I got it yesterday. Oh man, I didn't think these car magazines knew what a third generation camaro/firebird was. Anyways, car craft did a whole thing on the TPI engine. They've got good tips on small performace mods, and expensive ones. Also, they give the history and crap of the TPI. It's a pretty bad-*** issue, check it out.

:hail: Car Craft

 

ill have to pick that one up. i hear ya on the no one makes mags for our cars tho. when ever i do find ones there stuff sucks. thanks for the heads up man

 

bah, its the usual porting plennum,AFPR that everyone even honda owners know. There's alot more too it than the usual, but your gonna get the well not everyone has money yada yada yada.. It was a good attempt, but just like GM high tech another failure...:nono:

 

Damn. i got all excited for nothing. i wish they'd go more in depth on things we dont already know.

 

Well they did go into detail about getting an aftermarket cam and intake, but nothing really usefull. Personally i was dissapointed again, but thats what comes with the territory especially sine these guys "still" think that 3.45 gears came with the t-5 camaro/firebirds

 

Its always the same everytime any magazine does an article on TPI. AFPR, plenum porting, removing maf screens, headers, free mods, its the same little crap every time.

 

Guys - I get excited too when a mag covers our thirdgens... but what can they possibly tell us that we freaks haven't found out already?! There are resources available here alone that put any mags "in depth" article in the ground. We rule.

 

Seriously. ThirdGen.Org has more information than they ever will about TPI or Third Gens.

 

Word. That's what I'm saying.

Magazine

vs.

Thousands of gear heads focused on ONE generation of ONE body

We win hands down.

 

I agree with you guys, I didn't learn one thing from it. I just thought it was cool how they did something related to the third gen. Oh well, I still love Car Craft. -89IRO

 

Didn't the N10/G92 cars with a 5 speed and the 9 bolt get 3.45's?? That's what i've always thought

 

Yes the 9 bolts did come with 3.45's but they were referring to standard 10 bolts with t-5's which came with 3.42's

 

So they are under the impression that all 5 speed TPI cars came with 3.45's? That's typical of the usual nonsense that surrounds these cars. People know everything about them but know nothing about them.

 

What id like to see from this a a engine buildup using a TPI. Using a combination of heads such as TWS,Edelbrock,AFR or even Torquer heads. Bah its an old issue to get into..

 

I would also like to see a "shoot out" if you will with all of the aftermarket set ups, for example, miniram, stealthram, superram, LT1, ect. all on one motor or similar ones. Do dyno testing, and drag tests. The same could go for some complementary parts for them, like cams, stall converters, gears ,ect. That would be cool. Then break down the pricing for us to compare. That is wayyy too in depth though. Not unless a magazine gets a hold of a test vehicle and buys all of this stuff to do it with, i doubt it would ever happen. Maybe a few cars would come out and do the tests themselves, but i doubt there will be any real type of breakdown on parts for our cars. Just food for thought. later

 

I agree about the TPI article. The $64,000 question that has never been answered (at least that I've seen reading Car Craft, Hot Rod, and High Performance Pontiac) all these years is: what is the hottest cam you can put in a stock/mildy modified/heavily modified TPI 350 and still pass emissions?? I'm fed up with cam articles for emissions exempt cars. Give me information I can use.
BTW - been looking at the Crane 2032 (214/220) cam for my L98. Still trying to find some comments on whether it passes emissions on a Speed Density L98 (1992).

 

Traxion passed emmisions with a 230/245 custom grind, which is a reasonably nasty cam for a NA 350. Little bit of PROM trickery, but easy to duplicate if you're serious.

Lots of people have passed emmisions with cams like the LT4 hot cam (218/228) and other stuff in the low 220' intake region. Something like that is as big as you can get and still hope for normal emmisions. Once you start getting really lumpy there is nothing you can do except pass unburned fuel (or trick the computer into barely running the engine)

 

To the guys talking about emissions, I passed NY with the TPIS ZZ-409 (226 @.050) plus 1.6 rockers. Limits were HC 1.20, CO 15.00, and I forget the NoX. My car ran HC .56, CO 6.something, and NoX WAY below half the limit. This is with Random Technology cats, charcol canister still in place, NO EGR, NO AIR pump. I was relieved to say the least since emissions were worse with the ZZ-9 cam last year.

 

Vortech305 - World Products S/R Torquer heads suck, take it from one with personal experience, they aren't worth the money. They are OLD, OLD, OLD technology.

CBSForm350 - GM High Tech could have done exactly the test you are talking about with all the money they dumped into Magnum TPI. They should have called it Unobtanium TPI. Also the Crane 2032 is for MAF cars and does not work correctly on a Speed Density car, I assume with custom PROM work it would, but not stock. Yes, this comes from experience of an associate of mine.

 

The S/R torquers are old technology? Are you talking about the 305 heads? For 305, there is basicly no aftermarket heads for them. And for thoes who think that 305's should be used as an anchor, then you're no help. The SR 305's are all thats out there. the alum vette heads are rare, and it basicly leaves just the SR's as a direct bolt on head. They might be old technology, but they will work for me.

 

i just passed with flying colors on my 91 l98 - then the damn rear main exploded the next day

 

Thanks for the heads up on the 2032. The specs say for 87-89 MAF cars but sometimes say 87-92 (which would include speed density engines as well). I'm well aware that with a MAP sensor sensitive to manifold vacuum - which a cam has a direct effect upon - the same cam might have different effects on each type of system. Then the next question is which cam is best for a speed density system. Will the LT4 "hot" cam work? Will it pass emissions? I plan on keeping AIR, EGR etc. and other emissions systems fully functional and definitely NOT gutting the dual cats. I live in Northern Virginia where emissions are definitely a factor, and have no plans to move down to an emissions-exempt neighborhood.

Incidentally, I have the SLP chip, but it is obviously not custom-burned. Not sure if the specs in its fuel map have any higher tolerance for cam variations than the stock chip has. Worst come to worse, I'd be happy to pay $400 or so for a custom PROM chip just to get that out of the way, but I don't want to go for the big $$ of an Accel-DFI fully programmable system.

The car already has a 2800 stall converter; the only other mod I'd consider in the near future is upgrading the stock 3.23 posi rear to 3.73, and adding SLP's Torsen differential and aluminum driveshaft.
It has the Big Mouth lower intake, SLP runners, 52mm throttle body as well as the SLP headers and exhaust (dual cat).

The car is my daily driver and my ONLY car. I need it reliable and emissions-legal. Within those restrictions, I want it as fast as it can be. I have a track nearby, though with 162,000 miles on the engine I'm hesitant to tempt fate by running it there (last time was back in 1998).

CHRIS