I bought a 1989 GTA for the drivetrain however, I have never owned any of these cars before and now I am HOOKED. This car is already very fast but I want more. It has a tpi 350 and 700r4, Flow master cat back and that is all I know about the car. My question is....what are the most common and best bang for the buck mods to get more out of this rocket? Also do they all have roller cams?

 

1989 350's did get the roller cam.

headers, something like the hooker 2055's, or if you can fabricate, then go with longtubes and either build a y-pipe and single exhaust or dual exhaust.

then of course, tuning.

 

just headers will kill your bottom end.......BUT top end will rock out.....you can do it but to bring back your bottom end with that.......
underdrive pulleys
cold air
edelbrock intake
plugs wires BRASS cap and rotor coil and moduale
subframe conectors
and for that xtra 10hp get white gauges

for that xtra umph do a shift kit and gears......
if its a 5 speed do a better clutch and lighter flywheel and gears


and that xtra .1 sec get the alum driveshaft

 

who told you headers kill bottom end? they improve all the way around buddy! a properly tuned set of headers (like some longtubes) will only make low-end torque more apparent.

 

Yup my SLP 1.75 didn't really kill my lowend at all . Still gobs of TQ

 

ok howmany times have you put NOTHING but exhaust on a car?

 

More than once. Never lost bottom end.

 

Nothing but exhaust is the first thing that needs to be put on these cars... right after subframe connectors.

 

well from my experiannce with it on a few cars I've felt a drop on take off and don't feal the gain till about 2000 to 2500 then it really jumps off. I mean if you build the rpm's up before launch yeah ya wouldn't notice

 

"feel" is relative. don't you think the improvement is actually all the way around, though you felt MORE of a difference in the higher rpms which gave the illusion that the car actually lost bottom end...but it didn't, it just gained top end.

and you'll need to get it to the track to see any real difference anyhow, "feel" isn't a good guage of performance increase.

 

this is true. but the only way to get a TRUE fact is to run a stock dyno and then do headers and rest of exhaust then run it again.

but where this thread started, he wanted feal from the way it sounded....as you said headers won't give the feal without other upgrades.....agreed?

 

no, not agreed, headers are the single most effective mod for these cars. you feel it all the way around...maybe not in your 2.8, but in a 350...yes.

 

I can *see*, maybe, a small bottom-end loss going to, say, a poorly designed shorty header....but longtubes will increase torque, as well as power all the way through the band! Unless you're running junk-o's. Now granted, returns will be even better if you can get it to breathe as good as it now exhales....so for instance, you run headers, a hi-flow cat, and catback....okay, now it's time to work the intake.

Always start with a good tune-up...trying to make power on a motor that's running like garbage is a worthless venture. Fuel filter, plugs (gap them properly and always double-check, "pre-gapped" plugs are rarely done properly), wires (any decent brand should be okay, I found Taylors to be very good for the price), cap/rotor (brass terminals ONLY! PERIOD! They resist corrosion), air filter, etc etc..... Cover the basics, then work on power. And don't forget, never ignore a check engine light.... OBD-I cars take a MAJOR malfunction to trip the light (in comparison to OBD-II cars, where you sneeze on them and it throws a code) , so if you DO have one, check it out it's definitely an issue....

 

I have a 92 Firebird Formula WS6 LB9 306 TPI. I havn't done cold Air yet but I have a K & N just sitting off my TB Not the best but all I have for now. I felt the most bang out of my Headers + new 3" exhaust all the way back (minus the 2.5" at the Y-pip). I also did an Air Foil Diverter to smooth out the area between the openings in the TB. I have a new Coil, plugs, wires and DIST cap and the car moves SOO much quicker than it used to. I noticed a vast improvement low and and especially high end with just the exhaust. But I think with those basic and reletively easy mods you would be very satisfied with your power gains. There are more things to do like SFC, new tranny (probuilt?), new gears and then more advanced stuff that many guys here do...

All I know is that what I did for my car so far "feel" awesome and I've been able to hang with my friends built 350 (even though we think it has problems).

 

Just make sure that filter off your TB doesn't get heat-soak from your radiator. I imagine it's far enough away though, but the rad fans are gonna blow hot-*** air RIGHT at your filter.

If you don't mind me interjecting, you're a speed-density car I assume correct? Unless you have a MAF mounted to your TB... If so, then before long you will probably hit a wall, as the SD mixture tables will be so far off from what you're running now, that the car will no longer have proper gains or run decently. Only way to fix that is a custom chip to recal the thing. That's the down-side to speed density.

 

Oh, I"m certain it's not the best spot for it. That's how It was when I bought the car and just havn't had the time to either make it RAM AIR or Cold Air. I know it's pulling in hot air where its at...but the sound it makes when you turn the car off is pretty cool

Ya, i've been told that I'm pretty much as far as I want to go as far as changes I've made that will/might change my mixtures and I should be either considering or close to considering a new chip that will help me tune my performace to what I've done. Problem is I can't afford right now to buy the stuff to even try to start/learn to do it myself and I don't know anyone out here in Port Orchard WA that can do it. I was going to look more into that when I started planning a new Tranny and possibly rear gears. There's still tons for me to consider..everything I've done feels more basic to me. Not like what many of the guys here have done...way more than I have. Thanks though I never mind an interjection for the cause of better running 3rd Gens