I have a 1985 Trans am with a first year lb9 and the auto.
i've read before that the 1985 tpi's were just l69's wit tpi on top. now the l69 is the only 305 i've heard talked about with anything but disdain. does the 85 have anything up on the newer 305's?

The car was supposed to have a swapped cam, guy told me it was huge but,, people lie. I ran the car at the track before i put it away for the winter, i had never turned a wrench on it had only owned it like a week, thing pulled a 15.9 followed by a 16.0. Now i didn't think about it till i pulled it out to start work on it last week, but a swapped cam on our cars without tuning would probably kill power alot more then that, i mean the thing still idles pretty smooth and starts right up most times. my theory is the timing is improperly set and i have a few vacuum leaks as well as crap wires to find. a 15.9 at 89in a trans am puts it at about the same power level as an l03, minus a butt load of low end torque. sound about right?

I don't want to build this motor it's just gettin this car around till i strip the GTA for the l98. but if i can hit a high 14 in the meantime without puttin money into it that'd be great. what do you guys think?

 

85 tpi had the burnoff box ,and gm states that this system is very unreliable.

 

yea i wondered about that and how much work i was going to have to do to swap in the 87 stuff. I prefer maf for some masochistic reason...

hmm, perhaps a dirty maf contributes to the problem, good lookin out.

 

any other thoughts?

 

if you got into the 15's with that car you did very well.

 

going to have to put the money in lol

 

wait seriously? i thought the 305 tpi's were capable of high 14's in good shape? the thing already has a new cat back, gutted airbox and i'll be throwin a 165 ecm with a custom chip as soon as i start strippin the gta, is it really that slow?

 

high 14's in 88 - 90 with a 5 speed and a good hook at the line. the only motor worse then the 85 is the 86

 

Well, I've only had my '85 for 23 years so I can only speak from experience -

My MAF and burnoff module are original. I would say they are robust.
You know what's inside the BO mod? Relays! It's easily repairable.

The '85s had the "good" cam and can run with (and beat most) any stock 350 car. I've proven it.

The computers may have a slow serial line, but who cares? Are you a
programmer? The program is simple and works.

I just don't understand the mythology that is starting to form about this and all thirdgens.

 

well i find it odd that the l69 with a carb on top is considered okay and 14 sec material but a l69 with tpi ontop of it is crap. I suppose i should be more specific as i left alot of grey areas,,

Will a 85 lb9 in good running order, pull high 14's with a suspension in good shape, low miles, a 3 inch cat back, a 165 ecm with custom tune( i allready tune chips) and a gutted airbox? that's about where i'll be by late july.

 

the 85 is a 15 second car.

 

The L69's carb setup breathes alot better than TPI does, thats why those cars are typically quicker, especially on the top end.