook as it does to make a car with more torque hook though? i realize the type type and size of my tires matter alot, but i mean in general, does it take the same level of suspension work to make a car hook up well no matter what the torque is behind he engine?(i would assume it doesn't, but i really don't know).

sorry for all my newbieish questions guys, thanks for answering and helping.

 

PA has some pretty stiff emmissions laws, but depending on where you live, its not so bad. What are your goals? Money wise and power wise. This is just me, but if it were mine the first thing to go would be the TPI. I dont like it, never have. Its not bad, its just not that great. People are paying good money for the TPI setup, you could use that to fund your work. When you lose the TPI you will need a good intake and carb, HEI distributor, and a way to lockup your torque converter. The carb is easy, open a catalog and get one of your choice. The distributor is about the same. Summit/jegs both usually have one for 100 bucks or so that will suit a good street engine well. As for the Torque converter lockup, just search the boards, its been covered lots of times.

If you go carb, the next step would be heads/cam. The L98 heads arent bad, there are lots of guys into the 12s with them. A little at home porting work and they flow pretty good. Get them cut for the 1.60 exhaust valves (what most people do). With carb, your cam choice is a little more broad. You have no chip tuning to do. Just make sure you dont get more cam than your gears and converter can handle.

After all of this, you will need better suspension and gears.

 

i live in berks county. we actually didn't have emitions at all here up until a year ago.

as far as goals, i'd like to see real low 13's if not real high 12's, but i don't know if i'm going to be able to put enough money into it to make it see that. money wise, like i said, i'd like to spend 2000 in parts for the engine. i'll spend whatever money i need to on the suspension and rear end. my overall goal for the car is just to be a fun daily driver. i'm not looking to run 11's with it, or pull some insain numbers on a skip pad, just a fun all around car.

i didn't know people where paying money for the TPI, lol, i thought most wanted to get rid of there's. that saves me from just junking it, lol. if i can sell the TPI whatever money i'd get for it would probably go on top of the 2 grand i wanted to spend.

i actually wanted to stay away from a carb, simply because its a daily driver, but i guess that would be alot cheaper, wouldn't it?

would keeping the L98 heads save me money? as far as being able to port them myself, i'm not sure if that will be doable. i'd have to look into it and talk to some people. if keeping the L98 heads will save me alot of money though, i'll deffinitly do that, lol.

 

Sounds to me like there are some fundamental question you need to settle, before ordering anything.

• First: do you want to go faster, or do you just want to spend $2000 on your engine?
• Next, do you want low 13s / high 12s, or do you want TPI?
• Then, if you decide you want to just spend money under the hood, the choice is not limited to only "TPI" or "carb"; there are other fuel injection systems available that replace TPI, and thereby remove its limitations; but retain computer-controlled fuel injection.

Complete TPI setups go for anywhere from $150 to $500, depending on how complete they are (TB? injectors? wiring? ECM?), what year and system they are (MAF or SD), what condition they're in and things like whether they're polished (street rodders will put polished ones on their cars because they don't care whether it runs good or not, they're just going for looks), etc. etc. etc. Not enough money to really be very concerned about in the overal picture.

The way you make a car (note I said "car", not "motor") faster, is by identifying the thing about it that is the lowest limit to its performance, and upgrading it in a rational and approporiate manner. In most cars, there are LOTS of things that slow the car down, that aren't under the hood. Yours is no different. Use your money where it will do the most good.