Alright, I have an opinion/hypothetic type question here.

I have an '88 IROC-Z with the 350TPI. I have a fairly tight budget but will be coming into some money soon (+ my income tax return) and would like to do some upgrades to my car with the money.

Im looking more for bolt-on power parts, and for reasonable prices. If theres things i havent mentioned on here pls mention them, as i may not have thought about it or forgot to bring it up!

As of now its all stock, although i think it MIGHT have a catback on it, the exhaust pipes were just bent (i believe thats how the stock system was right?) not mandrel-bent like most catbacks are. The tips dont look stock tho, and it looks like theres been things done to the exhaust (welds and such). I just cant tell if its stock or not, mostly because i dont know how the stock exhaust system looks. The pipes are 2.5in btw. The tips are big 3in, and the are diagonal cut (they really dont look stock,but arent those dumb bolt on tips for sure!). It DOES have the stock manifolds too.

Assuming the entire exhaust system is stock, would it be better to put headers on it to the stock catback, or upgrading the catback first?

Which pipes are the best to upgrade to? Like ive said im on a fairly tight budget, so the catback would have to be less than $400 (the lower the better tho) and headers less than $200, ideally around 150 at the most.

Is there a site that i can hear a magnaflow setup on our cars vs a flowmasters/flowtech/ect.? Or at least a 350 engine with the setups?

I plan to get K&N box-stock replacement filters for it. Im also going to upgrade the ign. system big time.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions guys!

 

I found these on ebay, theyre 3" single pipe to dual 3.5" Polished Tips. It sounds like a good deal, but i just wondered what everybody else thought.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OBX-Dual-EXH...#ht_1805wt_707

Ive heard that "too much pipe" is actually a bad thing, and you'll lose power. On a car with these mods done to it, could this be the case?

 

To get the most out of your exhaust, you should upgrade the headers as well as the rest of the exhaust system. Upgrading one or the other WILL help, but not to the extent a full exhaust will.

Go to youtube and type in "magnaflow camaro" or something like that. You'll see millions of matches. They'll all be different, but it should give you an idea at the kind of tone you're looking for. That's how I did it when I decided on my exhaust.

Anything worth significant gains will not be cheap. The best recommendations I can think of:
1. get a set of vortec heads + a nice manifold to compliment it. You should be able to find a nice set (just the heads) for $350 ready to bolt on. I see them frequently for around this mark.
2. Upgrade your WHOLE exhaust. You probably won't get it for $400 (installed) unless you go barebones cheap, though.. This is assuming you pay a shop to do your welding for you. If you decide to get headers, buy LONGTUBES if you can swing it. Going cheap on anything just because you're on a budget will leave you disappointed you didn't do it right the first time.
3. get a nice set of 3.73's or 4.10 gears.
4. Ignition upgrades are meh. Not worth the money IMO unless you get something really nice specific for your application. If the stock one works fine, then leave it alone. I DO suggest getting a nice set of MSD 8.5mm wires, though. Those were definitely worth the money.
5. K&N's are cool, but everyone has a differing opinion about them. This one's up to you, really. I don't see a problem with them.
6. get a higher stall converter from a reputable seller (I'm assuming you still have an automatic). This won't be cheap, but these will really help get you going. This is where things get a little more selective, but you should look into it if you've got the spare coin.
7. a shift kit for your transmission is always a nice touch.
8. a mild cam swap provided you go with the vortecs. This is debatable as the stock cam would work fine, but there's always room for improvement. This is just an option if you wanted to go the extra mile more than anything. I'd stick with the stock cam, personally.

 

Stick with 2.5's. I'm making a good amount of power and I'm still with 2.5's. Going bigger will make your car quite a bit louder with most exhaust systems, and I'm by all means no advocate for the quiet car. I like them loud, but 3" is enough to start getting the pigs looking at you if you're not careful.


and just to be clear - over half of my list isn't adding power. It's better utilizing the power you already make. Making power in cars doesn't come cheap. It's just one of those hobbies that you HAVE to pay to play. I'm by no means a rich man, but most of the time I'm saving my pennies.. because this stuff takes money to really get what you want out of it.

 

Well for now im not looking to tear into the engine, but those are good ideas for when i do tho. Ive read alot of good things about vortec heads too.

I plan to do all the exhaust, but was thinking i may do one before the other because i can afford it now. Your saying that shorty's arent worth the money tho? It seems like they would have to be way better than the crappy, restrictive manifolds that are on it.

I have used K&Ns for a while now and love them, i will definetly be getting them haha

About the pipes - good to know. Thats true too, i dont want to get in trouble over something stupid like "too loud" of pipes.

The car is my DD, so a stall is kinda out of the question lol. I do have a shift kit for it tho, should be putting that in soon.

I upgraded to 8mm wires, and plan to replace the plugs with some bosh platinums. I heard they can go 50k without replacing, and theyr a good performance part to. Maybe even dual/quad tip plugs?

 

GOOD shorties will be better than stock manifolds, absolutely.. but look at it this way - why pay for shorties when you can add a little more and get longtubes? You'll get more out of your exhaust that way, and it will sound better as well.

Also, my car is a DD as well. I've got an aftermarket converter in my car. You don't have to get a huge one to see gains. Mine is fairly small, actually. I've only got a 2500. There's a ton of guys on here running much higher than that comfortably, though. Just depends on the combination. A 2500 stall wouldn't kill you with a nice set of gears behind it. My next one will be a 3500 though, and I'll still be driving it on the street (I don't recommend this for you, though).

Outside of that, the only cheap modification I can think of is weight reduction.. that's about as free as it gets, heh.