common question i bet its a 350 tpi engine no mods to it at all. heater core is broken tho not that it matters. could yall help me with some inexpensive ways to make it faster and up the horsepower thanks

 

you can build up the engine with go fast parts cam, heads superram like your last post.

 

Change the air filter and plugs, after that add lots of $$$$$$

 

"Free" mods;
- Port match all transitions between the upper intake, runners, and lower intake using the gaskets as a guide. Polish the lower intake. Round over the separators between the individual runners in the upper intake and the squared off bulges just behind the throttle body on the bottom inside.
- put your car on a diet. The rule of thumb is 100lbs removed will gain about 1/10th second in the quarter mile. Even on a street car, the less inertial mass that the engine must work to move translates to quicker acceleration. Aerodynamics also falls into this category, but as other threads on here have shown, there is little gain over no grounds effects vs having them, with the trade off for removing them being more lift from air passing under the car. the 80's Firebirds also already benefit from having the lowest drag coefficient of any GM vehicle produced until the C5 Corvette. Large wheels can also have a negative effect, as more rotational mass = more inertia to overcome. This depends on material composition, of course.

Cheap mods;

- Fram Air Hog washable high flow filters. Still available from RockAuto for under $5 apiece, flows better than the K&N filter. Uses the K&N recharge kit to wash and re-oil.
- Better plugs. NGK UR4 V-Powers have an excellent spark and are about $2 apiece.
- A/C Delete pulley and bracket, available from RockAuto for under $30. Allows removal of A/C system saving some weight, but not a true hp "gain" (as you only have load on the engine from an A/C when the compressor is running).

Moderate cost mods;

- Headers and Y-pipe. Shorty headers are fairly inexpensive, starting around $100, but the Y-pipe typically runs $150 or more by itself. Don't waste money on anything with a Y-pipe outlet less than 2.5".
- Cat back exhaust. Only really useful if also doing the headers, otherwise the restriction will still be ahead of the cat. 2.5" minimum, 3" for moderate performance levels with room for upgrade in the future.
- Cam swap. Can be costly depending on the manufacturer and level of cam. Some cams will work with a stock tune, keeping the cost down under $200 including gaskets, such as an LT1 cam, especially if it can be junkyard sourced. Others go up considerably based on the price of the cam itself, plus the need to either have custom chips burned or invest in an aftermarket EFI setup (which can vary WIDELY in price).
- Adjustable fuel pressure regulator. Adding this can allow you to bump up your fuel pressure, gaining a small amount of power. This is usually a recommended upgrade anyway, as it comes in handy with larger upgrades like aftermarket heads, bigger cams, forced induction, etc.

Expensive mods

- Heads. Can vary widely in price, depending on a host of factors. Stock heads can be ported, polished, and in skilled heads re-worked into fairly impressive numbers for low cost. Vortecs are a fairly decent boost bolted straight on, and if ported/polished have anywhere from a 30 - 50 hp gain. Aftermarket heads can offer much higher performance, but at a significantly higher cost, depending on manufacturer, material, type of manufacture (cast vs CNC), and level of modification. AFRs are widely regarded as untouchable in terms of performance, but that performance will most definitely cost you.
- Alternative intakes. There are numerous available, and tons of threads extolling the virtues and limitations of each. You can also switch to carburetion, but this has trade offs as well. an aftermarket intake can be had for cheap if sourced from Ebay, Craigslist, or on Thirdgen. Full kits can cost a few thousand $.
- Aftermarket ECM. From the low end of Megasquirt ($350 - $600, depending on how much control you want) to Holley Commander (upwards of $2000). Allows fine tuning of engine performance beyond factory levels, and unlimited upgradeability. The Megasquirt systems allow for forced induction from the get go in MS-II and MS-III form, and even the basic MS-I can be upgraded later in the form of an inexpesnive daughter card add on.
- Forced induction. Ebay all-inclusive twin turbo kits for F-bodies can be had for under $1000, complete will all piping, turbos, wastegates, tubing, and intercoolers. Name brand kits will cost considerably more but offer much higher performance levels. Bear in mind that anything over 1/2 atmosphere is going to require a lot of work to the engine to be able to take the stress reliably, and possibly the rest of the drivetrain and chassis.
- Nitrous. I'm not a fan of the bottle, and feel it belongs on the track ONLY. But, NOS kits can be had for relatively cheap, but again, depending on the size of the spray, major work may have to be done to the block or you run the risk of hand grenading it. Plus, unlike forced induction which is ALWAYS available, NOS is only as good as how much the bottle can hold. NOS also tends to vary widely in its power gains, based on the way the molecule reacts. Even under laboratory conditions, where every variable is precisely controlled, NOS won't give a consistent power number.

These are just a small number of suggestions. There are many, many more out there. The basic idea is to make the air flow into and out of your engine as effortlessly as possible, thereby making it as efficient as possible, which directly translates into power. Anything that reduces the airflow, makes it more turbulent, or increases the work of the engine but doesn't directly contribute to moving the car is wasted power. Remember also that anything done to the intake side of the engine, to actually have a positive effect, must be balanced on the exhaust side. A large intake isn't going to help if you have a restrictive exhaust, and a free flowing exhaust isn't going to help if it's too large relative to the amount of incoming airflow to the motor. The same goes for throttle bodies, intake runners on heads, cams, etc. Putting a radical cam and heads with huge intake runners into an engine with a small throttle body and restrictive exhaust is going to do nothing but drain your wallet. Putting a huge throttle body and 4" cat back exhaust on a stock engine is likewise going to leave you disappointed. Building a performance engine is almost a zen religious exercise...Everything must be in balance and harmony.

 

A 250 shot. It'll go like hell...once.

 

Possibly parts of it straight up!! lol