Hey everyone, please bare with me, this is my first post, and Im brand new to the Camaro tpi world.

I just picked up a beautiful 89 iroc third gen, 5 speed with a 305 tpi. (completely stock and original car (minus an exhaust cutout) Coming from a more import background, I wanted to take on a new challenge and enjoy a more domestic side of things. Over the past 3 months, even before buying the car, Ive been doing as much research as possible, and most of it being on thirdgen.org. Once I purchased the car it was only fitting as to where I would join to start the new build. I do have some knowledge and experience working on 305/350s but most have been carbureted and used for demo derbies. On to the new car

My goals: to have a nice solid street car, nothing to crazy, will probably never track it, but do plan on owning it for a while. I don't want to waste a lot of money on the 305 as I do plan eventually to switch to a 350 tpi and maybe eventually run boost (day dreaminnnn) Would like to however enjoy what I have right now and perhaps have some minor bolt ons I could use now and for the 350. So far Ive gathered a small list of parts and am looking for advice as to how these retain to my goals/where the best places to get them are/ and if anything of them are a waste of money time lol as far as budget, still trying to gauge one, like stated I will be taking my time with it so I can slowly purchase parts.

dyno don/hooker headers
dyno don/hooker y pipes (single cat) *emissions is a pain where I am, so maybe install and HFC?
Intake- I currently have the dual snorkel intake installed, Can cold air intakes be bought for these cars? I made a couple on my old rides with vibrant piping and AEM filters.
aftermarket throttle body- suggestions?
runners- ported or aftermarket (SLP/edelbrock?)
intake manifold - ported or aftermarket
injectors/fuel pump

Cams and heads, from what Ive heard Its better to save until I have a solid 350 block waiting to be built.

other mods I plan on doing.

HIDs (first mod, cant see a damn thing right now)
Led dash lights
aftermarket gauges (pillar pod)
steering wheel with quick release
seats (mine are torn the **** and rails are efffedddd)
ground control weight jacks with aftermarket struts
The car came with a aftermarket set of trailing arms so thinking about coupling that with a aftermarket sway bar and pan hard bar.
lucky enough to have come with a gorgeous set of American racing rims, but thinking about trading them in for a more aggressive style to make it more my own....
Once again looking for the advice to do this, mainly vendors and what not (summitracing, hawksthirdgenparts, etc)


Appreciate any feedback, negative or positive, I want to learn and do this sh*t right. Thanks!

 

Having had an 86 iroc with a 190hp 305 I've been there. Except I went a little overboard when I dropped a 355 with 350hp and didn't upgrade a lot of things that I should have first. (2006)
You mentioned eventually building and dropping a 350 later. If that's the case and I'm sure someone is going to argue this, but i'm sayin don't touch it. If its in good condition and nothing is wrong with it i'd leave it alone and save for someone trying to restore there old IROC to factory.
That said, if it were me, and I am in the exact same boat as you being I just bought an 87 IROC this week with a 350tpi, I would target your chassis and suspension and start a budgeted build preparing your ride for the future power plant. I really really wish I had done that in the beginning.

Your ride. You have a 305 with a t-5 trans. 0, zilch factory camaros came with a 350 and manual trans. The t-5 was not beefy enough to handle the more powerful 350s. and when i say more powerful we are talking less than 50hp, that should be a flag for anyone beefing up their car with a t-5 still installed. It's my understanding the t-56 from a 4th gen has the same bell housing and will bolt right up. Might want to look into that.

I'm not saying you cant build that 305 up and have a fun ride. I'm just saying that exact same money and 350 will take you a little farther.

If this were my build, which it kinda is in a sense, I would just swing away at the suspension and chassis. Subframe connectors, eliminate rubber and replace it all with polyurathane bushings, get in some new shocks, preferably koni's or blistein's. Throw in a a strut tower brace, and maybe if you want a beefier torque arm and adjustable panhard bar. That will drastically change your ride and make it feel fresh and tight.

Soon after that, budget allowing. tear into the brake system. I really wish I had done that first!!! My lopier cam dang near made me rear end people many times not having enough vacuum. Consider changing out the rear drums for disk, and squeezing some good sized rotors up front. Again in the future you're prolly going to have a 300-400 hp car, you're going to need to stop it. some people will say thats not alot, but for a 3500lb ish fbody, that thing will scoot.

After that, you have a preferable rear gearing differential it looks like, is it open or limited slip?

I would not, you can, but i would not put in a 300hp engine with the trans you have right now. It might eventually be fine, it might crap out on you the first time you load it with that motor. I'm throwing in a link from youtube that inspired me a bit any time i start getting distracted from my builds.

Have fun, try to do as much as you can yourself and read, read and read some more.