well, me and my buddies were driving on the highway tonite and we were probably going about 55- 60mph. we all lined up across the lanes and gave each other the "look" and floored it. the other 2 cars were a 2002 nissan maxima and a chevy blazer, i think its a 96, and me in my auto '88 trans am GTA. so we all floored it and both of them pulled away from me, about a car length...i feel like i have very little umph at speeds over 50mph...but id like to have more. is this a gearing situation? i have no clue what gears i have, or do i know how to find out. its most likely whatever came with stock though. is that what causes the small amount of pull i have at those speeds? or is it lack of hp? any info would be cool...

 

Do you know what gears you have in your rear axle? I would suggest swapping in a set of 3.23's or 3.42 gears to get a little more "punch". If you are looking for top speed, I would recomend a set of 2.73's or 2.77's. The numerically lower gears will give you worse low speed acceleration, but a nasty top end. The numerically higher gears will give you much better acceleration, but a slightly lower top speed. I have 3.90 gears in my car and I love the acceleration, but the top speed end isnt to high. If I were you I would find out what gears I have and then swap them out for 3.23's or 3.42's if you dont already have them.

 

buddy... ok... what size engine do you have ??? go the the thirdgen homepage... in the box on the upper left ... there is a link called TECH DATA.. go there... they have all the gears of all the years... depending on tranny-engine size... also... does your tranny have auto-overdrive ???
Let me know what all your car has... e-mail me and I'll help you out

 

thanks for the replies. i looked in the tech data section and here is what i found. With auto Std. = 2.77 and auto opt. (G92) = 3.27. are those gears more towards high or low end? and what is G92

btw...my engine is 350ci

 

G92 ... was the option (i believe) a 2.77 is almost as small as you can get for a chevy (there is also a 2.72, and th3 2.73) It'll let you top out a little higher BUT it's not very helpful for acceleration. but with a 350 GTA you still should GET DECENT highway acceleration.. do you have ANY other modifications... ie. headers/cam/cat-back. these are other things that you might wanna look into.. check your air-filter, sparkplugs, fuel filter... you don't think all these things make a difference on the highway...WELL they do...
Any other questions ??? let me know
Good Luck

 

no mods yet. im going to do a home made CAI with a k&n air filter. i also thought about gettin an eletronic cutout.
removing the spark plugs are a bitch tho . do you guys recomend those dual/quad prong spark plugs? or splitfire? i guess if i do new plugs i should go ahead and do the wires as well...anything specific pertaning to the wires? ill get a new fuel filter too

//edit: my air filter is pretty dirty as well, so i giess thats not helping either

 

I use AC-Delco splitfire... they are awesome...as for wires (unless you have an aftermarket coil) can be stock replacement... if there is an option... try to get 8mm wires... they withstand heat a little better and last a little longer
I got OVER 20 HP from my homemade AI... it's pressed aluminum (sort of like a funnel, with a "tornado type" thing.. that spins the air, the air hits the funnel and gets DIRECTED into the TBI. I use a 14x3 K&N filter and It all works pretty well

 

AC/Delco doesn't make the make Splitfire plugs; Splitfire does. Don't get them. Get either regular AC/Delco ones, or if you really want to bite off, get the AC/Delco RapidFire ones.

Cold air will help. The Firebirds have a problem with that, because of the hood clearance issues; it's alot harder to get a good-flowing cold-air system into one of those, which is partly why what's there is there in the first place.

A set of chassis-specific headers will make a noticeable improvement. It won't cure the TPI problem where the power just craters after 4500 RPM, but it will help get more out of it up to there. If you want actual "top end", the TPI is what's killing it, you would have to find some way around that.

 

my mistake ... I've used splitfire and rapidfire... I got mixed-up... thanks,
ALSO for the TPI... if you replace the injectors, or the runners, and especially the throttle bore IT WILL drasticly open up the TPI past 4500... especially if you have some sort of air intake.. I have a 320 HP TBI small block (which is WAY more restrictive than a TPI) .. .it has ALL THE MODS though. GOOD LUCK

 

hey thanks a lot for the advice guys. for now ill get new spark plug wires and some new spark plugs. as for the home made cold air intake i was thinking about kinda doing what the guy did in the article on the front page (here). how does that sound?

 

can't go wrong with 3.73s

 

would that give more high end or more low end

 

that will get you up to speed quicker (acceleration) .. but just a lower speed to max out at ,
BUT WHO NEEDS TO GO 120 when you smoke 'em before you hit 60.... :rockon:

 

HMMMM thats a very valid point. but how do 3.73's do in 1/4's?