Earlier this year I went to the 21st Trans Am Nationals in Dayton with my dad and bought a 1990 Trans Am w/ 5.0 auto with 160,000 miles. I keep trying to talk my dad into letting me buy performance parts for the car but he keeps telling me that I'm getting into too much or that they won't even make a difference. I'm not even throwing big projects at him! Things like March underdrive pulleys, headers with catback(not so small, i know), throttle body bypass, and similar things. Right now I have a K&N throttle body filter and other than that, its bone stock ( he agreed to build a custom intake with me using that filter). I would really like to do some more work to it and all I have is time( I'm not going to drive this car for another year). I know this is along post but I'm almost done. I dont know very much about drivetrain components, intake, camshafts, etc.. but i'm still learning. I do however have several questions about some of these:
-When installing 1.6 roller rocker arms, what else must be replaced or can they be done by themselves?
-How hard are they to install? -Which ones should I get?
-Are valve springs hard to install? -What else needs to be installed with these? -On the installation instructions for the Hooker 2055 headers it says to remove the engine mount on one side and jack the motor up several inches. I would really like headers on this car, but how hard is it to jack up the motor like that? -If I installed Large Tube Runners, do I also have to replace the base as well?

I really don't want to get into the rear end and gears if I don't have to, and same goes for the heads and camshaft.
I'm sorry for posting so big but if anyone has some advice please post it!!! I'm completely lost right now. Thanks.

 

Headers don't REQUIRE jacking up the engine off its mount, but it's also not too difficult to do. There's only one bolt in the mount, and it's easy to remove. It's all the other junk in the way that's hard with headers, and then tightening the last bolt in the back on the passenger side.

You'd want some "self-aligning" roller rockers - I think the stock studs are 5/16". Comp Pro-magnums are my favorite. May need to clearance the valve covers a little with them, but should be easy. You can probably put them on without changing anything else, but I'd recommend new springs, and valve seals as long as your digging under the valve covers. If you're keeping the stock cam, then rocker studs aren't necessary yet, IMO, but I'm not sure if the stock pressed in studs are long enough for the roller rockers' lock nuts.

If you're doing larger runners, you might as well do the base, because the runners won't help much if they mismatch to a small stock base. It's really not hard to do the base manifold (other than 160k mile bolts that stick like crazy). You'll need a new gasket set up there. Might as well find some new injectors, or have the originals cleaned/matched/new o-rings installed.

Catback is HIGHLY recommended and EASY and CHEAP (bolt it up, align it, recommend some welds at the muffler once it's looking right). Hooker's is Mellow enough. Edelbrock is really mellow. Flowmaster is a little annoying on long trips.

Throttle body bypass is not recommended if you drive it anywhere near 32F. It's negligable gain anyway.

A SHIFT KIT and 2200-2400 RPM stall speed torque converter will REALLY wake it up.

Subframe connectors will take a lot of the mushy body feeling away.

Shocks and struts, like KYB AGX, Bilsteins, or Koni's will make it more fun to drive, along with some nice tires.

 

I agree with your dad on a level, but disagree on another. True, any one bolton will make a little difference, sometimes you can't notice it. But add five of them together that add 10HP, and thats 50HP. You will notice that. Unfortunatly it will cost you a nice chunk of change to do it. If the addons are lets say $200 each, thats $1000. You could use that same money to get new heads, or port the ones you have for cheaper. Try to maintain as high a HP gain for the money. This will make Dad happy he dosn't have to shell out lots of money, or see you "waste" yours and you will get real performance gains.

 

I also forgot to mention that he was worried that if I replaced things like the rocker arms that it would throw something else in the engine off because it has so many miles on it. Is this true or not? And for the torque converter, what brands are good to go with and what will installation be like?

 

Replacing the rocker arms won't throw anything in the engine off, the new ones would do the exact same function as the old ones.

As far as the converter, you can go with TCI, B&M, or take the cheap route and go with a Summit torque converter, however I don't think they make a converter above a 1900 stall for our 700r4s. The job itself can be done without taking the motor out of the engine, but it's pretty intensive. Check out this article: http://www.zmydust.com/converter.html

 

If I go with 1.6 rocker arms, will I need dnew pushrods? and If I install new springs, what tools am I going to need?

 

Another thing, you said that the stock studs are 5/16". Because I can only find 3/8, 7/16 but no 5/16. Do i need to get that same size rocker arms?