i no longer have my z, BUT i have made huge upgrades with my dads 70 split bumper. now i just bought a 89 firebird that a master tech i work with pulled out the tbi and replaced the cluster and rebuilt a 355 with the biggest cam those heads could support with out spring upgrades.and also bumped the compression up a bit. but running a stock tpi now.... i live near TPIS and am going to need them to finish the tune. do you think the mini ram intake from TPIS with that cam will make 300hp to the wheels? is the intake worth the money or is there a better alternative?
can i eliminate the emissions stuff or do i gotta adapt it? ive never done fuel injection and only a little exp with carbs, but this site has great info (and trolls) and i could use some insight from you guys.

 

A mini-ram is great and all, but not suited at all for a 350 with TBI L05 heads, regardless of what cam is installed. Unless its a real bargain for the mini-ram the money is better spent elsewhere.

You need to provide a lot more information than that if you want a better answer.

 

It would be an LO3 head set... confused based on the post. Or is the 355 in no way connected to the Firebird? While the 350 TBI was a LO5, that wouldn't be what is coming out of a Firebird. If not the heads from the Firebird, we need to know what heads he started with.

The mini ram is an un-tuned intake. Short runners that don't affect resonance too much at any RPM. Should work fine in most applications. Fine being the key word... do not read as optimal.

To the OP, What you give up for a "general" intake like this is mid-range torque. The Mini Ram is much like the factory LT1/LT4 intake. Neither were real screamers when it came to RPMs. LT4 went to 6400RPM (OK compared to a TPI you may make the case they were but not compared to other engines out there) but performed pretty well across the board. However, matched with the heads I am interpreting you have, I think you would be served better a long runner design (Factory even). Those heads won't want to RPM at all and what you are giving up in the intake is what the heads want to do, make good torque.

Need to have the Cam and Head specs to really understand, but sounds like you are potentially building just a horribly unmatched engine. It has long been proven that the intake/heads/cam need to work in harmony for good performance. A set of AFR195 heads isn't going to make power under a factory TPI and cam; and neither will a Big Cam and open intake over L03 Heads. You will still have a choke point.

 

I assumed L05 heads because its a rebuild 355. L03 heads have a smaller 58cc chamber where the L05 heads have a 64cc chamber. Unless other things are accounted for that can send compression sky high.

 

I have ran 305 Heads on a 350 before (LB9's) and had no issues, but it didn't have .

So yes, we need to know what heads and what cam is in play here to really make a recommendation because the original post didn't really specify much. In general, yes the mini ram will work just fine on what was described.

 

The Miniram is a great intake, but tuning it is quite challenging to say the least. The accelerator enrichment is probably the hardest to get right. Also there are typically fuel distribution issues at low rpms with these batch fire TPI systems that are often challenging to overcome.

If youve never worked with EFI before, I'd be hesitant to have the Miniram as your starting point unless you're going to get a lot of help from TPIS on the tuning.

That said, matched with the right heads, cam, and torque converter, and the right tune, it by no means lacks power anywhere.

on my 1971 Camaro, I have a Miniram, AFR 180 heads, a mild 212@.050 cam and it pulls hard all the way up to 6000 rpm. My 2500 rpm stall converter also gives the car plenty of punch off the line too.

So yeah personally I love the Miniram, but it was a lot of tuning work to get it to this point.

 

I have a more extreme version. It’s in sig.

I’m all top end power. My car personifies that quote from Ford vs Ferrari. 7000rpm+ Go like hell. But it’s one hell of a wild ride. I really need to strap a go pro to my head one day so I can record it.

 

well the 355 from what i understood had nothing to do with a firebird. but the top end did. it is 64cc he said on the heads and stock tpi set up. it was originally a 305 tbi car, he has that engine sitting on the stand still. i have asked him a couple of times what the specs were or what cam it was, he has built a lot of engines since then and doesn't recall. he just said TPIS gave him the biggest specs that the heads would support and respond too. also he does have a set of trick flow runners available. i would like to upgrade the heads in the future but wanna spend my money wisely this time instead of chasing hopes and dreams. i don't even know what gears are in the rear right now (probably 2.73s). sorry for jumping the gun on the mini ram. he said TPIS Put a basic tune on it to move it around and needs to be returned to TPIS for a final tune. if i didn't know the guy and trust him i would say its a all a bunch of bs.. but i know him (and got a great price even if it didn't have an engine) and know it to be true cause i've seen the car for the last 10 years. it sat for a year or two before that, but with regular start ups. now, as it sits the car will turn over but doesn't have fuel pressure so i need to look into that before i spend any money or waste any time on the mini ram. but i was curious about the intake. after reading your guys input, i wont upgrade that just yet. its a walboro 455 pump he has in the tank. gonna start by checking fuel pump relay and fuses and siphon the tank dry. any advice or tips in the department of not firing after a long healthy sit for 2 years would be nice lol. thanks again for the input on the heads and intake and the wake up call that these engines need to be put together with pieces that work together. been down that road once. gonna be a fun project. i think.