Looking to make some more power out of my 87' 305 tpi, 700r4. I don't have space for a full engine swap for those who will suggest a 350 swap. I am fairly new to all this, and am looking for what I should swap. I've got plans for some shorty headers and 3" catback exhaust. What ive been reading tells me my car has got a peanut cam? If I wanted to go with a hotter cam, would everything else hold up fine? I've also looked into some heads but am not sure about compression and which ones to look at then. Appreciate any help or tip.

 

Subframe connectors. Tighten the car up and at least keep it tight. A mod you will notice and appreciate.

 

If you swap heads and the cam, and add headers is it still a "bone stock 305"? Like Buddy already said, start with SFCs. Also, what is your budget and/or skill level?

 

The hope is to make it not bone stock, that's just what it is now. Hasn't had anything but fluids and belt changes in its 40k miles. I'll look into sfcs. Not a massive budget but enough to get some nice stuff. Fairly inexperienced. Worked on a 95' 350 pretty regularly but never anything this involved.

 

Is there one that you would recommend? I gave it a search and found a number of different styles. Is there a benefit to a 500$ one vs a 200$ one?

 

Weld in. As Blacksunshine said, Alston style are good. UMI makes a nice set too. Basically anything is better on these flexy flyers to tighten them up. Your first drive after they are on you will notice a difference. If your at 40k, thats a nice low mile car. Keep it tight, and even stiffer after.

Ok, after reading above posts again I have no idea where my head was... read Alstons were recommended.... I read it somewhere... lol

 

Gotcha, thanks Buddy

 

I have had a set of Alstons, they are inner style, since a year after I bought the car. I bought a set of UMI, which are outer style, about 15 years ago. Have yet to get them on the car as well, lol. I personally think you cannot go wrong with a UMI product. And they can also be used as jacking points, so easy to jack the car from the side.

 

Subscribe to UMI's page, wait for a sale to come on. It'll be 4th of July at the latest... maybe an Easter sale??? May as well get some % off the price.

 

What are you wanting to do with the car? Do you want to road race it? Drag Race it? or just cruise and profile?

 

This is a very common thread topic on this site.

A cam change will require at minimum new lifters and valve springs, along with whatever else in the valve train is worn (most likely the pushrods and rockers as well). IMO, replacing the heads on a 305 won't gain you much, especially for the $$$ outlay. The bigger issue in modifying a TPI engine is in how you plan to tune the new setup.

You'd probably be $$$ and trouble ahead by just doing the exhaust mods and leaving the rest stock. Significant power increase isn't in the cards for a 305---or even a 350 if it is strangled by the stock TPI setup.

Whatever you decide, good luck.

 

street race, tired of all my buddies smoking me.

 

What kind of cars are your buddies driving?

 

fair enough. Once I have enough space I would like to put a larger block in, just not in the cards for me atm space wise. I appreciate the input though. You think it the tpi isn't any good? Would you reccomend going carbed? I was under the impression that power-$ was better for the F.I.

 

Built 08' mustang w/ a roush supercharger, which I'm not expecting to be beating anytime soon, I can't keep up with a stock civic or equinox off the line though.

 

Doing work to a 305 is lighting money on fire.

 

It's excellent for what it was engineered to do, and in the time in which it was engineered to do it: provide lots of low-and mid-range torque while proving good gas mileage and good throttle response. But the problem is that it taps out at 4500-5000 RPMs.

If it were me, I'd build a stout 383 with aftermarket FI. Nothing really wrong with a Holley carb though; properly set up, they work well. Just not the throttle response, mileage, or easy tunability of modern FI.


JMO; others here would likely disagree.

 

Street racing is lame and careless. Go to a track.

 

AGREED.

Gears, converter, full exhaust & Headers will transform the driving experience of the car. It will still get decimated by almost any sporty car of '00 and newer.

 

In the same vain of What Would Jesus Do ask the question of What Would GM Do?

For one year and one year only GM built a high performance version of the F-body with the LB9/700R4 powertrain combo.

That was the 1985 Camaro IROC-Z.

L69 5.0L High Output long block with TPI instead of a carb. L69 5.0L H.O. cam in the engine. L69 5.0L H.O. exhaust system with the driver side heat stove removed and passenger side E.F.E valve casting only used as an exhaust spacer. High stall torque convertor from the one year only 1984 L69 5.0L High Output engine with 700R4 automatic transmission. Standard 3.23 gear ratio with an optional G92 3.42 gear ratio.

This is the blueprint to take inspiration from and build using newer parts and knowledge gained over the last 4 decades.

 

1985 to 1987 Pontiac Firebirds with TPI engines have a horribly restrictive air induction system. You need to swap all of it over to a 1988/1989 style air induction system with a K&N air filter. That thing is killing 5 to 10 HP & FT-LBS TQ.

The factory T merge pipe coming off the exhaust manifolds and going into the cat convertor is horribly restrictive too. It's killing 10 HP & FT-LBS of TQ.

The factory GM "AC" cat convertor on High Output single cat exhaust systems like your TPI Firebird has is NOT restrictive unless it has became restrictive over the years. The Magnaflow cat will easily out flow it though.

Both of these are FREE shipping in the US & Canada and are 20% off with the coupon code. This setup flows like gangbusters and is a 100% bolt in and fits like a nice Isotoner glove fits your hand. They are made of stainless steel. 304 SS for the cat convertor body and 409 SS for the Y-pipe.

Yes the cast iron manifolds suck but no where near as bad as the ones on non H.O. exhaust systems. Yes your car will still have a "Peanut" cam. It sucks monkey b*lls.

I'm hitting the low hanging fruit here. All of this stuff is easy to change and hurts nothing but your wallet.

Magnaflow 16450 - Camaro/Firebird Front Y-Pipe



Magnaflow 93441 | CHEVROLET CAMARO/PONTIAC FIREBIRD | Catalytic Converter-Direct Fit | Standard Grade EPA

 

RPO sheet tells me I've got 3.27 gears. Everything I've read that seems strange with the rest of my options. Is that not good enough?

 

I've gotta look into the other things you mentioned, I was under the impression that those systems don't fit well. You make it sound really quite simple though.

 

I think Airwolfe was saying that if you get was saying that the newer tube shaped intake flows better than the "box" one that you've got. Since the newer one is factory, it should fit perfectly. I have made the 'upgrade' that he was referring to on the same car as yours, in my past....no fitment issue that I recall.


Eh. It depends on your goals. For drag racing, E.T.'s 3.27's are probably fine and with TPI, you might not get any gain w/more gear. For SOTP and fun, more gear would be....more fun. It would feel better.

 

Is your 87 Formula a hardtop with J65 4 wheel disc brakes? Does it have a 140 MPH speedo and a 6k RPM tach with a 4500 RPM yellow line and a 5000 RPM redline?

Better yet just post a picture of your SPID label with the RPO codes. Try to get it in focus and of the entire label.

 

Yes.

 

OK your 87 Formula is kind of rare. I'd have to break the numbers down for a 87 Formula if I can. Not as easy to do for 87.

In 1988 there were 158 Formulas built with your powertrain/drivetrain combination. On top of that your 87 Formula is also a B20 Luxury Trim Group car.

As best as I can figure it there could be up to 668 87 Formulas built with your powertrain/drivetrain combination. But I can't tell if there were any 87 Formulas built with LG4 engine with J65 4 wheel disc brakes. If there were then it would be 668 minus the number that were built with the LG4 and J65 4 wheel disc brakes and that would be how many were built like your car powertrain/drivetrain.

For 1988 this was easier to do because you couldn't get J65 4 wheel disc brakes or a Borg Warner "Aussie" 9 bolt rear end with the L03 TBI engine. So I could brake it all the way down to 158 Formulas built with this powertrain/drivetrain combination.

Basically your 87 Formula is a Formula 350 minus the 350 B2L/L98 engine, the hot cam, and KC4 engine oil cooler.

In Chevy Camaro world your car would be a 87 IROC-Z LB9/MX0/MD8 G92 Performance Axel Ratio car.

 

If your 87 Formula wasn't Bright Red with a Medium Dark Grey interior I'd be trying to buy it from you. My least favorite color combo and I'm stick to death of it too.

 

Huh. Very interesting. Where do you pull this data from? I'd like to look into it myself too.

 

3rdgenformula.com - Main Menu

I have also edited some of my replies above.

It takes some creative math and knowledge of what options were and weren't available together each year and model to figure the numbers out.

There is no RPO code or name for what your 87 Formula is. It had to be ordered and not ordered with certain options to get what you have. It doesn't mean your car is "valuable" it just means it is rare. You had to not order RPO CC1 T-tops and order RPO J65 4 wheel disc brakes.

 

This is a picture of a 1987 Trans Am GTA with a SLP cold air induction system for 1985 to 1987 TPI Firebirds installed. The ducting used in this SLP system is the OEM GM ducting used on 1988/1989 TPI systems with the addition of a riveted in air flow straightener in the duct after the mass airflow sensor and before where it makes the 90 degree turn to go into the throttle body. The octagon STOP sticker on the core support is the K&N equipped air filter warning sticker.

This SLP CAI system is similar to the one the made for the 1988/1989 TPI Firebirds but with extra stuff to do the 85/87 upgrade to the 88/89 style air induction system.

 

I see. How does one like in your photo help airflow when it's routed back into the same spot? Would one like this where it has more room to breathe not provide better airflow?

 

setups like this have you sucking hot air from the engine compartment vs sucking in cold air from the outside like the previously posted system.

 

10-4. That makes sense. Don't suppose you've got a link to that other style? I can't seem to find one outside of this thread. Maybe I'm looking for it wrong haha

 

@RedLeader289 and it looks like azz when you pop the hood. It jumps right out at you and looks like a boy racer dumb azz teenager fart can r|cer mod.

These are MY opinions. It's your car. You can do whatever you want with it. You paid for it and it's your money that is being spent to modify and upgrade it. You can put a 454 big block with a 671 supercharger sticking out the hood and put the body on a 4x4 monster truck frame and go mudding in it if that's what makes you happy. I'd much rather see a person enjoy and use their 3rd gen and make memories in it with their friends and family then see it sit in a climate controlled garage to get wiped down with a virgin cotton baby diaper with your left hand while you have a bottle of baby oil for your enjoyment with your right hand with the lights turned down low and "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye playing on the radio.


Your 87 Formula looks to be in very nice condition, very stock and unmodified. With your car being somewhat "rare" I would modify it for your enjoyment but keep it stock appearing at first glance. Have it look like that's the way Pontiac built it and with some tasteful vintage "Day 2" mods and modern updates.

 

That style of air induction system came on 1988/1989 TPI Firebirds. That is where you will find one at. The SLP cold air box is part of the SLP kit. I just used a picture with it installed as an example because it is a picture of a 1987 GTA and it's Bright Red too same as your 1987 Formula. LoL

 

Gotcha. I appreciate all the help fellas