HI all!I am a vehicle mechanic and resident in England U.K.
i have just bought a 1989 trans am GTA 5.7tpi.
I want increase the HP and Torque by at least 50%plus.
Should i upgrade the TPI setup or go back to basics and fit a Carb setup.
I ve only worked on a few 82-84 fbody's
What will i need to convert if i need to...
I would apprecciate any help...
p.s in England we dont have to worry about emissions unless the vehicle was manufactored 1993 onwards...Which is the same time we converted to catalysts.

 

I vote no carb. I know this answers none of your questions though.

 

I'd upgrade to a Holley Stealthram setup over the long tube runner TPI or swapping to carb (I did swap to carb from TPI when I put my new engine in though).

If you still want to swap to a carb you need the carb, intake, and non-computer controlled distributor. You then need either a different fuel pump setup or you need to run a pass-through, adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator that can drop the psi enough. Mallory makes one I'm using for like $70ish. Then some little wiring issues like wiring up the fuel pump relay to power the pump without computer/oil pressure safety switch input, etc. It's not hard, and can be done for fairly cheap especially with used parts, but fuel injection does have benefits over carb setups.

It was my only option at the time swapping in a engine with Vortec heads, and upgrading TPI was pretty expensive to still be stuck with lackluster LTR setups anyway... you have some options now that make converting to carb less desirable. Like I said, I would go with the Holley StealthRam, $500ish USD gets the intake, takes care of all the long tube runner TPI problems, will perform great on a better cam/heads package, etc.

I would personally like to convert back to some kind of fuel injection, not stock TPI obviously even if it would fit my heads, but you get the idea...

 

Cheers for the info