Hello Everyone,

It is my pleasure to introduce a new GM High-Tech Performance project car. This '87 Formula 350 was purchased with less than 100k miles, and has been garage-kept its entire life by a single owner (and it shows). We got a great deal on it due to the fact that there is considerable rod knock. The first step will be to rebuild the motor and add some aftermarket parts to substantially improve upon the L98's 225hp factory rating. All parts are on order for the build, so hopefully we can make the April or May issue with the first installment. In the mean time, we will do our best to update you.

Thanks,
Scott

 

Here for the build! Love Formula's!

According to Car Craft... White Firebirds are a chicks car. I beg to differ!

 

Well, well, well... I'll be checking this out.

What are you going to do with the car?? driver, 1/4 mile, roadcourse or all of them??

All eyes will be on you guys to do the 3rdgens proud.. Good luck!

 

Thats great! I hope you do keep the car with the TPI system.

I know the LS-motors are very popular but there are a lot of us who still have and love our TPI motors. Would be nice to see a magazine test and publish many of the upgrades that myself and others and this website have done to their TPI powered cars.

And put some real money behind the TPI based project as well. There are a lot of high dollar LS-motor projects in many magazines these days.

 

Yeah, basically...it will be a nice driver. We'll do some handling and drag strip testing, but it should be a fun all-around type build.

 

Id love to see the chassis maxed out and see what it can pull. I have an 80s hot rod mag where they did simple mods to irocs and were pulling g's above what some of the new cars do now. I had a 2000 ss and I swear the 88 iroc I had given equal power could give it a serious run for the money in the handling dept. I look forward to seeing this go past just a general upgrade.

 

Thirdgens were the best handling F-bodies that have ever been produced period. Even by todays standards thirdgens can more than hold their own in the handling department.

The 1985 IROC was rated at 0.92g's on the skidpad - that was almost 30 years ago with out todays wider, sticker tires and computerized suspesion aids. This was all in 100% factory stock form too. Once you start tossing in suspension mods on to a thirdgen you really do have a car that can easily keep up and beat many of todays cars that are stars in the handling department.

I would really like to to see a long tube runner TPI system that has been fully modified and has a super or turbo charger on it. You would be able to take on and beat many LS-motor cars and surprise a lot of people.

I know the 1992 Firebird that you guys had in the magazine a couple of years back would really suprise a lot of people. Check out the link below.

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...d_formula_350/

 

Good deal, Start with the "free" type mods to show what can be done, then beat on SLP a bit to try and get them to build some of the old parts again..

 

An 87, eh? Seems like my whole life I've worked on 86 and 87 Firebirds. A handfull of the later 3rd gens but kazillions of 86s and 87s for some reason. Weird accessory belt system (shared with no 3rd gens before or after) and the laughable air intake system that I refer to simply as "the boxes and elbows system". Oh, and don't forget the factory exhaust "Y-pipe" that is in reality more of a "T-pipe."

The factory left a TON on the table with those cars. Just fix a few "not so well thought out" areas and they go pretty good. Really modifiable beyond that level, too. Plenty of aftermarket support (maybe not as much as for Mustangs, but still plenty) and, of course, decades of small block interchangability working in your favor.

My favorite reason to own a 3rd gen as opposed to a 4th gen..... it's REALLY helpful to have a hood you can open and access the ENTIRE engine bay, just like an old mscle car. Counts for a lot with us home-gamers who have limited garages.

Love the "house of ill repute red" interior, too!!

 

oops

 

Just had to respond with a big LOL. Well said, sir, I got a nice chuckle out of it. Especially boxes and elbows lol.... The Camaro system seems a lot better in many ways.

And yet, I was just reading about 87 Mustangs today (Dont worry I dont want one, just came across some interesting facts I wanted to verify...) and look what I found...

"The 302 cid, or 5.0 liter, high output motor powering the Mustang GT is a cornerstone of small block Ford engine production. The 1987 engine is mostly a carryover from the 1986 version of the 5.0 HO with the addition of better heads and better flowing intake system. During 1987 the engine features forged pistons with valve relief's, roller camshaft with 260 degrees of duration, tuned sequential fuel injection with one injector for each intake port, and tubular exhaust headers."

The 260 total duration is in the ballpark of a Comp 260H magnum roller cam, which is 206/206 @.050. Its meant to be a slower ramp rate roller cam. So probably on par with OE factory rollers. The biggest thirdgen cam, the G92 car cam, was 202/207 @.050. The normal cam was 179/194. So even though our best cam isnt too far off from the ~206/206, 260/260 cam that the 87 GT mustangs got... its still smaller, and very few of our cars got that. It seems like GM just didnt care, more worried about fuel economy I guess? Kind of disappointing. But yes, it seems like in comparison we have WAY more things holding us back. They got headers (albeit small) stock and a bigger cam stock.

Huge, huge advantage in my opinion. I messed with a few fourth gens in my time and I was never so glad to go do spark plugs in my car as I was after that.

Lol...

 

The L98 motor ALWAYS got the "good guy" cam from GM. It was only the 305 TPIs that sometimes got the "little cam", depending on different things over the years. Usually the 305 TPI/Auto combination was the one they stuffed the "peanut cam" into. But the big boy L98 always got the good cam, all years.

 

Good to know!

 

My 91 z28 g92 305 tpi 5 speed car had the factory "big boy" cam in it. Ive got several of them at the shop. Work great in TBI motors.

 

 

Not a day goes by when I don't kick myself for selling my 'formy even though I love my 'vert. Now, make us "mul_lethead" thirdgenners proud! Subbed.

 

How about some progress updates on Project Snowball?

 

Subscribed

 

The last update I read on Snowball was the installation of an all digital aftermarket dash and all aftermarket suspension components. I think they used a lot of stuff from BMR if I'm not mistaken.

Other than that I haven't read anything on project Snowball in a long while. I'm intrested in seeing some updates on that car as well.

 

Last I saw was about the build-up of the T5 by Monster Transmission for use behind the LT1.

 

Not much to tell on Snowball...the wiring, suspension, brakes, and trans are finished. Hopefully Mr. U will have some time to finish it up and get it running. We are focusing our efforts on this car, and could certainly arrange a third-gen battle when its done or even third vs fourth vs fifth-gen.

 

It should win the lightweight class for sure...

 

What brand? I thought such a thing didn't exist.

 

Scott,

I am sending you an email to discuss the possibility of using CTW Motorsports wheels on this project car... Please check your email.

 

Now THAT would be an issue worth reading. Not sure how you'd set the rules, but would be fun no matter what.

 

These are some links to some of the project Snowball articles.

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...ball/articles/

 

They used a Racepak digital cluster a few issues back along with the fabricated instrument panel...the Vintage Air and Isis wiring system was about the same time.

 

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...rior_upgrades/

This is a link to the start of the dash board upgrade.

 

Yep, that's actually STACK (owned by Autometer) and not Racepak.

 

These are some links to Dakota Digitals digital dashes for 1982-1989 thirdgens.

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.c...rod/prd168.htm





http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.c...rod/prd781.htm

 

Sorry, been awhile since I saw the article.

 

Been a while for all of us We should be able to get more frequency out of the new project.

 

Snowball update.....
If you've been following the series you know that the car was essentially stripped to the shell and went through some pretty serious fabrication/modifications. With the exception of the trans overhaul, like most of you, I performed all of the work learning as I went. That's not to say the project hasn't taken way too long/forever.
When a car is stripped and modified to this point it usually goes through a few stages of assembly and disassembly before paint to make sure everything is where you want it and thankfully we are on the final round which will be completed at www.iimuchfabrication.com with the goal of having the car on the road by spring.

John Ulaszek

 

PM concerning your car sent.

 

Yeah, there's several different flavors for a Camaro but no "drop in" ones for a 'birdy.

 

Thats intresting. I never thought of that. I've got a Camaro and most of my thirdgen knowledge is more Camaro related so I don't know a lot about the particulars for thirdgen Firebirds.

What about the companies that repair the digital dashes for the C4 Corvettes and the 1982-1986 Camaro Berlinetta models with the digital dash - would they repair the digital dashes for the Firebirds aswell?

That's messed up if they don't have an aftermarket option for the Firebirds as well that is basically an off-the-shelf option like the Camaros. I know there are a lot of thirdgen Firebird owners who would like to at least look at a system like this and see if it was right for them.

For the Firebirds it sounds like if you wanted to go with an aftermarket digital guage set up you would have to design, engineer, and install your own custom set up.

 

If Dakota Digital made something like the top one for a 'bird, I'd have my checkbook out in a heartbeat.

 

Awesome project! I agree with the statements above, stick with the TPI style motor, rather than a newer swap. I've always enjoyed the 3rd gen articles in the past and can't wait to see how this project goes.

 

Keep the 5.7 liter and add a holley port fuel inj setup which looks to be one of the latest setups that you can turbo, supercharge, spray or whatever and you dont have to scrap your earlier build. Can keep old acess and ac with it also.

 

When is this car going to be in the magazine? I knwo the original posting said April or May but I also understand that things can change.

 

I would love to see some of the board sponsors get some love, like Spohn, Hawks etc. for this project.

I also would like to see what normal bolt on's can do while turning the factory system, before the inevitable crazy modding that ensues.

 

Looks like the May issue now. Just waiting for parts to arrive to get started on the engine build.

 

Don't miss the May issue on newsstands next week, and on the way to your mailbox.

 

Looks really nice Scott. Going to be a great car to see. Looking forward to seeing it in the magazine.

 

Can't wait!

 

I need to resub to this mag! Been years... Nuf's car looks frkn killer on the front cover!

 

Ya know Scott, as a long time subscriber, I still get PO'ed when I see it on the newsstand( like I did t-nite) and I do not yet have my issue and I have a subscription.

Anyhow, nice to see a thirdgen and another vote for keep it TPI.

 

Got mine in the mail today, looking forward to reading it!

 

I had a time capsule car like that and had to sell due to the military moving me it had 29 k 89 firebird formula 350 MINT blew the tranny in 91 and went in storage and was started every now and then and it too had a rod knock

wish I still had it original acdelco radio and still sounded good and the doors shut without rubbing

 

Love this mag and can't wait for this months issue! Looking forward to the Formy build!