I have spent the last three days pouring over the forum and never have read a definitive answer to a question. I'm looking at a very low miles (16K) Formula that is, unfortunately, only a 5.0 TBI/Auto. I would like to know if converting to OEM TPI and T5 would require anything other than equivalent EPROM for a 5.0 TPI/T5 car to work. I know there is a lot of work and parts involved, but I want to maintain a stock appearance while bumping up the power a bit (TPI) and fun to drive factor (T5). Any insight/answers would be appreciated. I have owned four different third-gen cars over the years and now looking to get back into it...

 

If your going speed density you need a memcal like this.
https://m.ebay.com/itm/90-92-Camaro-...-/162914340207

 

Unless it's really really really cheap, just buy a TPI car to begin with. The list of what is shared on a TPI and TBI car is much shorter than the list of what's different. You'd need the entire engine harness, ECM, and Memcal. Then after converting to TPI, you've still got a 170hp low output 305. To get TPI performance, you'd have to bump up the compression ratio, change the cam, change the exhaust, change the rear gear ratio.

Really not worth the hassle.

 

If you do go with tpi. You might want to look in the classifieds section for swap parts. Harness & tpi.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...pi-intake.html
You can also convert your harness to tpi
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tpi/...d-density.html

 

Thanks for the replies. Points well taken. Maybe I'll just be content with a T5 conversion. This is a true survivor car and I really don't want to butcher it up. If I do just have to have better performance, the answer might be to just pull the drive train, mothball it, and drop in something better. This is really just a pre-retirement project; I know it's not a great bang-for-buck situation.