I'm looking for some ideas. I have an all original 1989 Trans Am with an LB9 TPI 305, married to a 5 speed manual (30,405 original miles).
Part of what I love about this car is that she sits today just as she did when she rolled off the line in Van Nuys in April of 1989. However, I'm looking for a little more kick, especially in the top end. She has a good amount of torque and can light 'em up (depending on conditions) through third gear, but she grows tired as I reach higher RPM's and gears. I've considered cold air intakes, performance chips, and "in-line performance/fuel saver" mechanisms that all promise great results.
The bottom line for me is this... I don't want to alter the outside appearance of the car at all. I prefer none, but am willing to accept some change in the visual appearance of the engine compartment. I do not want to "hack-up", or "bastardize" the car in any way.
Does anyone have any easy, "bolt-on", ideas for increasing horsepower. It is also important for me that I could easily return the car to original specifications if I needed or wanted to.
I appreciate any and all advice!

 

Exhaust, cam, gears & heads

 

Full exhaust, messing with the timing and tuning it, and installing a Holley Stealth Ram would definitely wake your car up.
Everything's reversible, you just have to decide if it's worth the hassle of changing back and forth.

 

Bolt ons are just that, if you need to go back to the original you can. Gears, cam, rockers and others are hidden so no one will know about them

 

Another guys opinion,headers/exhaust,and a set of 1.6 rockers will give you the most gain for the investment.Heads,cam,and stealth ram are definately worthwhile,but not Sat. afternoon projects.

 

Don't tpi cars run out of breath in the higher rpms reguardless of what you do to them? I thought they were low end/mid range cars.

 

They do stock. GM engineered it to be a stump puller, mostly due to camshaft profile, head flow, and intake/exhaust design (and it helps with emissions too). Changing these, lets say for the sake of drag racing, will increase airflow at higher RPM, although possibly sacrificing the low end. Its all about give and take, especially with no VVT to help Basically, street cars benefit more from torque, race cars usually tend to have a higher horsepower number (well, unless its a turbo car lol).