macneilbibi

I have recently bought a 1988 Pontiac Firebird formula, 305 TPI 5 speed, no rust, (which is hard to find in northern Wisconsin) i bought it for 500 bucks from my aunt, it sat for about 5 years. i had it dyno'd at the local car show, stock it ran 188hp and 258tq at the wheels, in 96 degree heat. im looking to get a little more out of the little 305, i know a 350 would be better but i don't have one and the 305 is what i got. i was looking a getting Edelbrock performer corvette heads, and a mild cam, and some SLP runners, need sum suggestions. mostly truck guys around my area so there not much help in the TPI department, thanks for your time.

knight123

iTrader: (4)

500 bucks for that car in the pic is a good price if it has no rust. Search this board for posts, there are many many suggestions on what to do with the 305 from minor things like removing the screens in the maf and adding a good exhaust to adj fuel reg to all out heads, cam etc.

this was a good score for you! enjoy the car and from what I've seen / found on this board there are many things people have done already to these cars and you can read and not make the same mistakes they made! posts go back to 2001 and thousands of people have modded these cars here. Your second score was joining this board and the all the collected knowledge posted here as well as a great bunch of people who usually always want to help!

plus it good to see someone else with a common bird to my own....

Rolling Thunder

Well what are your goals? I think you should forgo replacing the runners there really not bad on a 5.0 unless you get really crazy with it. Heads too if your goals are not crazy they would probably work ok too especially if you were willing to clean them up a bit. The big failure is the cam, replace that and you will be pleased with how much better it does. May also want to to a little port work to the TPI base.

macneilbibi

im looking to get has much power as i can with out redoing the internals, but still have good daily driver. be nice to keep up with ls1's Camaro's/Firebird's and blot on mustangs. but that might be hard goal to reach. 240hp to 250hp at the wheels, 300+ for toque. the vale seals are shot, blows blue smoke now and then and up in the higher temps if i sit in one place for a while. but other than that good running car.

Doom86

What is your budget?

If you want to build a great running motor you build it around the heads.

Trick Flow Super 23 175cc heads are probably the best "off the shelf" head you can get for a 305.

If the intake cannot flow 245cfm per runner these heads will be a waste though.

Before you get any serious responses your budget needs to be known.

macneilbibi

1800 to 2000

Doom86

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TFS-30300005/

Those are the heads I was talking about. There's a TGO member that just recently built a 305 with those heads and a HSR intake and it sounds pretty damn impressive from what he's saying.

You also need to budget in headers and exhaust because the factory parts restrict the factory motor so imagine what it would do to a 350hp motor.

Budget in 700-1000$ for headers/exhaust. Shop around though you find some good deals sometimes. If the car is something want to keep I would invest in Hooker 2055 headers and Y-pipe with a stainless magnaflow cat and exhaust.

If you have to buy the headers and exhaust out of that budget I would go with cheaper heads, Vortecs are perfect for this. The price for these vary since they are stock castings you can find them for cheap if you are lucky. Expect to spend 500-600$ at least with buying and machining. You can find aftermarket Vortecs for around that ready to go, sorry don't have any links off hand.

Once you've decided on the heads you can start looking at other parts too. I only mention the exhaust because it's a "given" unless you are going with a turbo.

concept225

Hey macneilbibi im in the same boat as you (car actually)..i also got a 88 305 tpi 5 speed and im also trying to add some extra power on a budget..only thing i have done was shorty headers and full exhaust and i love it. i been doing alot of research and i also hear many good things bout vortec heads on our cars i just dont know if i got the money or time for it. some upgrades i wanted to do were cam, roller rockers(looks like 1.6 is popular tho idk what it means), adjustable fuel pressure regulator, ported intake(base runners plenum) and custom chip. Nothing crazy but some thoughts on it would be nice. Idk nething about rockers or cam numbers tho so if anybody can throw some suggestions for some low end power daily driver cams that would be nice. hope i didnt hijack the thread

sack23

iTrader: (2)

Hello guys,
I’m currently also working on 305 M5 (1989). Here are a couple of things I have done so far.
1. Shorty headers
2. Msd 6A, Msd Cap/rotor & coil
3. Bosh III injectors same as stock 19’s
4. 1.6 roller rockers.
5. AFPR. (@50)
This is the second LB9 I own. The first one I installed the same as above but instead of the roller rockers I put on a ported base, runners and a TB and I did not have the results that I got now. It also cost more money. In my situation this is probably as far as I’m going for now b/c my o2 sensor is reading .750 at WOT and I don’t want to raise the fuel pressure more nor get into prom programming. The car is notably running stronger it idles great. I think this is a good combo for the results I got. The work to install the parts was not bad at all, and I was able to get the parts use for about $600.
Hope this helps.