I have 2 cars to choose from, if anyone can help me make a decision, please give me as much feedback as you can.

1982 Pontiac Trans Am Cross-Fire Injection 5.0 V8
Mileage: 150,000

[This car has been to hell and back. Mechanically, the car leaks, body looks pretty damaged. Without going into detail, it's going to need alot of work. With the budget I get a month, it will take a while to get this car up to par.]

1987 Pontiac Trans Am LB9 Tuned Port Injection 5.0 V8
Mileage: 92,000

[This car is at a Car Lot with a price tag of $5000. It sounds and looks great, better than my 82.]

My question to everyone is what would be a better choice when it comes to reliability and muscle. The other question is would I be better off with a CFI or a TPI Engine?]

Please help me out with my decision and any info you can send me or tell me.

Thanks =)

 

I say go with the TPI
I believe the 87 TPI was rated at 205 HP and about 315 ft lbs of torque , while the 82 CFI was only rated around 150 HP and 250 ft lbs of torque. So power goes to the TPI

Also since it is a newer car and in better condition that is another plus.

There are also a lot more parts for TPI than for CFI

 

87 tpi is rated at 190hp 285ft/lbs in the camaro, not sure about the bird. Go with the newer, better condition, lower mileage car.

 

The 82' CFI is rated at 165 hp, not 150. These cars can run well if you are willing to work at them. The first thing you have to do with CFI is quit believing everybody who has never even had one and tells you they are curse. I will not argue, they suck when their stock. Good mods for a CFI car is exhaust ( make sure nothing is compatible with any part of the original exhaust ), get at least 350 manifolds or headers if budget allows, 3" cat and exhaust, CFI cars are the worst when it comes to factory exhaust. Porting the manifold is also a big help, and you can do it at home, and if you've got the money, boring the TBs out to 2" is also good. There are lots of other mods, go the the Crossfire Injection Vault and you will find tons of info. If you don't want to have to go through this, then yeah, get the TPI car.

 

rezinn: I thought the LB9 had 190hp and 295lb-ft?

 

where is the cfi vault everyones talking about?

 

I say go for the 82. In my opinion they look better. And CFI is so much more unique. I wish my 83 Trans Am had Cross-fire. Just my opinion.

 

What "RSragtop" said. They are cheap to mod(you do everything yourself rather than buying TPI part after TPI part) and they are reliable -at least mine has been for the last TEN YEARS. Plus, I've got mine going pretty good; look at the sig!

 

Thanks for everyone that has replied. You have been so much help.

I would like to keep the 82, but with the hours I work at work and my dad helping me, it's just makes it harder. Plus out of town trips make it hard too.

I have a couple more questions though:

* The 87 im looking at is a TPI, but I don't know if it was a 305 or a 350. Did Pontiac put a 350 in a LB9 Trans Am?

* Between the 2 years, which is the most dependable? I'm hoping that the 87 is more reliable, you know, work-worthy =P

Tom 400 CFI, I would LOOOOVE to see the pictures of your car. I mean, a 400? That's some torque! lol

 

I say go with the '82 CFI. Its a rare model (i wouldn't want to see another one go to the junkyard) and if the price is right it would be worth restoring. $5000 for that other trans am is way too much IMO. Automatically that "LB9" denotes that it has the 5.0 TPI motor. You can also look at the VIN number. If the eighth digit is an "F", its an LB9. If its an "8" it has the L98 5.7 TPI motor. Plus if it did have the L98, the salesman wouldn't hesitate to let you know i.e. "oh did i mention it has the corvette motor".

I also bought my GTA from a lot here in SoCal for $3400 (5.7 TPI, tan leather, dig dash, power everything, roughly same miles, good mechanical/cosmetic condition) and that was no steal.

 

So basically, the salesman knows it's in good condition and made the price higher. I mean, the body is great, electrical hatch release, not a digital dash, but the inside has about 2 scratches in the head-liner, no ttops =/, sounded good when I first started it up. No computer codes (within 1 minute of running time).

Your right, the 8th digit is an "F". That would help out on the insurance I would pay knowing I need full insurance when I walk in =P

Thanks for the help RedFirebird. I drove an 86 firebird with TPI and it took off by suprise, so im dying to know what this LB9 TA would do to me =P

 

The CFI has killer power in the upper RPM ranges. The reason it was so weak from the factory was because of the camshaft, heads and exhaust, not because of the CFI unit alone. Who remembers the '69 Z28 with the Cross Ram setup? The CFI is the same manifold; if you've had a chance to see the inside of the two manifolds you would see all the similarities, unfortunately most people havent had the chance.

IMO I think the CFI unit works awesome on small displacement V8s. It would probably scream on a 283. Hey I have a 283 and a CFI setup in my garage........

 

Around where I live, I don't see any cross fire injection cars on the road; let alone one that has any beef to it. I'm not saying they suck, though everyone will sware to it, I'm just saying from what I've seen, people just don't bother fixing them up. Don't even see any at the track either, so if you want something that is a little more rare, take the time and fix up the 82. Otherwise, go for the 87 and put your money into that car. Though, this is just my opinion.

 

Believe me, I love the CFI in this Trans Am. It has just about enough torque to kill a small horse. I imagine it would be more ruthless when everything works the way it should.

But like I said, if I have the time to sit down and start working on the CFI I would, but work keeps sending me out of town and I need something that would keep me from those crazy Taxi Drivers. hehe

I'll see how it goes though. It's hard for me to let go of this car. It may look like a wreck, but the CFI has still ticked and got me there in one piece.


Thanks for those replies. Some of the things you guys told me I didn't know. I've gathered that the TPI and the TBI can go both ways. What I mean is some ppl say TPI is better than TBI, visa versa. I could ask the question "After modifications, which would give you the best performance, but without draining that tank." But then, I need reliability right now. Stinks though.

One of these days, i'll run into a great job and I could afford both.

Thanks again!
Gohkuo


1982 Pontiac Trans Am
305 V8 Cross-Fire Injection
15" GoodYear Tires
T-Tops
Interior: Black - Exterior: White

 

If you want to know more about CFI, you should chat with Bruce Plecan (aka Grumpy). He has done a lot of work on CFI.

The point about the cam and heads are very true, but also GM made the CFI intake so it too is limited in flow. Much like TPI, GM put a combination of heads, cam and intake that all flow about the same. And, much like TPI, you need to change ALL 3 to get the power. There is an aftermarket intake called a X-Ram that overcomes this limitation.

A second problem is the ECM. There is not much available (for eprom tuning) on the stock ECM. Again, some clever TBI guys have figured out how to adapt the 7747 (IIRC) to run on the CFI. So this is no longer a limitation.

Swap the heads and cam, get the X-ram intake and convert to the 7747 and you will make a CFI system that will embarrass a lot of cars.

 

heres the vault everyone is talking about
www.crossfire.webhop.net

i can vouch for the reliablity, my car was absolutley trashed when i bought it, but after i tune up i ran like a champ..ive put 35k miles on it the last year and its never missed a beat. After some simple mods it runs very low 14's, if i could get some traction it would definitley run 13's. Get the 82, for freak factor alone. Ive owned both tpi and cfi engines, and imho the cfi is simpler to maintain, less parts, simpler ecm, less than can go wrong.

 

That's what the Pontiac Dealer said. He said that if you take care of them, they will last forever. He also said something about CFI Engines that one of the users here said, about "People don't think they are reliable or think they are crap, but that's not true."

My dad don't like the CFI cause he don't understand them at all (he's a big carburetor fan).

Anyways, I tried to take a picture of the 82 and some stats today, but was too busy at work. But I did on the other hand, find the picture and stats on the 87 Trans Am.

http://autotrader.com/findacar/vdeta...&ac_afflt=none

It's a nice car...kinda pricy, but I guess that's what you have to do when into muscle cars. =P