well recently i just put my 85 trans am on the road and been driving that alot. Its a great car and the motor seems real strong. I put on a dynomax cat back system with a catco high flow converter. It also has the accel 8.8mm wires/cap and rotor with a fresh tune up with ac delco plugs. WHat should my next mod be? I am relatively new to the TPI thing so i need a little advice. I am getting sick of these '00 stangs beating my, the GT's of course. SO please help. I am not really in the market for headers really either becouse i just bought a brand new y pipe fom the dealer and it cost me big $$$

------------------
1989 pontiac firebird
bright red exterior(just repainted)
grey interior
5 spd
305 TBI (stock)
WS.6 formula wheels
3.73 posi rear end
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/Mikey89.html
http://www.geocities.com/firebird/myfirebird.html
-------------------------
1985 trans am
factory bright yellow
4 wheel disks
16 inch wheels
305 TPI
power antenna and mirrors
t tops

 

Mike a month ago:
"Why do u n_gger rig your car? It never runs right with all that crap on it."

Mike Now:
"WHAT SHOULD BE MY NEXT MOD EVERYONE?!"

HAhahaha, I had to do it Mr. OEM

and I think the reason u don't win races is because u don't put your foot all the way to the floor. PTR: Part Throttle Racer

------------------
Eric Natzke
91 Firebird 305 TBI
"It Ain't Stock"
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/91firebird.html
For info on certain parts or mods go to the site below
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/modeval.html

[This message has been edited by 91Bird305 (edited May 14, 2001).]

 

lol eric i thought u where gonna do that still no one gave me any input on my next mod. i was thinking air foil and K&N but i want something that will really make a difference. I dont wanna do gears becouse i have the OEM performance ratio with the 9 bolt rear.

------------------
1989 pontiac firebird
bright red exterior(just repainted)
grey interior
5 spd
305 TBI (stock)
WS.6 formula wheels
3.73 posi rear end
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/Mikey89.html
http://www.geocities.com/firebird/myfirebird.html
-------------------------
1985 trans am
factory bright yellow
4 wheel disks
16 inch wheels
305 TPI
power antenna and mirrors
t tops

 

Do anything to ur tranny yet?

------------------
Eric Natzke
91 Firebird 305 TBI
"It Ain't Stock"
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/91firebird.html
For info on certain parts or mods go to the site below
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/modeval.html

 

tranny has a shift kit already, not sure which one i just know the guy who had it last had it rebuilt with a shift kit put into it. I kinda wanted headers with the TPI motor but i just spent big bux on the exahaust i have now and its replaced from manifolts back. U would not believe how hard to find a factory y pipe for an 85 TA is. Turns out eh 85 only TPI cars got the wide mouth bolt together flanges and there arent many if any at all, they stop making them in 94. N E way enough about that, maybe high flow runners? better intake base? are there any good aftermarket off the shelf chips for TPI cars? I know i dont really want a bigger TB becouse it would be over kill to get the 52mm on a stock 305. Thats why i only wanted the air foil. I want to get some real nice improvements in HP but i dont wanna get into anything internal. I just want a high hp bolt on other than NOS or a supercharger. I am sure there is something??? what about cold air kits?? are those a worth while investment for an 85 TA TPI? damn so many questions, better do some research........BTW nice job on ur time eric, 15.4 isnt bad.

 

Bah, 15.4 sucks. I will break into 14's when I boost my fuel pressure and get LCA's.

I guess if I were u I would do the air foil and maybe a Jet Stage II (Used). I say used because they are not worth 121 bucks new. Check out ebay and the classifieds for them. Headers would be an awesome idea and also an Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator too. Have u read that article about porting and polishing ur runners yet? Thats another good mod. Anyways, there are some idea. Cold Air kit is nice but sometimes is really expensive for 10hp. Know what I mean? Try to find one either used or fairly new maybe on here. Cause u can't "wear" out a cold air kit so its not like your getting a used cam or anything like that.

------------------
Eric Natzke
91 Firebird 305 TBI
"It Ain't Stock"
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/91firebird.html
For info on certain parts or mods go to the site below
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/modeval.html

 

ya i think what i am gonna do is get the SLP engineering air foil and also an SLP cold air kit. Hoping for about 15hp out of this, who knows....n e way ill let u know how things progress, btw n e one else can add if they want........

 

I would say that a cold air kit is a good idea. The stock air intake system on that car is very restrictive. The SLP kit is very good but it consists of the elbow and transfer hose (from the MAF to the air box) of an 88 or newer TA/Formula system. If you can find a junked car that has these parts you can get them very cheap. You also can order just the air box from SLP and a stock air filter will fit in their cold air box for a TA or Formula. This means that you can buy a K&N for a stock setup and the cold air box only from SLP along with the intake system off a newer (88-92) car from the bone-yard, and you will have the same thing as SLP's big dollar system for half the price (that is what I did).

I don't think you will actually notice a huge gain in HP from that mod alone however. That will only let the engine breath like it should have from the factory. The air foil is good but don't expect a huge gain from that either.

I owned an 85 TA (305TPI, Auto, 3.27:1 rear) and I will tell you that the major problem with the 85 TPI's is that they have the slower and less mod-friendly ECM setup. The system has a very slow baud rate and thus does not respond well to changes from the stock setup. And as far as EPROM's go, you cannot call out values in the code for injector size and cylinder size like a newer system can which severly limits your long term modification possibities with the car.

I had TPIS burn me an EPROM a handful of times and did a lot of mods to the car (Crane Cam, dynomax cat-back, gutted converter, gutted MAF, flow matched 19lb injectors, AFPR, SLP runners, !AC, !A.I.R., shift kit, etc...) and got a best of 14.9sec. @90mph in the .25 mi. with it. I guess that is not bad for a 305 and a few other things would have helped a lot, but I was not happy with the overall money vs. improvement ratio. Then somebody decided to smash the front end in a bit for me so I sold it.

I really loved that car but it was not that fast. I could beat newer Rustangs (not that that was anything to brag about ), but that was about it for 'performance' cars (got my *** handed to me by a friends 98 GTP ).

Anywaysss........ I guess my recommendations above about the cold air intake and the air foil idea are good ones and I think a header/Y-pipe kit is a very good idea even though you do not want to do them. Ya gotta increase the engines ability to breath from both sides and with the cold air kit and the air foil you should get plenty of air for the 305. At that point the stock manifolds and Y-pipe are suspect; even with a nice converter and cat-back. I never ended up doing headers on my TA but I was planning on doing them and I think I would have gained a tenth or two. I also really wanted to swap in a newer, faster ECM setup but never got the chance......

Just my $.02

Let me know if ya want any other info about my old TA's setup.

Laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

------------------
Matt

1987 GTA L98 MD8 GW6

"Stop Lights timed for 35Mph are also timed for 70Mph"

 

hey man, thanx for all the info, i really didnt plan on doing to much to the car that would REALLY alter it from stock i just want one nice mod that will give me a considerable increase in performance. Would a bigger TB and possible the SLP runers really help much in a basicly stock 305 TPI? I just need one mod and i want it to be where it counts.....

 

change the cam and get a custom chip