I have had a 89 formula 350 for about a year now and i am beggining to get bored with the power. The only mods i have done have been a K&N air filter yeilding probably no hp gain, a hyper what ever chip yeilding probably no hp gain and a a flowmaster exhaust system which might have gotten me 5 hp. I was wondering if it would be better to get a hi-flo intake manifold from edelbrock and slp runners or if it would be better to get edelbrock tes hedders or something i have not even thought of. I would also like to know what actual hp gains I would be able to get. Like I said I want to keep the car reliable since i am a college student and this car is the only way for me to get to work and school. Thanks for any help

 

Is it in need of a tuneup or anything? Do any fluids or filters need changing? I would check all that first. You can do headers and find a EGR acceptable Intake Manifold to stay emissions legal [if you need too] and then maybe move on to an Underdrive Crank Pulley. That will give you a little more torque and throttle response.

 

Personally, I would lean towards the headers, they are a great starting mod. to add some extra hp/tq. to your car. Also, is the car still an auto.? If so, a shift kit and converter are good upgrades to wake up the tranny and maybe also some better gears for the rearend as well. These mods. will require a little more tech know-how to do but they will yield some good improvements as well and not sacrifice reliability.

 

I had the car tuned up 6 months ago so that should be fine. Funny you ask about the fluid. I lost a freeze plug 2 weeks ago got it fixed and lost another. So im getting the engine taken out and replacing the other plugs. Also im getting the heads ported out some. So after this the fluid should also be fine. Do you have any estimates on how much hp headers should make compared to a high flo intake manifold and slp runners.

 

your question cant be answered unless you advise what u want to spend and what your mechanical limitations are.i.e. can you install headers?do you have aplace to install or do you have to pay to have it done..all effects budgets.then well talk

 

My money limitation is around 1000 for everything including install. I do know of a few shops that can basically get anything thing done and the engine will be out of the car probably sometime this weekend for the freeze plug incident and the porting of heads. As for reliability it needs to be able to stay a daily driver and i really do not want to have to put up with exhaust leaks from headers which i heard happens often but i dont know how true this information is. For the most part i just want the biggest bang for the buck and i really do not want to have to put up with a bad idle from a cam.

 

Scoggin Dickey has a head intake combo for the TPI motor. It is part #SD8060RATPI for $1269.95. It comes with all gaskets and bolts needed. This kit changes you over to Vortec heads and matching intake. It is a direct bolt-on. Their web address is SDPC2000.com This should give you a good 50HP increase.

 

I just looked at the site it sounds like a great deal except it says you have to also get headers so that the EGR works properly. It is a little out of the price range too but later on i will have to look into it. Right know i want to stay under 1000 for parts and labor.

 

headers and a good cat back system seems lik the best bang for your buck considering your limits.they wont leak if 1,u get good gaskets,not just the cheapos from autozone,and 2,if your really concerend get bolt locks for them so they wont come loose..you wont get leaks.if you get the headers with the stock style y pipe hook up they wont leak...look at it this way,2 things you want and need to do before you do mods,get air in and out as freely and quickly as possible,thats why they have the cold air intake and new high flow manifolds and ported heads and free flowing exhaust.these are the mods you want to do to get the most benefit and the most benefits from additional mods..tak eyour heads for example,if you just bolted a great set of heads to a stock engine you wont see much of an increase at all......heck heads dont add much more than 40-60 hp on a built engine,so your increase on a stock engine would be much less and youd be disappionted for the cost. headers and cat back will give yuou everythign u want and a good start,stock idle char,better nileage,no hassles if done right,mor epower that youll notice.....and when you do go to a new intake and heads in the future your increase will be that much more

 

Well, I agree with these guys that your first step is to get the car breathing better. Do exhaust first however. If you can't efficiently get rid of what you are stuffing in your engine, you wont see much of a horsepower gain. For a low budget build, I would suggest a pair of summit shorty headers for 86$ to start. Then go with a flowmaster cat back or something similar.

As for intake, I wouldn't go too too crazy here. There is a tech article on thirdgen.org Here that claims a hp boost and extended rpm range with SLP runners that have been siamesed and ported along with the stock plenum that has been ported and siamesed to match. The porting should gain a few HP and that part is free if you have the tools. The next step I believe would be going to a ram air setup and that will cost you a pretty penny (which you dont have apparently). One word in my opinion about things like the throttle body airfoil that run about 45$ on summit...dont go for it. According to desktop dyno and much stipulation on the internet, it will only gain you about a half of a horsepower. I entered in the cfm airflow stock, and after the air foil, and there was zero increase across the board. It does increase cfm, but not enough to give you noticeable power. Now, I don't know how accurate this program is, but I was able to get the stock 1990 Camaro setting down pretty accurate, and then used that to work off of as to what I have now and it seeems right. Bottomline...spend that 45$ elsewhere.

Another thing you can do that is pretty much free and I have seen dyno sheets for on a stock TPI for a 5hp 7ft/lbs increase is a throttle body bypass modification. It's easy and can be done for $3. All you need is a hose coupler and some clamps. That article is here Coolant Bypass Along with that you can cut out your airboxes to lead up to the air filters. That will give maybe 1-2hp...but hey, it's free right? Also, don't drive with lot's of crap in your car, that leads to decreased power and poor mileage. This usually doesn't apply, but for a while I had a subwoofer system (50lbs, previous owner ) and a jack and jackstands amongst other crap piling up, and boy, when I took that crap out, there was a GREAT difference in throttle response. That just about covers the free modifications you can make.

After that, I would consider a beefier cam maybe. You'll lose a little mileage, so that Idea is up to you. Do alooooot of research beforehand and give Comp Cams a call and have them give you some advice. Other than that, there isn't too much you can do that won't sacrifice mileage and is cheap. A gear swap was mentioned before, and you can get 3.42's for a 1-2 mileage decrease, but thats going to cost alot to have done, unless you do it yourself, but it is a REAL precision job. Underdrive pulleys might get you a 10hp gain.

Hoped this helped you out some. Basically, this is identical to what I did and what I will be doing down the line as I am also a College student with a IrocZ as a daily driver, so I feel your pain man

 

if you do end up getting headers i would suggest staying away from the Edelbrock TES headers. They do a decent job for the money although it makes spark plugs #1, 6, and 8 almost impossible to change without some creative maneuvering. I know there isn't a lot of plug clearance to begin with for headers but there are ones with much better clearance than the TES.

locking header bolts are a godsend!!! I got the set from stage 8 and they are well worth it. kinda tricky to get them on the first time, but once they are on the bolts will not loosen.

I used to use exhaust manifold gaskets on my headers. It was a set of 6 gaskets, 4 single ports, and 2 double ports. These worked out much better than like 10 other gaskets i used because of the individual pieces instead of one long gasket that can get bent and kinked when its getting hot and cold all the time.

So there, in a nutshell, is what you need to have headers that don't leak. I would say do it while you have the engine out cause if you go with long tubes there is almost no chance of just sliding those in. After that get a good catback and maybe some cutouts for fun

 

thanks for all the help

 

I got two freebee the air filter housing is restrictive.Take out of the car and cut a window in it on the side away from the motor so it gets cooler air .Make sure you clean and oil that k&n filter.If it,s dirty and you get the recharge kit you will notice the differnce.Number two there is a coolant line that runs threw the throttle body loop it.If you are looking to buy some thing headers would be the to go.

 

Headers are good, but you'll be limited in the power you can make until you get an intake that flows better than the TPI. If emissions aren't a concern, the best "bang for the buck" is the Holley StealthRam, otherwise you're stuck with one of the "Long Tube Runner" (LTR) intakes. Unfortunately, there are no "inexpensive" TPI intake choices.

If you *do* go with an LTR intake, you might consider this - Scoggin-Dickey offers a high-flow intake base that's made to match up with Vortec heads. (Vortec heads are the all-time best bang for the buck when it comes to heads!) The intake & heads together should come in right around your $1000 budget.

Once you have a little more cash saved up, you can get a decent set of headers (I've not heard great things about the TES headers, but YMMV) like maybe MAC or Hookers, & *REALLY* enjoy your car!

Good luck!

 

i have herd about this coolant thing before but i have no clue where it is what it is or if it could hurt the car in anyway could you please help me out. Could some one also explain the steath ram thing to me too. I have seen it in summit and it seems like a great deal $500 or so with the fuel rails for what they say is a 20hp gain. Would i need to get anything else to make it work like a reworked computer chip, would it have ok hood clearance, would it bolt up ok to the weird tpi heads, and why would my car no longer be emission legeal. Thax once again