Ok so here goes let me first start off by saying this, I'm just tired of being beat by hondas and other burners and well just about everyone. i have a 1988 305 TBI, which to no surprise is slower then just about everything i have ever driven.I am planning on carbing the camaro. I dont have a large bankroll so im just going basic mods for some decent power inprovements. I wanna know a few things to plan for and just know about

1) I know the basic parts that i need to buy to do the swap, Carb,Intake,Change Fuel Pump. but what else do i need? and what do i need to do? do i have to do anything special for the car, cause it's fuel injected right now and it has a computer so what do i do? lol i know it's just as confusing to read as it is for me to write, I'm taking it to a shop that my buddy works at but i just wanna show up with the parts so he can just work on it. So Help Me Out...lol

2)Now onto exaust. I'm planning on for the time being running hedman longtube headers with purple hornet header mufflers, are there any headerback exaust out there for long tubes? or at least Y-pipes that i can use to hook up the flowmaster cat-back that im eventually going to put on the car or do i have to have somethign custom made. And Has anyone ever done this header muffler setup? any idea on how loud it would be?


Thanks any and all help will be greatly appreciated, tips and ideas are welcome to... thanks

 

Swapping to a carb won't make your car any faster. it's not the TBI that's holding you back- it's the fact it's a 305 and has a tiny cam with really crappy heads. While an exhaust will help you, you're not gonna like what anyone is gonna tell you... Give up the 305.

I don't know very many people who have built 305s and actually enjoyed them, considering for the same price you can build a 350 and easilly go half a second faster.

My first mistake was modding my 305. Threw heads, cam, intake, throttle body, and exhaust on that POS. While it was fun and reliable, it was nowhere near fast. For about $1500+ (not including exhaust) I was running LT1 speeds. Now if you I had just took that $1500 and bought an LT1 to swap in, I'd still have over $500 to spare on mods.

Like I said, you aren't gonna want to hear it, but everyone will tell you the same- DITCH THE L03. It's friggin garbage.

 

Modding the stock L03 is like modding teh LG4. The stock shortblock is ok, but everything else is junk. The heads, cam, exhaust, rear gears + carrier, it all needs to go. Ideally you should also do a shiftkit as well as the stock holding capacity of the trans sucks.

As for the exhaust, you cant really use any sort of header muffler due to space restrictions. The best thing is shorty headers and full exhaust for a TPI car.

 

At least with the LG4 the heads are modifiable for better performance. Not true with the LO3 TBI heads.

I doubt $1500 will get an LT1 swap running. But, it is a good route to consider.

If, however, you expect a shop to do this at shop rates, figure on at least $1500 just for labor. And they'd be crazy to take on the job for that little.

You've gotten yourself probably one of the best hobbyist cars out there. But, that's just what it is - a hobbyist's car. It isn't something you should expect to take to a shop and be made "better" for a reasonable cost. However, if you do the work yourself, plenty of parts are out there to make it much better at a reasonable cost.

I would agree with the carb not helping. Might help a little if the TBI isn't running right.

There is just no quick fix for TBI. Fixable, yes (check the TBI forum for more details), but not quick, and not something you take an armload of parts to a performance shop to install.