I have a 86 trans am. It has a 305 with a 5sd. Stock from what i can tell. I have only had the car about 4 months but i love it just wish i would have bought one sooner. I would love to get some more power from her. It has a computer controled quaderjet as well as computer controled timing. The motor has about 20,000 to 25,000 miles on her. I don't have any idea were to start on her though. My plans would be to get really good power but she is still my daily driver. Gas really isn't an issue i bought the car knowing my milage would not be that good but i'm also coming from a lincoln mark 5 that got about 5 miles the gallon. Were is a good start on my new baby?

 

Ok. So first thing you should do is a FULL tune up. New plugs, wires, dist cap & rotor, drain and replace ALL fluids, fuel filter, air filter. Then you should start on the weak suspension our cars have. Replace the whole front suspension/steering parts ( tie rod ends, sway bar end links & bushings, center drag link, idler arm, pitman arm, ball joints, new struts & mounts, new springs, get a STB, and some SFC's).

Then you can start to do the same kind of things to the rear. You can make all the horsepower you want, but if you can't get it to the ground it's useless.

 

Intake and Exhaust, after that, put a better cam in it, or save up your money and buy a 350.

 

 

Here's a repost of what I put in a different thread. This is just a general guide to get you started, not the definitive answer:

Get your steering, suspension and brakes up to snuff before you start diving into the power mods.

Obviously, I don't know what kind of shape your car is currently in, but a safe guess is that it needs some general maintenance first.

The upside is two-fold: You can tackle it a bit at a time for minimal cost, and you can gain some skills and knowledge working on your car. So, when you get to the inevitable 350 swap you will have a nice, solid base to work on and the corresponding skills/knowledge to ease the process.

As a general guide, I'll offer this:

1. Full Tune-up on the engine - wires, plugs, distributor cap, rotor, coolant flush, etc.
2. Replace steering components up front with good Moog parts.
3. Replace suspension components with new springs, struts/shocks, bushings, ball joints (Moog parts again).
4. Rebuild/replace/repair ALL brake components.
5. Sub-frame connectors.
6. Wonderbar.
7. Full exhaust - headers back to the tailpipes.
8. Intake
9. 3.42 posi rear-end gears swap
10. Now you are ready to start making power.

 

How much would (in general) a 3.42 posi rear end gear swap cost? And what about full exhaust?

 

Start doing some looking around, summit, jegs, craigslist, TGO classifeds, etc etc... It all depends on what you want, I already have a posi and its good so I'm just buying the 3.42 ring & pinion which is around 180-200 and up(always get american made). You can get a used entire rear end for as little as 100 bucks. Check out the stickies in the exhaust section, they outline different types, cfm flow rate, price, more than you need to know. Theres plenty of sound clips so you can decide what you like. Hope that helps.

EDIT: I forgot something, cost all depends on whether you take on the work or have someone else do it.

 

I plan on doing it myself. And yes, that helps a lot thanks

 

If your doing the work the cost is parts, and what ever decides to break

 

I found a great rear end from an 87 with disk, posi, etc, for 225 at a car parts swap meet. start going and you will find them.
look for parts that work on a 350 as well as a 305.
you can get a good tpi with all the wiring [make sure its factory wiring] and the computer, for 500.00 or less. look on e-bay and make sure its MAP and NOT maf. the wiring is very important so make sure its factory not aftermarket.
then you will need a good set of headers. i like shorties because long headers show and sit to close to the ground. look on the exhaust site but hooker 2055 seem to be popular and i bought a set for 225 or so by looking everywhere. it will cost some bucks to get them coated, 125.00 to 250.00 depending on where you go. you can coat them yourself for 60.00 but you need ovens to get them to 400+ degrees to set the coating. the coating is necessary to prevent excess heat transfer - keeping it in the pipe instead of your engine compartment. a good 3 inch cat and you can get a good magnaflow for about 400.00 or a flowmaster 80 for about the same. if you really want to spend money get a borla for 800.00. EVERYONE HAS OPINIONS ON EXHAUST SYSTEMS SO READ THE SECTION ON IT, INCLUDING THE TEC SECTION.
both the intake and exhaust will work on a 350 so its a good investment. but it will not work on the new alunimum engines so if you are going to do a complete engine swap to an LS - don't wast your money on a LT, then do the swap now and get a complete engine and forget putting money into headers or intake that will not fit the LS or LT engine
next save yoru money for a good 350, maybe an L98 which will be able to use your 305 tpi [you have to change the injectors] and exhaust system.
this is very general - you need to go onto the specific boards and do a lot of reading. remember the 5 p's. proper preparation prevents poor performance.
good luck.

 

i found a 373 posi track full rear with disk brakes out of a 98 z28 for 100 bucks