which year was the best, as far as horse power and technology? im thinking 92 since it was the last 3rd gen, but was there one prier? and were the maf systems better since they detected what you hooked up and modified how much air you got into your engine? this is all stock too, assuming its a v8 manual, since this will be the car im buying, 5.7 or 5.0 undesided yet. thanks for your help in advance.

 

Personally I hold the '89 TPI as tops. Then any of the SD ones a close second.

 

I would say 91-92 because of the body construction. HP wise, I would say it really doesn't matter too much because we know how to fix that

 

Its my understanding that GM carried the improvements from the 92s to the new 4th gen bodies. Better welds and overall construction etc.

 

but is it safe to say any year from 87 to 92 car would be good?

 

I would pick a latest year possible. Unless of course, its a cosmetic thing, different hoods and front headers. If you find a good earlier year in good shape, go for it.

 

91 and 92 had the most horsepower at 245.

 

well if anyone knows someone whos selling a 91 92 tell me cuz ill buy it.

 

Be sure to check out the TGO classifieds. There is ushally some fine iron on them.

 

not latly since theyve been messed up. btw what does the sd mean in the 2nd post?

 

Speed Density

 

Yes, lately! Go to any of the tech boards, and click on "classifieds for now. Then click on the post Dirk has provided. There are lots of "cars for sale", "parts for sale" etc. Just check it out.

 

i was refering to priar to that being the classifieds off the main site, ive known about the forums classified since they were hosted on the other website. i was meaning when the site crashed, rather than latly.

 

MAF is obviously more accurate. It's too bad that the engineers lacked the forsight to install MAF firmware in the ECM that could scale to something higher than 255g/S.

MAF reappeared in 1993 on the even more powerful and more efficient engines.

 

is the maf system the equal of windows xp? it recognizes that youve modded your car and adjusts the fuel and air mixture?

 

For the most part...as the sensor can actually measure the "real" airflow that passes through it. This does handle some mods. with no problem. However if the airflow exceeds 255 g/s, its time to start adding fuel via P/E. If you want to get involved with DIY Prom.

MAF think airflow, and S/D think V/E.

 

I would vote for 1989. The only difference between the 1989 and 1990-1992 models is the MAF of the 1989 and some parts. Parts wise the 1989 has the nine bolt rear end. Some of the later ones went to the ten bolt. The 1989 in the right model has the bigger brakes with disc at all four corners. Again in some of the later models GM dropped the disc brakes on the rear wheels and istalled drums. Again with the right 1989 option you got the aluminum drive shaft that was dropped by GM later on. Allen

 

I agree 89 is the best year cause you still have the MAF and you can find a duel cat car which was rated at 245 I think and the 9 bolt plus the 91+ had those ugly gauges

 

what was better on the older ones?

 

the look of the old ones

I prefer the old(82-89) round style gauges to the half moon found on the later camaros

 

Paahhh, I like mine better

 

go with the 89, they have upgraded bodies and still have MAF which is better for tuning upgrades than SD in 90-92.
89 is also the last year of the 9 bolt rear in the WS6.

 

I would agree with 90-92 having the most horsepower out of a TPI, but lest us never forget the car that had the MOST horsepower through the whole 3rd generation, which was also a V6...thats right, the TTA.

 

oh, yeah, forgot about that one......duh

 

i like 91-92 z28s the best but to each his own

 

89 is the best year because it has the biggest cam in 5.7 models 245hp with 3.27 gears, first year for vats, last year for any 9-bolts gears, first year for 1LE brakes, dual cats and the last year 82-89 dash which looks the best. 1990 was the last year for IROC. And the dash is the same as 91-92 except the 90 still had the IROC look. 91-92 Has different ground effects and they are 5.7 Z28's with 240hp 3.23 gears.

 

sorry, not true firehawk has it beat by 100hp and 90lb-ft tq

TTA 250hp/300tq
Firehawk 350hp/390tq

 

forgot about that one too, but didn't they only make a handful of those. And i'd imagine one would be quite unattainable.

 

yeah in 92' their was a total of 25 firehawks built, in 91' I think it was something like 3 firehawks built

 

Good call! I totally forgot about those bad boys!

 

Also 1989 was the last year you could get the remote radio controls in the steering wheel. At least on the Pontiacs. Allen

 

remember the TTA was underated at 250hp. Also the Firehawk will still beat it tho..

 

well, 88 was the first year for the 1le brakes and had vats as well plus the duel cats serp belt , same cam as the 89 but, 89 lost the cold start injector. so I would say 89 tpi 350 , followed by the 91-92 cars

 

89s are rated at only 235. SD is rated at higher HP due to higher compression. 90-92 had 9.75:1.

If you plan to mod the engine, it really doesn't matter as all respond to changes and unless the changes are minor, all will need a eprom change to optimize the power.

90-92 models are rarer due to less numbers made. 92 being the lowest, 90s and then 91s.

 

To me 90 was the best year. But then again, i am a little biased