alright guys i pretty much have a stock 305 TPI and i was wondering what are the easiest mods to get considerably more power? i'd appreciate it if anyone could help me out

 

Mine is my daily driver, so I've just been doing the kind of thing
that helps or at least doesn't harm the mileage. So far, I've pulled
out the air cleaner baffles and put in K&N's and bypassed my TPI
heater, and run synthetic fluids everywhere. I'll be doing a PROM
soon, and pulleys after that. Somewhere down the line will be the
cat-back exhaust. The most noticeable thus far is the filters and
removing the baffles.

 

Well, define easy? Easy for me would be putting a bigger motor in the car. But easy for someone else may limit them to a header/catback install.

How much money do you want to spend?

I would start with exhaust first, some headers and a catback would give you a decent gain for the money.

 

Something very simple that I have been playing with is base timing. Which I believe is 6 degrees stock. I have been slowly bumping mine up and feeling a noticable difference in power. My L-98 still runs the stock computer chip though. I plan on taking it to the track very soon and playing with timing there and see if I can make any difference in mph etc since every car is different....I have also installed K&N filters and removed the baffling in the air intake system. I also removed the cat converter and smog pump, bypassed the throttle body coolant and installed an air foil, otherwise mine is still stock everywhere else.
Like the others have said already, some things I am going to do in the future are a set of headers and a cat back system, custom computer chip, and I may leave it at that unless the motor gives me a reason to dig inside of it it all just depends on how much money you want to spend and how fast you want to go. It sure is fun to see how fast you can make something go, and it never stops I don't think, I can't leave anything alone anyway, goodluck, Larry.

 

well i already have headers, catback, i'm thinking of getting a new intake. The Edelbrock High flow manifold base and the High flow runners. Do you think that would give me a good size more power? and i'm planning on spending maybe about $2000 over summer.

 

I'm looking over my intake choices at this time as well, and from what I hear... Edelbrock makes a horrible TPI product. Seems that 4 out of 5 people have trouble with the bases stripping, cracking, or "Creating" vacume leaks. I don't see an option for me other than the superram.....

.... I have to keep erg

 

superram flows well, but good power can be made with big tube runners from TPIS and AS&M.

anyway, easier mods and cheaper mods tend to fall under

exhaust--catback/headers
gutted air intake box with high flow filters
upgrade TPI parts--not always cheap but not too difficult
throttle body bypass... does keep the TPI plenum area cooler
gears/rear end--depends on what you have
suspension--improve handling and drag performance, whatever you want
wheels/tires---lighter wheels reduce rotating weight, better rubber improves traction/handling
transmission/torque converter-- if you have an auto, its the best thing to do is get a higher stall converter and shift kit

thats about all the easier/cheaper mods to do that i can think of and have done myself so far, except the TPI part, but i am working on that

 

you might want to look into getting a new timing chain. You are prolly still running the original piece and if so its going to be stretched to all hell which will be hampering performance

 

Good tip White Night, that is something alot of people over look until it is too late. Then the repair is much more costly.
My Iroc only has a little over 50,000 so I am not too worried about it at this time. When I checked the timing recently I found it retarded which happens when the chain stretches, but as it turned out, the distributor hold down bolt was finger loose.
I only had 2 degrees of timing, since the factory setting is 6 degrees I went ahead and set it for 8 degrees. That 6 degree increase really woke my car up. It is something I want to play with at the track and see if I can find some speed there which is why I mentioned it in an earlier post. Something else I would like to try at the track is playing with fuel pressure and see if it truely makes any difference in my car. I will exhaust all of the smaller changes until I feel I have reached a limit before I get into the bigger stuff like camshafts, intakes, etc... It goes on and on, I don't think it ever stops in the quest for speed Larry.

 

I still wonder if the TB mod is actually worth it. Did anyone really notice anything on the dyno or not?

 

I still wonder if the TB mod is actually worth it. Did anyone really notice anything on the dyno or not?

 

what gears are you running ? If you have numerically lower gears like 3.08's ....step up a size or two .... . My setup is in my sig . BTW Edlebrock makes a fine base . I got my hiflo runner ported in 4" and the base was just cleaned up a bit . This car from an idle will break loose in first ....then if I am idleing along in second and floor it ....it breaks loose . This is on BN Kumo Ecsta 712's . The car still thinks its a 305 . SO ..... if you have emmision issues in your area I recomend the intake for a city driver .....but at the track you need alot of knowlege to get it to threaten a car with a shorter intake track. But I love mine , its a real good car to show off to friends ...really builds speed FAST to about 5000ish

PM if you got any questions about it , I can go more into detail then

 

I do not feel that it is necessary to change your base manifold or runners. The cylinder heads you have will not flow enough to take advantage of a large base/runners. I would suggest that you port the plenum and clean up the base manifold. I've run 12.00's on a Lingenfelter ported stock base. The runner size is ideal for a 305. I would upgrade the rockers to a 1.6 roller tip and FP regulator.

All of this is my opinion based on past experience.

www.geocities.com/dzperf

 

Irocztwenty8, when you referred to the throttle body mod, are you talking about removing the coolant line that runs through it? If so, I have removed mine, not sure of any difference yet, I have not taken the car to the track. But any time you can remove heat from the intake track it is a good thing.
I can tell you that when the car was running you could not touch the throttle body without scorching your hand. After the removal of the coolant hose, and installing K&N filters and also freeing up the intake track by removing the baffling, I can drive the car and pull over and everything is cool to the touch, even the plastic ducting that sits right on top of the hot radiator.
All of these little things add up and in my opinion are worth it. Some may disagree, just depends on what you want out of your car I guess. It's hard to argue though, since they have been practicing this mod since these cars were being built and still practice this mod today even on the new LS-1 stuff.
As far as intake manifold choices, there are quite a few, alot of people on here run or have run just about everything made, you should be able to get alot of input from people here, when I get to that point I have already decided what I am going to do but again, everyone is different in what they want out of there car. Larry.