I am looking to buy a 88 irocz tpi convertable and friends told me that they tuned those engines down becasue they are convetables i just womdered exactly how much of a diference there is between hard top t top and convertable.


thanks Brad

 

absolutely no difference. Convertible cars were originally t-top equipped cars that were sent off to ASC to have the roof chopped off. No alteration to the engine had been done. The frame was stiffened up a little but no where near what it should have been. Buy the vert, throw a set of subframe connectors on it and enjoy the breeze

 

Also I believe the vert's only came with 305's where hardtop & TTop cars got 305's or 350's.

 

yup sorry i forgot to mention that

 

just get sub frame connector if you do get it, cauze it will be a pertzel once you start adding power,

 

You could get a 350, but not in a Camaro.

 

ok so my next question i dotn know a lot about 305's so how do they run. and what is the major diferences between 305 and 350 and willi notice a difference. i mean i am sure there is a differencxe but i mean i just wondering if it si even worth building up. can i ever get it faster than a 250 that is built. i am looking for mostly of the line power . thanks Brad

 

It's not easy "just" finding subframe connectors for convertables...

 

well alston and spohn SFC's both fit verts without a problem. especially since Spohn's SFC's are specifically made for verts. As for the 305 vs 350, thats an ongoing debate that will never end. If you're just looking for a nice street car, a 305 is decent, but in no way will it compare to a built up 350. Just think, all the mods you do to a 305, if you were to just put those same mods on a 350 you'd get that much more power due to the extra cubes. It is possible to get a 300hp combo on a 305 though with proper heads/cam/exhaust work. In my opinion nothing will compare to a top down cruise despite whether its a 305 or 350

 

ok now hte question is what gears do i put in a 305 to make it run good

 

well depends on what you got. the auto's came with 2.73's and the manual's came with 3.08's i believe. i think the generic concensus would be to get some 3.23's or something in that range especially if the car is a daily driver with some highway usage.

 

and in honesty i would probably do some other mods to the car before getting gears, but thats up to you

 

yah ok thats cool what mods do u recommend and do u think 115 thousand miles is to much
???????????

 

depends on how the car was taken care of prior to you purchasing it. if you've already bought it then the absolute first thing that you should do should be a tuneup which entails the following:

air filter (K&N's)
oil filter (Delco)
oil change (Mobil 1 synthetic)
fuel filter (Delco)
TPS adjustment
IAC adjustment
Sparkplugs (Delco)
Sparkplug wires (MSD, Taylor, Jacob take your pick)
Distributor Cap and Rotor (Wells, Delco, MSD, Hypertech)
Ignition Coil (Delco or MSD)
Check/Replace Transmission Fluid
Check/Replace Differential Fluid
Check/Replace Battery and Alternator if needed

Thats all I can really think of at the moment. A good indication of how well the car was taken care of can be after replacing these components if the car performs much better than with the old parts then a lot of things might have been disregarded. I did all of these things to my car when i first got it and it ran great. This way after doing mods you'll notice the full effect of its power gains as well as rule out these things if you happen to have any problems with the car in the future.

After all of this has been done you can start modding the car to your heart's content. Typically people around here say to start with exhaust. Pick up a catback (Flowmaster or Hooker seem to be the most popular around here) and then buy some Headers and a hiflo cat to compliment the catback (Bunch of brands available, hedman, hooker, edelbrock, check out the exhaust board for more info). After exhaust you can do intake work such as porting of the plenum (free), some SLP runners, aftermarket base, all of which can be further explained if needed.

let me know if you need anything else, and sorry for the long post and welcome to the boards!

 

ok cool all my camaro buddies told me that never buy a third gen with over 110 miles becasue they get old and tired

but i say why not...

how do i chane out manifolds to headers i have no clue how to do that and i have always wanted to know

 

well your friends are wrong, as long as everything was maintained well these cars run a long time, i purchased mine with 98k miles on it and its been working great since i bought it, no regrets.

As for changing out manifolds to headers I can only provide a simplified version of the instructions as i have never done this myself. but basically all it consists of is jacking up the car, unbolting the starter, then unbolting the stock ypipe, and the hardest part, unbolting the manifolds from the heads themselves. people find that to be the toughest because a lot of the times the bolts have rusted or frozen in place and are awkard to get to. with patience and the right penetrant they'll come out. Then its simply a matter of bolting the headers back up to the heads. The pipes that stick out of the manifolds are connected to the AIR pump which pump air to the cat in order to help burn off an excess stuff thats flowing through there to reduce emissions put out. If you live in a state with emissions testing get headers that have these AIR tubes and just plug them into the headers and you're fine. if you don't feel like getting headers with the AIR tubes then just cap them off with some flange and you're good to go. You could probably get a lot more detailed info on this in the exhaust forum but i hope this helps for now. And by the way, it may sound simple and quick, but its nto exactly what it seems. In theory its an easy swap but difficult due the cramped spaces in the engine bay thats available to maneuver parts/hands in there.

 

hey there, alright heres' the deal if you want to "play you got to pay" Headers are a plus, but beware. You have to make sure that any wires are pulled far away from the headers. Best way to do this is, just pull the wires to the side and tie them off. Cause if not you will burn and melt wires. Now Spark plug wires, you got to keep those far enough away or you will burn wires. Also you have to keep retighten you bolt after you drive your car about 100 miles. Cause your bolts will loosing up, it takes alittle while for your gaskets to seal up. You should get them Jet-hot coated cause if not they'll rusted up, after a while. It's alittle costly but well worth it, in the long run. Here a pics of mine, http://community.webshots.com/photo/...44918469vHVLvH
this is a old shot of my motor, got the HSR on there now but you can see how mine headers look after about year and a half, and I haven't clean them yet.

 

WELL ok my bank cleared my loan so i am going to shoot the guy a price this weekend. 4500


so yah i have afew questions .... where the top meets the car by the back seet u can stick your hand under the top there.. is that bad .. it doesnt leak water but it makes a little air noise.... ther are no tears though!! umm .... and how much is a new smog pump ... i dont really want it on ther eput i need it to pass emitions this year so it wil have to be replaced for now!!

i need to get pics of the car up if i knew how maybe someone can help me.... i have them here on the comp just dont know how to get them on forum


thanks brad....hopefully future owner of a 88 camaro irocz convertable


:lala:

 

ok well the top thing is kinda bad, it just asking to be broken into. i'd say get that fixed asap before you do anything else. as for the smog pump check around the classifieds people are always taking them off their cars and im' sure you can find one real cheap to put on your car. good luck in the purchase and get some pictures too!