OneFreakZ

hey wassup guys a little help here.. i just bought this 89 camaro RS it has the 305ci V8 everything is stock no mods..my question is what are the best mods or most popular mods for this type of engines it can be anything you guys can help me with..Any advise??...thanks

Black305RS

go to www.thirdgen.org and look up the ultimate throttle body parts 1 2 and 3 under tech articles
than do a search for helix power stacks and find the one for the gmc jimmy its about 100 dollers after that get a pro flo open air element air filter about 25 at autozone finally go to http://www.tbichips.com/ and email this guy hell reprogram you prom so itll get more power i recomend going to a junkyard and removing one buy it so your not down a car while hes reprograming your chip

89Vert

underdrive pulleys are good,

but I recommend a TPI swap

Black305RS

never mind there is no ultimate throttle body part 3
i did this and upped my gas milege form a little over 18 a tank to 240 a tank(not including the chip though) aswell as got more power or at least i think i did.

GhostZ28

Well, in ANY car your first two things should be to free up your air intake and your exhaust out. An engine that breathes well makes power. Slap on some intake work, then dual out the exhaust with some good long tube headers.

Or for a bang for the buck, buy a bigger/newer engine. (you car can make great power, but it just takes more work and money)

OneFreakZ

very cool guys thanks for the web site and your help..like i said anything will help..thanks

Nate86

You haven't told us what form of induction your engine has. It's either TBI or TPI since it's a stock '89, but either form of induction has its intricacies that determine how to get more power out of the engine.

First thing you need to know is that the exhaust on all of these cars from the factory are horribly restrictive. Before you start doing other mods to get more horsepower, you need to replace the entire exhaust from the heads to the street--it's an absolutely essential upgrade that can be done in a weekend and won't cost a fortune. For about $900 (give or take depending on taxes and shipping), you can replace the old low performance cast iron manifolds with Hooker 2055 shorty headers (which includes a 3" y-pipe), and replace the crappy stock catalytic convertor with a high flow 3" in/out Catco 9118 model, and finally replace the suffocating stock catback with a 3" Hooker 16823 catback. This setup will perform very well for what you'll be working with and the exhaust should last for serveral years at the very least so you won't have to upgrade again unless you want to.

Once you get that out of the way, you're going to need to learn how to tune your car via the PROM and how to burn chips that work with the ECM that controls various sensors on the car. Don't take the easy route and pay a company for a generic chip--they are usually nothing more but the same exact stock chip with a slightly more aggressive timing curve... hardly worth the $100-$250 that you will pay for it. Here is a thread that proves it. Don't have someone burn your chip for you, either. Unless they have driven your car and logged data to a laptop, reviewed the data and burned a new chip based on that data, they're not going to know how their changes in the tuning affect your car. Every car is different in that respect, and every car will need a different tuning to run with maximum efficiency. Thus, you must learn how to burn your own chips if you ever plan on getting a lot of horsepower out of this setup. It's fairly inexpensive and not very hard once you learn the basics. Thirdgen.org has a vast database of information on how to do it and what to modify, so I'll let you research that for yourself. Just remember that this is another essential part of getting power out of either a TBI or TPI setup. A lot of people bolt on go-fast parts and are disappointed when they don't get the results they are looking for. What they are missing is the tune... everything you modify on these cars will need a custom chip to get it working at peak effeciency. Even adding the exhaust that I discussed will need a custom chip to work at its peak potential (although adding headers is not as dramatic for the tune as something like a cam swap). Anyway, to wrap this section up, just keep in mind every modification you do to this car will need a custom chip burned to keep it working at peak efficiency, and it's better to start learning early so you can ease yourself into tuning before adding tune-critical parts and having major changes to make in the tune.

Alright, now that THAT is out of the way, let's start talking about stuff that you can do to improve the power besides chip tuning.

• The stock air cleaner on the TBI cars is pathetically horrible for performance, so consider swapping it to an open element air cleaner with a K&N filter for maximum performance, or paper filter for better protection and higher performance. Even better would be a dual snorkel air cleaner from the earlier 305 HO cars, but they are extremely hard to find now. If you have a TPI car, a cold air intake (CAI) made from dryer ducting and PVC piping should work well. SLP also makes a very professional dual pipe CAI, but I believe it is around $250.
• A new cam is a must. The TBI cars and even some TPI cars recieved the notorious peanut cam which is probably one of the most low performance grinds created by GM. There are literally hundreds of cams out there that will work with your engine, but a lot of people like to swap in the LT1 cam from later model f-bodies, Corvettes and b-bodies. It's a cheap swap that will effectively increase horsepower and work great with the 305 (if the tune is in check, of course). Another good option would be the Competition Cams' XE256 grind.... good powerband for the street and a LOT hotter than the crappy cam that's in the engine now. Although the most horsepower is obtained through a combonation of good parts, the cam will probably be the single part that adds the most power overall to your engine.
• You've got some options as far as heads go. If you've got a TPI 305, the heads you've got on there now will perform very well with a little pocket porting and polishing, along with 1.94" intake valves. The TBI heads (also known as "swirl port" heads, named by their design) do not have quite the potential as the TPI heads, but like the TPI heads, they also have serious performance potential with a little porting and polishing and bigger intake valves. Here is a thread about the swirl ports and the misinformation being spread about them being bad for performance. Some TBI enthusiasts are just now learning how to tune the car to obtain great numbers (300+ HP) with these heads and other mods. Some aftermarket heads that are popular are the World Products 305 S/R Torquer heads and GM Vortec heads. World's offerings will bolt right on, but the Vortec heads will need some modifications to fit.
• Since you're car is equipped with the 700R4, you're going to need install a better torque convertor to see this extra power getting to the ground. A mild one with about 2400-2600 stall will be good for the street with the aforementioned cam and head combo.
• You'll probably want some better gears also, since the powerband of the engine has shifted upwards at this point. Consider 3.42 gears for a blend between economy and performance, or 3.73 for flat out acceleration. Anything higher (numerically) will likely wind out your engine too fast and give you horrible gas milage.
• Start using fully synthetic fluids for oil, ATF and rear end gear. Not only do they protect your parts better and last longer then conventional fluids, numerous dyno results have shown dramatic increases in horsepower from just switching to synthetic from conventional fluids.
• Advancing the time on the car is a good way to get a mild increase in power. TBI cars will benefit the most from advancing the timing, since they came with 0* BTDC stock. TPI cars are set at 6* BTDC stock. Try giving it a few degrees advance and see how it feels and how it sounds. If you hear knocking and notice the car seems down on power, you probably advanced it further than the engine can handle. If it runs smooth and seems to be a little quicker than before, leave it and enjoy.

Well, after writing this small novel I hope I have helped enlighten you a little bit on the basics of getting horsepower out of these cars. Feel free to ask any questions if you are not understanding something I said.

87DJP2001

RS Camaro model=lo3 305 Tbi

Kyle F

TBI, 4 MOds....

Change to Carb,

Swap to 350

Add Full Exhaust

Slap on Nitrous. Nuff Said.


No wait... seriously though. its a low HP, low revving Motor. I would do the Ultimate TBI MOds, Headers, Catback, 3.73 Gear or even just a 3.42 because most likely you have a 2.73.

Forget the chips.. doesnt do much until you have doen all that and can get a custom burn for your mods.

OneFreakZ

oh yeah i for got to add that the camaro is TBI..ive been looking for a double side snorkel for my car but no luck yet mean while im going to buy a k&n air filter..yeah i understand all these mods it just alittle different becuz this is my second camaro something new to me i just bought the car im more of an LT1 guy but any ways all these mods sound very good i better get my list started hey guys thanks for all your help with mods and susgestions.all these mods and tunes give me a better idea what to do....hey any more mods out there please let me know..thanks to all you guys..

Nate86

No problem. Glad I could help point you in the right direction. And the LT1 is pretty much a completely different beast compared to your 305 TBI. A much more powerful beast at that.