fastfbody

iTrader: (4)

hello everyone. i just picked up a 1990 irocz L98 350 tpi for a street/strip car

i have the following modds.

sportsmen 2 heads with 1.6 rockers and 2.02 blah blah.full exaust,267 comp cam,accel lower intake,2200 rpm corvette converter(soon to be 2800 rpm vig).i think the tpi set up is holding the car back untuned she runs low low 13s all day and has busted a 12.9

im really wanting a stealth ram .but i wanted to check if there was a better choice to go with my modds.like a mini ram or a 1st intake.

Air_Adam

TPI is definitely holding that engine back... with 200cc heads, a good exhaust system and a reasonably big cam like yours, it wants to rev - TPI will keep it from doing so.

thrilla135

i had those exact heads on stock bottom end 400 and almost the same cam....with that size cam and the converter a performer rpm ]is a really good intake....i had victor jr on mine...switched over to rpm and picked up 60ft in the quarter mile and almost a full tenth at the top end

fastfbody

iTrader: (4)

im not going carbed.im looking for a stealth ram.

SpitotRs305

go carbed you would like it more...

fastfbody

iTrader: (4)

if i wanted a carbed car. i would have got one. there always cheaper then efi cars .wonder why.

Air_Adam

Cheaper because they are mechanically simpler and have been around longer. The fastest cars in drag racing still use carbs, and thats on cars that cost more to build than many houses.

That said, if you do wnt to keep EFI thats fine, but theres no need to bash the carb guys.

84z28350

Haha, no need to go overboard. It was merely a suggestion!

Air_adam is right, if your looking for pure performance carb is still a very good way to go, especially for the simplicity and cost savings.

But hey, its your car. If you want a stealthram, go get it!

BadSS

I was running in the 13.0 - 12.9 range myself feathering the throttle with slicks and a 3000 stall with the stock suspension and ported stock TPI base and SLP runners - violent throttle response.

I swapped to the StealthRam and all I had to do was put heat in the slicks and floorboard it. It moved the shift points from 5500/5300 to 6400/6200 and dropped the ETs to low 12.6s in the same heat, 12.3s in cool weather. Throttle response was OK, but it was definitely down a good bit to the modified TPI. About the same as it would be with a big dual plane and annular discharge carb,,, which was OK. It also could hook actually hook decently on the street with the 245/45/zr17s,,, something that was impossible to do with the old modified TPI system.

I moved from the StealthRam to a box stock FIRST and the ETs were near identical. It shifts at 5800/5600,,, throttle response is not quite as good as the modified TPI/SLP combination,,, but much better than the StealthRam. The FIRST put back a lot of the fun factor in daily driving that I missed with the StealthRam. It's harder to launch at the track,,, but once I figured out where and how to launch it,, the 60ft picked up .1 seconds. 1/4 mile ET was the same,,, but mph drop about 1.5mph.

I'm running 3.23 gears,,, and I'm sure 3.73s would have picked up the Stealthram .15 seconds or so and would make launching the FIRST even more tactful. However, most of my lauch problem with the TPI type systems is due to the 3000 stall putting most of the torque multiplication right there at the begining of the torque boost from the runner length.

Saying all this,,, if I didn't drive the car a lot on the street and mainly raced it,,, hands down the StealthRam would be the best fit,,, I'd just throw more gear at MY car and call it a day. Since I do more street driving than racing,,, and didn't want to increase the gear ratio and the FIRST is a much better fit FOR ME. In your case,,, if you don't want to increase the stall speed on the converter and don't see going bigger with the cam or heads (porting later),,,, I'd recommend the FIRST. If you see yourself getting the heads ported,,, changing cams,, and buying a higher stall speed converter in the near future,,, I'd recommend the StealthRam for you. While the FIRST can supply 500 horse with a minor porting (more with major porting),,, the StealthRam can do that and more right out of the box.

sqzbox

BURN THE FRIGGIN' WITCH !!!!!! IT ONLY WORKS ON BROOMS!!!!

fastfbody

iTrader: (4)

easy big fella. i dont like buying efi cars to trun them to carbs . i have had a 70 442 455 big blockcarb and a 1970 chevelle i just sold also carb. my 1st car was a 1970 c10 pick up yep carbed. not bashing.just saying my efi cars stay efi.im not going to get into a carb vs efi war. theres no real winner.i been working with carbs for a long time.i just like a race car that gets 20mpg lol.

Air_Adam

Sorry if I came off a bit brash... just seemed at the time like you got on the offensive when someone suggested a carb swap - nothing personal

Anyway, If you do want to keep EFI, there are a few routes you can go. One that seems to have gotten popular in the last couple years is to use a carb manifold and a 4-barrel throttle body, and a set of rails and injectors - very much like the factory TBI setup, but better.

The advantage to doing it this way, is that it uses alot of parts initially designed for use with a carb - like the manifolds, air cleaners, bracketry, etc etc... so its all relatively cheap, but because of the huge variety of parts out there designed for different applications (manifolds in particular) its very easy to tailor the setup to do exactly what you want, and not totally break the bank. A typical carb manifold costs between $120-170, whereas you can't even touch a good aftermarket EFI manifold like the miniram or other LT1 style intake, for that price. Its also easier to use off the shelf ignition systems like what MSD offers too, because you only have to deal with the space requirements of a carb, whereas some purpose built EFI manifolds may or may not have provisions for a 'normal' distributor.