Hello all, just bought back a 1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA I already had in the past. Well, it is COMPLETELY stock, not one single modifications. Maybe except that their's no cat, only a resonator at his place... Don't know if it counts as a modification. The muffler is a cheap UAP/NAPA one, so it's probably a restriction at the end anyway...

The car has the original engine (305 TPI), original transmission, original 3.27 gears, original automatic transmission and 112 500 miles on the clock.

I have only 400$ for now besides the cash I will put for a small tune up.

Where do I begin? Please put the modifications in the best order they should be made. Even if it cost more than what I have right now, don't worry, I will make them when I get the cash.

Don't forget, I'm no mechanic so I will go at a garage and someone else will make it for me...

Thanks a lot! Hope to get lot of usefull informations! Maybe this will be a reference thread for newbie like me with 305 TPI.

 

First and foremost, you should get a set of subframe connectors (SFC's)...Alston, BMR, Spohn, and Kenny Brown seem to be the ones that are used mainly. This should be the first mod on any fbody owners list....granted i screwed up and didn't do it.

Now...the question is, what do you want out of the car? You going to dragrace, autox, or what are you going to do with the car. Info like that will greatly aid in our responses as to what you should do to the car, since each different event needs to be setup differently.

 

Well there are lots of different places to start. I believe the best route would be using the search feature and typing in "free mods". The tpi has several restrictions that you can start doing with little or no cash at all that will give you a few tenths.
Off the top of my head.
-K&n air filter & make a cold air intake tube
-air foil
-hi performance muffler
-I removed my maf screens
-grind and smoothe the two humps down behind the throttle body blades(with the plenum removed of coarse)
-heavy duty spark plug wires the stock ones arc real bad.
-hi out put ignition box

that should be a good start

 

My car will be mostly driven in the streets and 2 times a year I will go do some drag racing. I would go more often but we don't have a track around here. So I will surely do more "street racing" than drag racing...

 

Ignore the air foil. Complete exhaust. Headers, a good converter (if desired), and good catback.

Then move to the intake side. Good filter, etc.

once you've done that, then determine how fast you want to go and how much you ahve to spend.

 

With $400 and the cat removed already, I would go with:

K&N (or equivelant) filter in place of the stock air box.
AirFoil
AFPR
Catback of your choice.

I think that would push the limit of your $400 depending on if you find any deals or go used for some of it and assuming you install the AirFoil and K&N yourself (these are VERY simple "mods"). But those mods should help it breathe better on both sides - intake and exhaust - and assuming the rest of the engine is in a good state of tune it should perform pretty well. With the 88 model year the air intake rubber tubing flows well enough to leave it alone for a while so just get rid of the air box and run an open element filter in its place....

So that leads to the next idea/question... With that many miles on it, when was the last time it was "tuned up"? As in, how old are the plugs, wires, cap+rotor, oil+filter, trans fluid+filter, rear axle lube, coolant, power steering fluid, O2 sensor, etc.? If you don't know I would do all of those maintenance items. A swap to synthetic fluids of high quality (Mobil 1, Royal Purple, Amsoil, etc.) in the rear axle, power steering, and the engine will actually free up some power too..... I like standard transmission fluid though.... I've seen synthetic trans fluids not go over well in some transmissions....

With those mods in place and some more money available I would look into some headers, a higher stall torque converter with a TransGo shift improvement kit, and a StealthRam or Miniram with the eventual plan of swapping in a 350+ in the future on the books..... DO NOT waste money on modifying the internals of the 305.... Just put stuff on the car or engine that can easily be used with a larger small block later on.

I disagree with those that say SFCs should be first..... While they are a great mod, they are nowhere near critical to having fun with the car and aren't needed to protect the chassis of the car until it is making much more power than a bolt on 305 or even 350 is capable of making..... That's my opinion anyways ....

 

I think I will this cash to make a mega big tuneup first! Can some of you could say what could be included in a complete tuneup? So I don't forget anything.

 

Tuneup....

Cap and rotor button
Plug Wires
Plugs
Air filter
Oil change
Oil filter
Fuel filter
O2 sensor
Rear end fluid
Tranny fluid
Tranny filter
Coolant flush
New coolant
Lubricant everything

And one thing that I now consider part of the tune up (mostly cause of how lose mine was....yikes!!!!), is a new timing chain.

 

You could replace the PCV also. A GM one should only be about $6-7. Clean the IAC out too. I did mine this summer and it was full of gunk. Your TPS should be 0.54 at idle and over 4.00 at WOT.

 

I 2nd the tuneup first.

Hey Andy, when are you gonna slip a smaller pulley on that GTP of yours?

 

First I have to finish modding my GTA which probably won't be for a couple of years, then I can do a some minor tweaks to the GTP. I hope to get a 14.6-14.7 out of my GTP this weekend when I take it to the track. So far I've spent $0 modding my GTP and it runs 14s so I'm pretty happy with it.

 

If I were you...

The tuneup is always a good idea, but I'd stick that mod money in reserve and save up for that trans. 112k miles, its not going to last a whole lot longer I'll bet. Better to have some of that cost set aside before you start putting the go-fast parts on the car and then cant go fast because the trans lunched itself.

 

That is a very good point...but just so you know, these 700r4's can last forever. I have a rebuilt motor in my car with about 10K on the motor now and the stock tranny, never rebuilt, with 168xxx miles on it and its still holding up.

 

Forgot to say that the original transmission as been rebuild 2 years ago. Not been replaced, but rebuilded...

 

You could replace the PCV also. A GM one should only be about $6-7. Clean the IAC out too. I did mine this summer and it was full of gunk. Your TPS should be 0.54 at idle and over 4.00 at WOT.

WHAT IS THE IAC????

 

I dle Air Control