I'm looking at picking up this car if the price is right...

What makes the 5L so bad compared to the L98? Heads? Intake? Cam? Is it even worth working on the 305 or should someone just consider doing a swap? Do they make blower kits for the 5L?

 

The heads and cam are the main things. But I wouldn't waste money fixing it up. Just swap in a crate motor for less head aches.

 

Vortec makes a supercharger for the TPI 5 or 5.7 that will add up to 50% more power at 6-8 PSI. It is for 88-92 tpi only for some reason. I saw it at summitracing.com part #VOR-4GF218-O6OS for $3400.
I would think that if you had to rebuild (high mile car) and get a supercharger you would be best just to get a crate 350. I just bought a crate Vortec from SDPC2000.com that comes with 360HP 417ft/lbs and their own TPI Vortec baseplate and HOT CAM KIT for $3700. Its at the shop now. For $1000 less you can get the GM 350 with 330HP 380ft/lbs and a Vortec baseplate and still have good power. Good luck. It looks to me if you pass up this clean convertable you might regret it. Nice car. I'm in envy. I'm looking for a local convertable TPI but no luck. My wifes dad has one he bought new in 90 but will not sell it yet. I guess I will have to wait. Good luck.

 

Depends on witch 5.0 the LO3 TBI I wouldn't mess with it ,but the LB9 TPI 5.0 it,s worth some amont. If you tring to reach high horse power not the way to go .IF you are looking for no more than 400hp it can be done. L03 170hp 255tq LB9 230 hp 300tq L98 350 245hp 345tq the differance is between the LB9 vs L98 they have the same cam ,TPI unit .whats left L98 has more cubes and better heads.

 

in 88 they switched to a full serpentine belt set up instead of the combination v-belt serpentine belt setup

 

right,the only reason they list 88 and up is the belt set up ,but grab a serpentine setup of an newer ride for 100 bucks for your 85-87 tpi and boom,you got a s/c

 

I used to have the 305 TPI mated to a T-5 in my old 88 Formula. It was a very good motor, never caused me any problems, and there is a decent amount of power that you squeeze out of them. My friend just put in a small cam, shorty headers, and a small port job to the heads and he is running low 13s with his 91 Firebird with the 305 TPI.

 

Slap a manual tranny in there and call it a day.

 

The manual tranny swap would probably be more expensive and definitely be more difficult than the 350 swap. The 305 can be fun but I wouldn't recommend breaking into the bottom end or heads really (maybe a home port job on the heads if you are confident enough. http://www.ws6transam.org/ported.html for a walkthrough on how to do this) If I had a 305 and was bent on keeping it, I would get an exhaust upgrade and a 100 shot and call it a day.

 

Manual swap wasn't that hard for us, took 2 days swapping one car from manual to auto and the vice versa on my car, would have taken a day if it didn't start to rain.
Cost is usually around $500 or so for all the parts used, and you should be able to sell the Auto for few hundred.

But exhaust is one thing that really helps out.

 

dont waste money one a 305 imo... start with a 350 and go from there.

 

Thanks guys. Leaning towards a ZZ4 and a whipple kit if i would do a engine swap. We'll see. There are some very cheap third gen's in the current paper shop.

 

I been thinking about buying an L98 F-Body for awhile and dropping in a whipple or Kenne Bell, 3rd gens are so much more forgiving with space under the hood. Would make for a nice sleeper.

 

hell yeah pick that up, thats sweet.

 

Looks like a really low mileage car I'd grab it up fast. The 305 is great when a 100 shot of nitrous is added to the mix. Exhaust mods and a cold air intake and you end up with nearly 500lb-ft of TQ and that helps things move a little better. Otherwise doing a simple 350 swap would make the car much more fun.

Spending 5-6 grand and swapping a RamJet 350 crate engine is probably the easiest thing to do and is what I'd do(plus the 100-150 nitrous setup). It's tiny cam+vortec heads and the simple stand-alone EFI would make it really smooth/driveable and it still make ok power for a non-race car. Add 12 volts and plumb your exsisting fuel lines to it and vroom vroom. Tranny rebuild also for reliabilities sake. A good(2400rpm w/lockup) torque converter/SLP headers/exhaust system and it should stay in front of an SRT8 Jeep without much sweat. Goodluck!