Well i have owned a 91 firebird v6 for my first car and im selling it now and i want to get my dream car a tpi powered thirdgen particulary a gta or formula. How much do 305 or 350 tpi thirdgens run for in good condition? What years should i look for the best tpi setups? what do stock 305 tpi autos run and 350 tpi's run?

 

It depends alot on the condition of the car.

1st,, I would only buy a 350 TPI...

2nd,, maybe a MAP car would be better for making power at the upper limit. These cars are the '90 to '92s.

You should be able to find a good 350 TPI for between $2,700 and $8,000,,, mostly around $3,500 to $4,500.

 

To my knowledge the 1992 350TPI with special order factory aluminum heads was the best performing of the TPI f-bodies. They would be rare and you should give your first born for one.

The only ones to avoid are 85-86 as they are much slower and finding a factory 350 in those years is almost impossible.

 

Heh. Finding a factory 350 in 85-86 is impossible, 305sbc.

doc is right, stick with the 350. Look for an 87-89 IROC, or 91-92 Z28 with the L98 engine option. Expect to pay between $2500 to $4500 depending on mods and overall condition.

Your best bet is to look around the For Sale forum here and see what cars are currently for sale, and what older cars have sold for in the past.

 

That's what a lot of people think.
It was special special order, like the 350/T5 combination.

My wife got a 89 Irocz 350TPI for about $3000, which is pretty good bang/buck.

 

When I posted above, I did a search on "collector car trader on line", and came up with 22 350s in the years '90, '91 and '92, in the US.

Personally, I have a highly modded '87 Camaro IROCZ which came with a 350. I am the only owner,,, bought it off the showroom floor.

 

Somewhat off-topic, but do you have any proof of this? I have heard the rumors of the 350's with a T-5, and 350's before 87, but I have yet to see an actual car with said options.

 

It is well known that in 1986 GM made multiple (I think the exact number is in the low 20's) 350/A4 "Press Cars" for the big 350 Iroc-Z release in 1987. They were all kept and destroyed by GM unfortunately.

There was never a 350/T5 car with the exception of a couple test mules. There was no "Special option" or "Sneaky order." They simply didn't exist, period. The only way to have a factory new one was to by either a 305/T5 car or a 350/A4 car and have the dealership buy a new replacement engine or trans and do the swap right on the spot. Of course, this voided the warranty, and was never done - if for no other reason - cost.

 

I know they had to create prototypes of the L98 Camaro in 86, I read the C&D article featuring two of them. However 305sbc said that some where sold, or somehow released by GM, which I have never seen, or even heard about.

 

I slightly disagree about what is out there.
A couple of examples.

I graduated in 1984 with a girl who's father owned a GM dealership. LSS she was driving a black 85 Irocz in winter of 1983. Money talks.

In 1989 I worked with a guy who was a porche lover, but decided to special order a formula 350. Well he ordered it with the corvette engine L98 of course. What he got had aluminum heads on it. I know because I was there and saw it. In fact I worked on the car with him on multiple occasions.

I know it's more than just rumors out there... they exist.

 

Wierd s***, man. Was that 85 IROC complete, or was it just an effects package without the suspension upgrades?

I know that prototypes sometimes miss stuff, like the aforementioned 86 L98 prototypes had no A/C due to the fact that GM hadn't yet figured out how to cram it under the hood yet.

 

305sbc,

In the winter of 83 the new noses and ground effects for the 85 IROC would not have even been tooled yet. I find it impossible that she was just driving around a test mule. Where do you come up with this stuff?

And your stories of aluminum headed L98 motors are a load of crap too. There has only been one instance on this site of anyone having aluminum heads on their L98 and it turned out the dealer installed a vette L98 in this guy's Z28 after the stocker blew up under warranty. Remember the vette L98 is not a direct bolt in anyway, it has an external EGR system that must be adapted to be emissions legal. I guess I must have one of the rare LB9 aluminum head cars, oh wait, I bolted them on myself, just like anyone else that owns a 3rd gen with aluminum heads.

Again there were also never ever any 5speed L98 cars sold.

Get your facts straight.

 

Does he still have that formy? I am not that far away and I would like to see it in person.

 

right now im looking at a 88 trans am gta 350 tpi for $1,500 i asked the guy what all is wrong with it and waiting for his reply

pictures of the car

 

How can it be such a big deal for you to have to prove something trivial like this wrong? wait nevermind, I'd rather not know that.

In ANY case of f-body configurations from the factory, it's simply been too many years past for anyone to solidly be able to prove anything. Therefor your ideas of reality will stay intact forever, even if you happen to run across one of these "fictional" cars.


The girls Irocz was 100% real and had everything. She drove it to school for all to see even though she wasn't 16 yet, but you know that can't happen either
I guess it would be hard to understand the impact this car had one everyone who saw it. I'd never seen anything like it before.

The guy with the formula 350 traded it only two years later for his dream car which was another porche. I thought that was crazy, but he was very happy with it. It was traded locally but I have no clue where it is now.

I have seen only one 350/T5 combo myself and heard of others, but the one I saw was several years after it left the dealer lot, so anything could've happened. Without it being brand new like the example I listed I couldn't say it was real or not. Personally I don't think something like that is a big enough deal to argue. What difference does it really make if it came from the factory like that or not? I know I really don't care.

It is however annoying to be called a liar for reporting two things I saw myself first-hand at the time they were new. If I'm having delusions then I must report this to my doc.

Why would a GM dealer send a car out the door without EGR? I have no idea, nor do I feel responsible for providing that answer.
I also have nothing to gain by convincing anyone that my accounts are correct. I only replied to answer the two questions and because it's not enjoyable to be called a liar.

edit: btw I'm not vouching for the 350/T5 story, but what I did say isn't a he-said-she-said deal either. If it was a rumor I would've started out "I heard that..."

 

91greenbird: If it is a true 1988 350 TPI, then it had to come from the factory with an 700R4 tranny and the 9 bolt BW rear end.

Just a few tips in your quest for a 350 TPI car.

The stuff above about rumors is just that, just rumors.

 

I hope you're in close with someone with a body shop. It's a project. If you're ready for a project I'd say offer him less.

 

305sbc:

Please check over the data in the tech data on the home page here on thirdgen. There is alot of good info there.

You will see that there is no T5 350 TPI cars. If fact, when I research my 1987 350 IROCZ, I qiuckly learned that I had to take the 700R4 tranny, no choice here. Apparently, a decision was made in 1986 @ GM that the T5 tranny was not strong enough for the torque of a 350 TPI, hence only automatics. Also, and I did not know this at the time, but my car had to come with the 9 bolt rear end, not the 10 bolt (plus one or two other items). Again, the 10 bolt was deemed too weak, and the 350s had to come with the 9 bolt BW rear end from 1986 thru 1989 (the MAF cars).

I still have this car, the factory numbers matching short block is sitting on the garage floor as well as the tranny. The 9 bolt rear end is still in the car.

Another interesting point back then was that I had a 1984 Z28 with the 305 HO engine and T5 tranny. When I heard that the 350 was coming out, I was too late to get one of the 50 '86 cars, but did get a 350 in 1987.

Anyway, this stuff has been argrued here alot. Trust in the tech data stuff.

 

I have and you are right there is a LOT of great data there.
It's not an issue of trust. The experiences I reported were several years before the internet.

I have just been slow to update my memories with the newer more accurate data. Please forgive.

 

Not a problem, peace!!!

 

Damn, that one's seen better days. Worth about 1200. Does it run well? If not, it's worth even less.

Also, make 100% sure that it's a true 350. The number of people who sell 305's as 350's will shock you when you first start looking for a 3rd-gen.