96cam4ro

I just bought one and I'm wondering how to beat those stangs..my 96 would easily eat them for lunch. I don't want my thrid gen to be a slacker. I also have no knowledge whatsover on third gens so enlighten me. Thanks.

lordmetalz28

the only way to beat them in your tbi would be take there tires off at the beginning of the race you still might get beat then. sorry just a joke try some nos and a 383 stroker

CODY BEHNKE

To run with a 94-98 GT I had to do all this to my 1991 Formula TBI 5-Speed


MSD wires, cap, rotor, ign. module
Flowmaster Cat-Back
Catco Converter
Larger TPI Y-Pipe
H.O. Dual Snorkel Air Cleaner w/K&N
Hypertech Chip


My next upgrades were 3.42's and a posi unit but a drunk totalled it before I got the chance to install them.

87DJP2001

Swap in a 350

Greed4Speed

What is a '91 Formula doing with a TBI??? They had TPI at that point.

I agree, ditch that 305. Unless you dump some serious cash into it, it'll never run with a Ford 5.0, and still may not. A 350 will do the trick with few mods it'll out run them. A friend of mine in an 89 Formula (TPI) w/a stock 350 and a flowmaster ran a guy in a 91 Z28 (TPI) w/ 305, ported heads and intake, underdrive pulley, chip, aftermarket exhaust system, and higher gears and beat him by a couple of lengths.

jstcrzyengh

drop in a 350,, why does everyone always have to say that. He wants to know how to make his 305 TBI beat a mustang, not the forged 383 fire breathing monster he could put in

Here's a quick run down of what I would do:

New Heads
Go with vette heads (8113), there lighter, you can run higher compression and they will make some nasty power and you can, after a performance rebuild, have a new set of heads ready to bolt on for around $800.00. Try getting new aluminum heads to flow like that out of the box for that kind of money.

cam
Get rid of that peanut cam, QUICK! Comp cams 2030 or 2032 HR

TBI
Bore out the TBI manifold and TBI so that it is equivalent to the 2" TBI

Open Element
K&N open element and filter

miscellaneous
AFPR - Bump the pressure a bit
Headers, Y pipe, and 3" catback
350 injectors - turbocity.com
3.42 posi gears in the rear
Custom chip
TBIchips.com or wherever.

Do all the work yourself? Save thousands get out the door for less than $1,500.00 if you do it ebay. You will more than hang with the GT's

87DJP2001

For all that work, to take this out and put that in and damm the cost You just rebuilt the whole car from the front to the rear. It would be just as easy to install a 350 and get rid of
305 TBI.

jstcrzyengh

Your kidding right?

Hmmm rip the whole engine out, go buy a whole other engine. Cost factor alone right there is enough to say STOP. Think about all the other things you need like an engine puller, etc... Have someone else do it? Thousands of dollars. All the extra fuel parts you will need to feed the extra 45 cubes. If you build an engine you will have machine and part costs, you buy someone's else engine, you buy someones elses headache, you buy a ready made engine you buy a lot $$$$. Cost to dollar is just not realistic if all you want to do is beat up on a stock 94 GT.

58cc 305 heads will not be good for a 350, unless they are vette heads which can take the other higher compression because they are aluminum. So you will need new heads. Can't get stockers to beat up on a mustang you will need AFR's BIG $$$$ Still going to use the same injectors for that 350 that you did with that 305? I don't think so. Same injection system? Nah, you will probably need TPI or better yet SuperRam, big $$$$

If you want to make over 306hp go get yourself a 350, but build it right. not some autozone special. 310hp in a 350 is easy. I've seen street driven 500hp beasts get 20mpg.

If you need 305hp or less just build the 305. 1:1 ratio is easy in a 305, though it can start getting really hard once you go past that. Heck supercharge it and be in the low 12's. There is a guy I believe in the 11's on a daily driven supercharged 305.

Now if you need to put in some new pistons and do a rebuild.... That is probably a different story.

96cam4ro

My knowledge is limited to doing a cam swap on a fourth gen. Anything beyond that (i.e. tranny rebuild or stroker building) is beyond my capabilities right now unless I have a mentor.

I'd like to keep it just bolt-ons because I plan to do an LS1 + 4L60E swap when this motor quits.

I have heard that the TPI cat-backs work for the TBI's too.

I'm planning: Pulleys, Chip, Catback, deleted cat, headers and K&N filter. Hopefully I'll have enough.

What do you guys think? Those GT's are making about 189 RWHP but they are heavy. I have a stripped RS model with just A/C.

CODY BEHNKE

Some people don't know much about 3rd gens do they?

TBI was standard in all 1988-1992 Formulas and 1988-1990 IROCS.

jstcrzyengh

Cam swap should be easiero n a thirdgen than a 4th gen just from what I remember.

but the 305 TBI comes stock with 170hp, so wont be too hard. I would still go with a cam swap, and if your not going to go with new heads, at least port and polish your current heads. I can give you all the resources for that if you would like. There are some guys seeing 25hp gains on porting the stock heads. definetly port up the intake manifold and TBI, get some new injectors and a TBI injector pod spacer. You will be beating up on GT's. They'll think you have a 350

The 305 TBI was also in the RS and SC models. It was the base model for many cars. They should of made the lb9 base model but hey live and learn

stanghunter211

It shouldn't be that hard, 4.6 GT's dyno at around 170 rwhp stock.... So I am guessing some good bolt ons, a good tune, and some sticky tires would have yo rnning with them.... I would also get some better air flow by way of a dual snorkel air cleaner..... Best of luck. It shouldn't be that hard

Will

Greed4Speed

I was using what is referred to as sarcasm. I have never understood why people will buy cars new that supposedly are the performance model (ex. Formula, Iroc, Z28) and get a lesser "base" engine. I don't know why they even offered that as an option. If they want to offer an F-body with a base engine sell it as a Camaro LT, Berlinetta, or Firebird not a Z28, Formula, or Iroc with that engine. Thats the way they did it before the 3rd Gen. There were no Z28's or SS's with a 307.

Also a 350 conversion isn't THAT difficult. Come on, an engine hoist is a rental item ~ $20/day, and you can pick up a complete low milage running TPI 350 for around $1000-1500 and it may even have the aluminum heads too. That cuts out having to buy new injectors and everything else that was brought up. The PCM isn't that expensive either.

As for having to pay someone else do it, how much do you think that someone else would charge to change heads and cam out for ya? That isn't cheap either, not to mention it'll require a complete gasket set. If you can do a head and cam change on your own, you can change an engine on your own. Just get a good manual and have at it.

Why does everyone say get rid of the 305 for a 350? Because as shown in my previous post, you can dump a lot of $ in a 305 and still not run as fast as a stock 350. Usually if the Mustang is stock they don't race. They're like the F-body drivers, if you race you mod. I'm in the market for a newer car and I've seen more stock f-bodies than Stangs and more Stangs with more mods. Granted they need more to compete with the LS1.

If you're going to do a swap in the future, save your $ to get it done quicker. Why spend $ on a car that will be at best a 15 sec car. It's like my wife's Grand Am GT. Sure I can dump money into it with bolt ons, it'll only be a low 15 second car. I could dump more for a supercharge and it would only be a low 14 second car. If I'm going that route I want something that'll run low 12's at least.

If the 305 is 170 hp that is at the flywheel ( the GAGT mentioned above is rated at 180 hp and 205 lb/ft), the new Stangs are rated at 260hp and 302 lb/ft. That is where the 305 gets spanked is in the lack of torque.

Beast5spdGTA

At best a 15 sec car? LOL, You have to be kidding me right? With the stock cam, heads, intake manifold, TBI, JUST BOLT-ONS I ran 14.7s @ 93 mph in a full weight (3500+lbs) TBI car. It dynoed 178 rwhp from 3900-4900 rpm and 271 rwtq at 2800 rpm.

With a free L98 cam and $50 intake manifold, the car ran 14.48 @ 96.28 mph with very little tuning (~5-10 chips burned). Hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll go to the dyno and see what it puts down with the L98 cam.

Here's the break down:

TPI 3" cat headers and 3" cat-back. (headers gave me .6 sec and 5 mph in the 1/4)
3.73 gears and posi
K & N filter in stock airbox (Heat stove/valve removed)
Timing at 7*
180* T-stat

This gave me high 14s and the above dyno numbers

Also have now 1.6RR, springs/retainers, L98 cam, edelbrock preformer intake manifold, and custom burned chip by myself. Car ran mid 14's last time at the track.

Mid 14s is faster than a lot of stock 350 TPIs and faster than most close to stock SN95 mustangs 94-98 GTs (The TBI car for FORD)

Beast5spdGTA

Dyno graphs

Mods vs. 1/4 timeslips and price break down