Hey guys. I've been saving up a lot of money recently and I'm at the point where I can afford a couple Camaros that I like around the area. I really want one with a 350 TPI in it, but they seem hard to come by around me, and the ones I have seen are going for 5-7 grand. There are a lot of Automatic 305 TPI Camaros for sale though, and they are in real good shape for around $2500-$4000.
I looked around the site for while and couldn't really find the answers to my Q's. Is a lot required to get a 305 TPI Camaro to do, say, 0-60 in 6 seconds? And, do the auto 305's come with less hp than the Manual ones for each year? I've read so much from different sites about how the horsepower ratings and options varied so much between 88-92 that it's got my all freaking confused
But as long as I could get it to that point, or even faster, with like mainly external engine mods, I would go ahead and buy one that I liked. I guess I'll stop here and get your all's input and go from there on this question

 

Hey, and welcome to the forums. Good choice of a car to look for. IMO the TPI is the best engine when it comes to power/economy, and it kind of sounds like youd want this for a daily driver.

As for a 305 doing 0-60...it does between 6-7 seconds factory, so you are already pretty much there. I would say a 350 would hit closer to the 6 second mark.

The 305's with a manual transmission will have slightly more horsepower at the wheels due to less of a loss of power in the drivetrain. It is usually general rule of thumb to take 20% horsepower away from the crank numbers from an automatic and 15% horsepower away from the crank numbers from a manual transmission.

But basically in a nutshell, what you are looking to do is pretty damn easy, with a few bolt ons in a 350, you'd get into the 5 second range in the 0-60. Same is said for a 305, but it might take a bit more. You would greatly benefit from headers, Y-Pipe and a catback system from Flowmaster or Hooker. That right there will yeild you about 30 horses (and maybe more)

Also, check out this link: www.thirdgen.org There is an insane amount of things you can learn from that website. Check out the link entitled "Tech Data" on the left side and that will give you ALL information from Trans Ams, Firebirds, and Camaros from 82-92 you may be looking for. If you have any more questions, feel free to post them up, and good luck finding your Camaro

 

I have 91' Z-28 5.7 TPI, If I was to get another camaro, I would look for a 90'-92' Iroc-z or Z-28 Manual 5.0L and rear disk brakes. reason being, Manual has better rear gears and more fun to drive(my opinion). Manual transmissions are weak, they couldn't take the 350's torque. I think it would be a good future project to swap a 350 and beef of the T5 transmission.

 

Welcome to the site to Jimmy,and good luck finding your Camaro.
Another good site is www.f-bodyhideout.com ....good people there.

You wont find a '91 or '92 IROC b/c they werent made after 1990 when GM lost the IROC license.

 

thats why he said IROC-Z or Z-28.........90 IROC is rare, but 90-92 Z-28 isn't

 

They kind of are, look at the production figures on www.thirdgen.org. Only a total of about 20k Z28s were made from 91-92. And about the manual vs auto 305 thing, yes the manual usually came with a bigger cam that resulted in more hp. The cam in 305/autos is referred to as the "peanut cam". Some years you could have the peanut cam in some T5 equipped cars, I think those years you had to have the G92 option to not get the peanut cam. For thsoe reasons I'd avoid 305/autos.

 

The links helped out a lot! It looks like it wouldn't be hard at all to achieve the times and speed I'd want with a 305. Thanks for the help guys!

 

90 IROC here . I believe about some 5,000 were produced.

 

The stock cam in ANY year f-body is "weak" by most standards; ANY 305 came with the fabled peanut cam not just the auto's. A cam upgrade in a third-gen would be most generous in the power department

 

http://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/tech/techdb.shtml

Scroll down to the camshaft data part, it is damn near the bottom. In 1985 the 305 TPI auto got the L69 cam, and would be the biggest cam the 305 TPI auto would ever get. In 1986 it got the peanut cam and in 1987 the 350 made its debut and shared its cam with the 305 TPI 5 speed. 1988-1989 the cam specs changed again, but the 350 TPI and 305 TPI 5 speed still shared the same cam. 1990-1992 the 305s had the same cam, but a G92 equipped 305 5 speed TPI got the 350 cam once again.

 

The best thing IMO to do is find a manual 305 tpi no matter what year it is. My first camaro was a 5-speed and after driving that you won't wanna 700r4 junk tranny.

 

700r4 = junk? Are you kidding me? Those things are tanks my friend. TCI doesnt sell them brand new $1,500 for nothing. I really hope you are just being sarcastic and using the 700r4 as model of your preference of manual to automatic. I know manuals are more fun to drive than automatic at times but that certainly does not mean it is junk. Get your facts straight buddy.

 

where are you located?

 

Every camaro i have drove or I know who owns one between 86-92 all have had probs with them. I can light up a cigarette and smoke it before those junk trannys shift. I though hmmm maybe it might be the wear and tear on mine but when more than a handful of people I know have the same problem its obviously not what u want to have. IMO like I said a manual is the best route to go.

 

The autos were never designed to shift like a race car. Is it going to take some time stock? Yes. You can easily pep up an 700R4 with a shift kit, even with little-avg. mechanical ability. As for the shift points, they too can be changed, but that is more in depth. As you go on, add a tranny cooler and a higher stall torque converter as you modify the car more.

Can a 5 spd car be more fun? Of course. At the same time, I grenaded at least 3 t5s in third gens.