OK, I came(coming) into some cash from a stock and have about $2500 to spend on upgrades to a stock GTA.
$500 has been set aside for interior stuff.

The rest of it, $2000 is going into the motor/exhaust.
Let me know what you think of this set up, and possible HP gains.

LT-1 intake conversion(lt1intake.com)
New PROM(lt1intake.com)
LT-1 cam
Headman Hedders #68491
Smog/AIR pump delete pully
True dual custom exhaust with high flow cats(local exhaust shop)
SLP CAI.


Thoughts, comments, predictions?

 

If you have a 305, then you should spend about 900 of that money, and get yourself a rebuilt 350, put it in yourself to save a little cash. You should still have enough for a 3" single cat-back as well as headers. Maybe even the LT1 intake and the new PROM.

But if you just want to know how much HP I'd estimate those upgrades to put you at. My best guess would be determined by what you have on there already... but assuming you have a 305 w/ TPI... I'd say that setup you want to get would get you about 250 to the wheels assuming everything was tuned correctly.

 

I bet you run out of money before you get all of those parts. If you are not going to run AIR then get rid of it so that you do not need the pulley. You have an L98 that has a cam similar to the LT1. Go bigger or save some money there by keeping what you have. You will need various gaskets and such as well. Even if you go with the cam you would need at least 100 bucks worth of new valve springs and timing chain goodies. I would maybe look into burning your own chips. 99% of all off the shelf chips cost a fortune and do nothing.

 

The motor is stock(350)
Why would I need springs? The heads have just been rebuilt and have stiffer springs(according to the shop that built them)

The chip would be burned by john at www.lt1intake.com for my application and mods ect.

I may run out of money budgeted, but I still have reserve cash from my day job to cover overages.
The whole intake swap and arts for it will run $700, the SLP intake can be had for $190, headers are around $200, another $200 for cats(though i might forego them, since the shop that will do my exhaust also does state inspections and well the car as it is didn't offically pass last time but it got passed due to coolness factor.) If i have to skrimp on parts, i can skip getting the headers since I already have a set of edelbrock TES with the AIR plugged.
The most expensive part will probably be the exhaust system(other than the intake setup)

As far as the cam, would going to a ZZ4 cam give me more bang for my buck, but leave the car still useable for daily driving.

I appreciate your comments and suggestions.

 

Heads.

 

YEP!!! Definitely take $350-400 of that and get a real good chip burning setup (like an Autoprom) --- or give me $240 for my Flash-n-Burn and Ostrich so I can buy an Autoprom. I'm even local (Plano), so you won't even need to worry about shipping costs! I'll even show you how to hook them up and use them!!!

Regardless of which way you on the prom burning gear, it will probably be the best $$ spent overall.

Also - forget the SLP CAI in my opinion. You should have the same air system on your "tree-fiddy" GTA that I had on my 305 Formula (both are 91's). Round canister filter in right front corner, right? The SLP kit uses the same factory ducting, so you won't get any more air flowing in there. And the temps are pretty low with our setups already. I'm running the same rig for my 383 Super Ram, and all I did was open up the canister sides to get more air at the source. Don't need any more air that that, Doc.

True dual exhaust is another misnomer on our cars. Lots have tried, few have gotten it to work with any ground clearance at all. Don't you have the dual cats on the GTA? If so, just go with some performance/Hi flow cats and a good cat back.

The air pump is your friend. You'll gain maybe 2 HP by removing it. And be illegal for our emissions testing if anybody looks (assuming it passes w/o it). May have a "friend" for this time, but no guarantee he'll be working there next year. Miniscule gain with too high a price IMO. However. if you do this, can I have your old AIR solenoid/valve?

A cam, headers, and the heads is where you'll see some real performance gains - especially the heads and cam.

The LT1 is not emissions compliant either, but you probably alreay know that (and I harped too much on that one already). Unless you're after some insane power (doesn't sound like it), I'd probably spend "my" money on a good intake manifold and set of runners. Lingenfelter/SLP/Edelbrock have good hi flow runners. TPIS does too, but lots of $$$ for minimal if any gain. SuperRams are great too, but again lots of $$ (around $1200 new, $700-800 on eBay for used).

Then I'd either upgrade my heads or have them ported a little bit.

And while they're off the block do the cam swap. As to which one, I'd probably defer to CompCams (the experts). Describe to them the car. tranny type, rear end, runners and intake you use, heads and head work, and see what they recommend. THey're usually pretty d@mn close with all their experience. The LPE219 cam is known to be a good one too.

Hookers seem to be the headers of choice, but I'd stay with shorties. Your motor doesn't sound radical enough to see much (if any) real benefit from long tubes, and the ground clearance on the LTs is terrible.

Sorry to ramble on, but you did ask for thoughts and comments. These are just mine, YMMV, and I'm sure you'll get lots of other ones as well.

Come check us out at NTTGA. We have a meeting this Saturday, 3PM, at Spring Creek BarBQ on 114 in Grapevine. Hope to see you there!


- Vern, the 52 Y.O. Plano Phat Phart and NTTGA V.P.

 

Thanks Vern,


Well if the SLP won't give me any gains, would going with the Ram Air box from hawks thirdgen(I have the Ram Air 2 hood) do me any better, or just go with the K&N cone filter than goes on the TB?