I have a 92 firebird which I love. I already put in Flowmaster exhausts and a K&N air filter. I was wondering what otherthings I could do to it that would be worth my while. Any suggestions? By the way how much HP does a Flowmaster give?

Thanks
DJ

 

well im sure your car is worth some money then, i would go find a nice v8 at an auto lots and trade her in, or better yet an even swap.

i dont say that to be smart, if my car had more value where i could do that, myself i would find an 87-89 v8 stick bird trans-am. may hafa pay a few hundred but what a ride.


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http://PCperformance-usa.com/86bird/86bird.html

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Don't waste money on pulleys or chips because for the smae price you can get a Crane 2030 cam and 1.52 roller lifters and get the most power for the dollar.

 

As far as how much ponys the flowmaster gives. Unfortunetly it's not much, but that goes for every high flow muff. your looking at some ware around 5 hp.

The other side is that you have all ready gotten that part out of the way. Before you do any extensive mods you want to build a good fondation. You want to free up your intake and exhuast, which you pretty much all ready did. This also includes safty items. Like your brakes and suspension. check your brake lines and if they need it replace those old rubber hoses with stronger ones, mabye even steel braided. This will help reduce brake fade during hard braking. Have you suspensioin cheaked out and replace the old smashed and proboly torn bushings with poly's. They not only help keep your car on the road, but give a better ride to.

Power is no good if you can't stop or handle the car. Spining out and slaming into a tree or car would realy suck!

 

#1: Major tuneup. (Without a doubt!) Check out https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/002983.html .


A 92, eh? Automatic or manual?

If it's an automatic, make sure your TV cable is properly adjusted. You could upgrade your 700r4 transmission with a shift kit- the kit of choice is the one by TransGo ($129), altho I installed the B&M shiftkit ($30). (I wish I did the TransGo, but I'll put that one in when I rebuild my trans). You can do it yourself; they're not that hard... and I think the TransGo might even come with a video!

You could also install a shifter... I have the B&M console Megashifter ($160)- but it won't make the car faster, just more "fun". I believe the '92's with automatics got a 3.23 rear gear; you could swap in a rear from a 85-89 2.8 automatic, which has a 3.42 gear in it.

Think, too, about B&M's governor recalibration kit. The governor controls upshifts, and your powerband is lower than that of a 2.8 (I think 2500-4500?). If your trans is upshifting (at WOT) at near 5500 RPM, you're losing speed. You could recalibrate the governor to perform WOT upshifts at 4500 RPM.

If you've got a manual, think about a short throw shifter, and a http://www.centerforce.com clutch.

Work on a homemade ram-air system... do a search on this board, you'll find some pictures.

I also agree about skipping a chip; most of them are garbage, and as GlennL98 used to tell us, for the price of a "custom" chip, you can buy the equipment to make your own.

I'd say to get power pullies, though.. I think they're about $70, and guys have noticed an improvement.

Through testing done by myself, a higher voltage coil seems to give you some extra "kick" in higher RPM's. You can wire a two-wire coil (like the http://www.msdignition.com Blaster 2 or Blaster 3) into your 4-wire system, or you could get a "direct replacement" coil with the proper factory connectors on it. (You'll pay more for this feature, tho.)

Aftermarket wires seem to make the car rev "easier". You could go as low priced ( http://www.northernautoparts.com ) as a set of Accel 8.8's, or, as high priced as my set, the MSD 8.5mm "Superconductor" wires.

A distributor rebuild will also get some power back to you. Install a Holley ignition module (#891-103), and a new "stock" pick-up coil (nothing can be made high-performance about this item!), and a new cap/rotor. Clean up the "air gap" between the reluctor and (I forget the correct term) "fingers", that makes the magnetic pulse stronger for the pick-up coil. Slide a new 1" inside diameter o-ring on the distributor shaft for an oil-leak-free seal.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)

 

Ok so what exactly can i do and get? Like you guys say skip the chip so i will. How much HP will the Cam and lifteres give by the way. need help and I know you are the people to ask. Thanks!!

 

If your car has low enough miles you can run a 16.268 @ 84.330MPH. I have a 92 automatic firebird. The mods that helped me with that are Jet underdrive pulleys, Hypertech thermo chip, custom cold air kit, MSD 6A with coil and wires, and a dynomax exhaust. Those are the cheapest mods and you'll feel the extra power. As for the cam labor alone was 800 dollars, it was installed incorrectly and made my car lose power. So if dont have the 1,500 for the cam, rockers, gaskets, timing chain and labor; go with the cheaper mods I listed above and I promise you'll love the results.

 

Thanks I will do what u say and ill let u know the results. Hopefully this will gve me a litle edge. By the way how much HP will this give me?

 

Well my brother has a 92 5.0 Tbi RS with 32,000 original miles and I could beat him by about 2 car lengths at 85 MPH, and I was still pulling away from him. His engine is rated at 170 HP and 245 Ft Lbs of torque, I figure I gained atleast 30 HP to beat him like that. Trust me for the price of the easy do it your self bolt ons like that it is well worth it.

 

Lets see my car has a CAI, polished intake and a 180 thermo thats it and I beat 305TBI's. Soon to add exhaust, headers, cam, mixed ratio rockers 1.5 intake 1.6 exhaust and new springs and thinking of rebuild when I do the cam and lifters then install a hidden under the manifold NOS system. Then I will be challenging the older Z's.

 

I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, and I'm gonna do that to. Money is no object here!!! Get real pal, I'm sure you could beat 5.0 TBI's with around 200,000 miles and a whole bunch of other problems with it. Come to think about it hey what the hell I'm gonna put a stroker kit, an aluminum block, aluminum clylinder heads,100 HP nos kit, buy some headers and drop about $10000 in my 3.1 and maybe I'll beat a 89 Iroc in which the guy only payed 5,000 dollars for. That'll be smart! Just call 1-800 AHHHHHHHHHH for the instructions get real man, you can say it's that easy, but can you really do it!!! NO!!!!! I'm soon to add all the listed above to, yeah that'll be smart!!

 

ALOT OF OUR SUGGESTIONS do equal time & MONEY.
Some of our mod tips are made up from "free" stuff we gather.
Your point is correct, tho.
One can EASILY OVERSPEND & think the reward is a good investment.
That's why I suggest installing a running 3.4 block swap.
I paid $800 for mine, sold the left over parts for $105 on ebay.
I gained 165-170 HP & 200 Foot Pounds of torque, for my return on investment. More to gain with the exhaust work coming up, soon, too.

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Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA

 

what exactly is the "dual snorkle"? I have seen it mentioned before.

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'88 2.8 V6 Sport Coupe
Navy Blue w/ light Grey GFX
'shorty' Rear Wing



cybergarage.cjb.net
stuart69427@aol.com

 

I'm not making a comment about you, I'm just replying to Hunters reply to me. Now I respect your tips, keep them up. Peace, Happy thanksgiving.

 

I was not repling to YOU, I was using your quote to say that I don't have that *hit you wasted your money on to beat a 305TBI, mine does it already with vertually no work. Though I could also probly beat you with the 5 speed. I can beat all the other ones I have raced. And I'm sure your just as much a poser as they were.

 

Hunter...... Let the games begin!!

 

the 5.0 TBI/ auto car a friend of mine had went 17.4 e.t. he put a flowmaster and k/n and went 17.0. my stock '95 3.4v6/stick went 16.9. after the stock replacement k/n 16.5e.t., underdrive pulleys dyno'ed 10.5 additional hp, flowmaster dual outlet, superchips reprogramming it went 16.1 e.t. mine was the first car they did the reprogramming for. it picked up .24 e.t. splitfire plugs didn't improve e.t., but i went from 17 to 23 mpg. two other friends of mine did the same thing. but, in my '91 3.1v6 they didn't do a thing. my friend had the auto 3.4v6. his was .2 slower than mine. we both did the same things to our cars except he bought the hypertech programmer. both cars dyno'ed at superchips produced samew hp and tq numbers.



[This message has been edited by mrr23 (edited November 25, 2001).]

 

SO YOU WOULD ECCOMEND A SUPERCHIP??

 

yes i would. not ADS Superchip. SUPERCHIPS. there are two companies with similar names. my car was the guinea pig for them. when i bought my 3.4 in '95, they hadn't developed one yet. so they asked me if they could use my car and develop one. in return the reprogramming was free to me. mine was the manual car. another friend of mine brought his auto car and they let him dyno for free for the chance to download the program.

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mrrjjdh03@aol.com moderator at www.fl-thirdgen.org

[This message has been edited by mrr23 (edited December 02, 2001).]