I have an 89 Formula 350 Firebird with the stock 5.7L TPI. I have a few ideas for increasing air flow ... headers, cat-back exhaust, and also something on the intake side like a K&N unit, throttle body air foil, mass air flow senor, or even having the TPI plenums grinded ... but I have no clue what I SHOULD do on the fuel side OR what I NEED to do on the fuel side. Will my stock fuel system be able to deal with the increased air flow? Will I be wasting my time focusing only on the air flow and neglecting the fuel system? Thanks for any help!!

 

Everything you have planned to do wont be enough to get bigger injectors or increase your fuel pressure. Once you put in a bigger cam and bigger intake you have to start thinking about the fuel side. Exhaust, plenum porting, and k&n filter will just help the engine flow easier. Your ECM will be able to compensate for the small amount of more air.

I have heard the air foil really isnt worth getting.

 

The air foil is not really worth getting??? But the catalog said it would work great ... especially with another couple of items from the same manufacturer =)

Thanks for the info and the heads up.

 

more fuel has one love

more spark power

 

So I take it you are saying that if I increase my fuel pressure, I will need to increase my spark power, right?? Taking the advice from Cambridge 205, I will keep my fuel stock until I put in a new cam, which is a part of my plan eventually. Do you have any ideas for spark?? I was actually thinking about working an MSD system in my mod plan.
----------
Hey Cambridge 205, I notice you have an 89 GTA with the L98 350. Your car is pretty similar to my 89 Formula 350. Do you have any insights on what mods I should start with?? Mine is bone stock and I am just starting to think about juicing it up.

 

I know there are tons of posts and threads that contradict eachother on the subject of an airfoil. I bought one from TPIS for about $40 including shipping. They say you get 7-12 hp, thats max hp at around 4000-5000 rpm. Running at idle, my car (1989 GTA 5.0 TPI)did feel more powerful, not extremely, but you could tell there was a difference. BTW this mod isnt meant to be a single thing that solves power seekers problems. If you get a 3" exhaust mandrel bent, and a cold air intake, the engines breathing will be much cleaner. Here is a link to flow tests done that show the differences of cfm with different size throttle bodies, and with and without an airfoil. If you take the difference of a stock TB with and without an airfoil, its about 40cfm, exactly what TPIS said. Just my .02 cents.

http://dtcc.cz28.com/flow/index.htm

 

Thanks for that advice. Somehow this thread has shifted from whether or not I need to increase my fuel to the airfoil issue. I acutally have another thread over in the aftermarket product review section about the airfoil and you are right, I am getting some conflicting advice. I was pretty much thinking that for 40 bucks, it would be worth a try. I was going to combine it with other mods anyway. But you mentioned a cold air intake ... K&N doesn't make a kit for either of our cars ... I think ... at least not my 350. Is there a kit out there that has the panels that block the filter from the rest of the engine compartment??

 

I realize that you dont want to have a sirfoil argument thread, and neither do I. I tried tons of people for CAI, K&N, Airraid, SLP, nobody has one and if they do, its 300 bucks. I think it is probably fine if you make your own like this guy did,(check the link) but I bought one from ebay for $70. It isnt a perfect fit, but it works. I think its not meant for a MAF setup, but you can make it fit.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...-cold-air.html

This is where I found mine on ebay. You have to search the pages below
http://stores.ebay.com/BestCarPart_C...QQftidZ2QQtZkm

 

Thanks. That may be the route I have to go. The link you provided took me to BOMZ's Ebay page. I did a search for "firebird cold air intake" and they actually do have a kit for 88-89 pontiac firebird, formula, trans am & GTA with the 5.0 or 5.7 TPI. It is 50 bucks plus 22 for S&H. This is the first kit I have ever seen for my car. I wonder if it is worth anything.

 

they are all gymics unless you put them on a

BUILT

motor

 

jamon8 ... this may be a stupid question that proves how much of a beginner I am when it comes to modding cars and the aftermarket, but what do you mean by a "BUILT: motor ???

Also, you last reply to this postmore ... "fuel has one love
more spark power" ... from what others have been telling me, I don't need to worry about increasing my fuel pressure until I put in a more aggressive cam. At that point, do you have any suggestions for increased spark?? I was thinking about an MSD system of one type or another.

 

You can do a tune up. New spark plugs, wires, cap, if you want new coil that will help spark OR do that and get an ignition box.

What I did was look for a coil that put out the most volts and I found a hypertech kit (coil, cap, rotor) heres a link to its summit page http://store.summitracing.com/partde...30+4294908198+ I don't know if this is the best anymore I don't even know if it was the best when I got it. But it's better than stock. I plan on getting an ignition box some day.

For our engines I would do the mods on this page https://www.thirdgen.org/tpimod1 I did most of them and avoided the MAF mod. For a cam I got the ZZ4 cam. From what I hear they work real good with our engines however it depends on how much power you want... But I don't know how much they are helping because I'm having trouble getting my ecm tuned. I wish I did it your way and put them on slowly and see the benefit's of each but when the engine went out I just put all the mods on at once.

After all the mods off that page but before a cam you might want to think about increasing fuel pressure on the AFPR do this with a ALDL cable and a datalogger by watching your blms and all that stuff. You can buy a ALDL cable or make one your self. I made mine my self. wish I had a link for you about that but I don't think their is one...

P.S. I didn't mean to start an air foil argument it's just what I heard... I'm sure some day I'm going to get one just to see if they really do help or not.

 

Don't apologize about getting on the air foil topic. I got a lot of views on it. Bottom line for me is that $35 is worth it just to satisfy my curiosity. The air foil is listed on the suggested mods link you provided, which is great, by the way. I am going to use that as a checklist as I go.