Hey guys.

I devour as much of the content as I can on TGO, because I have always loved F-body cars. I am old enough to have owned First Gens well before they were antiques, and now the Third Gens have captured my imagination.

My son and I are completing the restoration of his '87 V6 5-speed 'bird, and this board has contributed HUGELY to the project. I am now starting to think about doing mods and a resto on our OTHER third gen, a '86 V6 auto bird.

I have been made several offers of various components of 305 engines (I am perfectly fine with a 305), as I would like to do a V8 swap. I am fascinated by TPI, and would like to include that in the project. I have learned a little about it, but I want to learn a lot more before I start accumulating parts. I have plenty of time, because the V6 runs very well and there is no immediate need to begin the project.

A big consideration seems to be the relative merits of getting an entire system from a donor car, vs picking up the parts piecemeal. I often find that the distance from me to the guy who has what I need is directly proportional to how badly I need it... and shipping an engine appears to be an insane proposition, never mind an entire donor car.

So, for those of us who are thinking of doing the whole TPI thing completely from scratch, accumulating parts here and there... can somebody point us in the right direction to get the necessary info? I would imagine that there are those of you who will try and talk me out of it... and I welcome that input, along with compelling reasons.

BTW, I promise to document the entire procedure for posterity. I think it will be fun.

Tim Ernandes
Moneta, VA