Camaro Man 02

I have a 1987 Camaro IROC-Z 305 TPI, what would be the best bang-for-your-buck modifications for a 305 tpi. i already have ordered exhaust, but what else would there be?

StringRust

iTrader: (2)

Heads and cam? can be a bit pricey however. and you would have to have the ECM set to match the mods. Im just waiting for the "dont waste your money on a 305 and get a 350" response from the stuck up kid who knows nothing remotely mechanical, they just have mommy and daddy buy them whatever they want. I get tired of hearing it everytime I ask advice on my 305. haha anyway no more ranting!
http://www.popularhotrodding.com/eng...cks/index.html

Stekman

Is headers part of the ordered exhaust?

Camaro Man 02

no just catback

Camaro Man 02

i was thinking of headers, i was thinking of some slp 1 5/8 headers. but those can be a bit pricey. plus i have to have a shop do everything cuz im only 17 and dont know how to work on cars yet.

LB9Iroc87

dont buy the SLP's there way overpriced, good stuff but way high. Go with a set of hookers or flowtechs, and the only way your gona learn is to do it yourself, what part of Indiana are you from, i live in Owensboro, Kentucky. On the border

Camaro Man 02

i live in valparaiso

Camaro Man 02

what would be the best size headers and cheap ones. the outlet has to be 2.5 in., cuz its still stock.

LB9Iroc87

if your looking to hook up to a stock y-pipe im not sure, but i have a set of coated FlowTech's and their great, just over 250 dollars from summit, but they dont have the air injection tubes.

LB9Iroc87

your about 6 hours from me but welcome to the board bud

Camaro Man 02

Is the air injection tube necesary

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

If you need all of your emissions stuff then I suggest the following:

For headers I would suggest Hooker 2055 shorties. They are emissions 50-state legal. They are also pretty much the board consensus as the best shorty headers you can get. And they'll bolt up to your factory exhaust.

I personally would do Headers, 3" catback, then suspension upgrades. Having your car handle better will make it a little faster as well as "feel" faster. From there, keeping with the 305, i would suggest the World Products Torquer SR heads. They are specifically designed for the 305 motor with the 58cc heads and come with 1.94 intake and 1.5 exhaust ports. World does specify 30hp gain over stock heads...though that's not hard to do with some porting and polishing of your stock heads. Edelbrock performer intake (better than stock and still fits under the hood) and a new cam...A Lunati Voodoo Cam Summit # 60102 is a pretty good upgrade from stock while still being 100% emissions street legal.

If you don't need emissions...then the sky's the limit!

Camaro Man 02

how much would all of that add up to money wise, minus the catback exhaust cuz im getting that wednesday.

Camaro Man 02

plus i dont plan to do do much to my car. i want to keep most of it original and make it back to original if i do mods. i plan on buying a low mileage 2001 camaro ss when i graduate. i want to save some money for that.

Camaro Man 02

and are shortys better than long tubes

Mitch91Z28

Technically no short tubes are not "better" than long tubes. Shorties are a huge improvement over stock manifolds though, anything is better than those old log shaped manifolds

LB9Iroc87

longtubes are better for certain application's it depends on what youll be doing.

Z2EIGHT

Go with a complete exhaust, that'll wake the car up and make it sound great.

SLP makes good stuff, but value wise....look elsewhere.

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

THe headers, run $450 or so uncoated. Add $200 to get them coated. These are probably one of the biggest performance mods you'll get outside of actually doing some engine work.

The heads run $800 or so for the set assembled. Good investment IMHO, but if you want to keep your stock heads you can port/polish them and have 1.94 intake valves installed...then you are running just about the same as these heads for maybe a little less in cost.

The cam is about $150 to $250 depending on which you get. If you get the kit which I recommend that comes with the Cam and lifters, it's in the $250 neighborhood.

The Performer intake runs about $160.00 or so.


The suspension mods...depends on what you want to do. Simple Swaybars will set you back about $350 for front and rear, a complete set up including new springs, polyurethane bushings, sway bars, sub-frame connectors and all will run $1200ish for parts, not including the labor to install unless you do it yourself.


All of these prices are from summit racing but you can also get alot of them from the sponsors here in the web site such as Hawks or Spohn (recommend for suspention parts).

Hope this helps!

LB9Iroc87

800 dollars for heads is good but you dont have to get aluminum, you can make a set of iron heads flow nearly as good as aluminum, ex. Dart Iron Eagle's

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

I wasn't talking about aluminum but I was talking about a fully assembled "Set" of heads. Unless you're buying chevy Vortec heads which, so far as I'm aware, don't come in 58cc combustion chambers needed for the 305 engines, you're choices are somewhat limited. The 65cc heads found on alot of 350's will work, you're just losing alot of compression.

Here are the heads I was referring to. I was actually conservative as they are centerbolt like the ones you have and run just about $530 a piece fully assembled.

World Products SR Heads for Chevy 305

Now, if you're willing to get a vortec intake, set of vortec heads and make up for the compression loss you will get by going with a bigger head, the Vortec's are cheaper and based on flow charts are probably the best production head ever made by a company and run $310 assembled for "1"....so just over $600 for the set.

Assembled L31 Vortec Chevy 64cc Heads

Now, here's the kicker. You say you don't want emissions, that's not what I asked. I asked if you "need" emissions? I.E. Is your state going to start doing emissions testing or does it already do emissions testing? If it is, you're going to be required to put back all your emissions stuff that you take out or they won't pass your car and you won't be able to get tags for it. Now, if you are in a place that you don't need emissions, then by all means, take it out and gain the extra 10-20hp or so you'll get by taking it out.

Travo

I graduated from Wheeler HS, the best mod for any TPI engine is an intake intake. We exhaust and a K&N air filter but a cam or 1.6 ratio rockers throttle body etc etc all the standard stuff but you will never rev past 4grand and make power without changing the intake to a shorter runner design. Accell, TPIS,Holley anything a ram jet intake anything that ditches the long runners. Period ditch the TPI intake

BadSS

Congrats on the graduation. I take it English wasn't your strongest subject? Just an FYI, this question was asked 14 years ago.