I'm going to order this MagnaFlow convertor today.

http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/mpe-94169

I'll be using a single. The attraction to this convertor for me was the 2 built in o2 sensor bungs.....that will make life much easier whenever I want to put my wide band in the car to do some tuning or putting my backpressure gauge in. Things that make life easy really appeal to me as I get older!

Even if it wasn't required for emissions, it would be worth the cost to not have to listen to my wife complain about my car stinking recently!

Last summer after I had the car on the road for awhile I went out and datalogged some WOT runs with the car to get an idea how the car was performing. The one thing that really stood out from that data was the MAP reading........from the bottom to the top of the rpm range it would fall 6 - 7 kpa. That is an indication of a pretty sizeable intake restriction, so I set about determining what it was (I had a pretty good idea, but like to prove things to myself with data). First I removed the air filter and made a run.....no measureable difference. Then I removed the airbox......no measureable difference. I then removed the intake tube from the throttle body......bingo!!! Steady MAP reading over the entire rpm range! This was on a bone stock engine too (only headers & catback at the time).

Stock vs intake removed no background by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

I knew the issue would be even more sizeable once the cam went in & the airflow requirements were even greater, so I spent the winter researching intakes for the car. What I would have really preferred to do was to use a better OE GM intake such as the IROC twin snorkel intake, however I've read that it won't clear the Firebird hood, so my only other option was this......put it on last night.

received_10157222434645556 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

I really wasn't thrilled with the idea of sucking in warm under hood air, but after a half hour drive last night I popped the hood as soon as I got home and heat really isn't much of an issue. I have the insert removed from the powerbulge hood......it seems a good percentage of the under hood heat is escaping so I'm reasonably satisfied with this choice for now.

This will be Monday's job hopefully!

1465001620471 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Magnaflow convertor is finally here!!

I have an open filter behind the right headlight (stock air cleaner location) and i notice a bit of a difference when i remove that side headlight trim. The air behind the radiator is even warmer. IMO you should get some 4" pipe and get your air from the fender . Even better would be putting the inlet infront of the radiator since that's a high pressure area.

Magnaflow convertor is finally in! Seems to be doing its job......smell is gone! No more listening to my wife grumble!

Pic is with my car sitting on my hoist still......it doesn't actually hang that low. O2 sensor bung is a breeze to get to whenever I need to put my wideband in.

I'm pleased that job is done.

1465768693667 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

After removing the factory airbox I discovered something else that has been annoying me.

This greasy, rusted mess needed to get dealt with!

received_10157222462225556 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

After removing the canister & the rusty bracket, everything cleaned up nicely underneath.

received_10157262041535556 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

This however was going to take more than just a quick clean up.

received_10157262042495556 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Half an hour at the sandblast cabinet improved matters greatly!

received_10157262237800556 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

A little paint........

received_10157262264160556 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

& back in the car.......much better!

received_10157262416905556 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Its kinda funny how repairing 1 thing can have a domino effect sometimes.

Back when I first bought this car, it didn't really run. One of the many issues it had was a bad wire on cylinder 1. Not knowing the condition of the engine or trans at that point, I didn't really want to sink a ton of money into getting it running only to find out it had some sort of catastrophic problem, so I put a cheap $18 set of wires on from RockAuto and all was well.

Over the past few weeks I had been noticing some misfires here and there at idle, worse when it was hot. Then last weekend while poking around under the hood (can't even remember what I was doing), I forgot to secure the wires back in place and proceeded to go for a cruise. Well, my headers did what headers do to spark plug wires.......

So I spent yesterday making up a new set of Taylor wires for the car.

1467044143478 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Measuring the resistance of the old wires I was seeing 3000 ohms/foot, so an upgrade was definitely in order.

The improvement in the idle of the car was significant enough that I thought to myself "I could likely lower the idle rpm down some.", so I burned a chip to lower the idle 75 rpm & put it in. Idle sound is better now.

There is also another added side effect to lowering the idle. Since I put the K&N filter on the throttle body there has been a loud sucking noise all the time (well, it was likely always there but the intake ducting muffled it) from the IAC valve being as far open as it was. Since lowering the idle rpm, the noise has virtually disappeared!! An unexpected but welcome bonus!!

Very happy my driving experience is getting better and better!!

You should get some wire socks that will keep the wires from burning against the headers. Your car looks good. Keep up the good work.

Been out just enjoying the car for awhile now & am really pleased with the improvement in performance the moderate level of modifications has provided.

I decided to create a little video to illustrate the difference between when I put the car on the road last year (longtubes & catback), vs now (longtubes, catback, ported intake manifold, cam, tuned)

I've synchronized the start time in the videos, so if you watch the speed in the bottom corner you note quite a difference.

Obviously this is no street brawler.....I never meant it to be, I just wanted a cruiser with some more balls than it had. In that respect I've succeeded.

Stock vs cammed by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Cool video!

The video was captured using Track Addict.

http://www.racerender.com/TrackAddict/Features.html

Pretty impressive app......especially for free!

At first I was a little skeptical of how accurate it really was, but it worked reasonably well given the slow 1 hz sample rate of a typical Smartphone GPS. I've upgraded to an external GPS this year with a 10 hz sample rate (takes a GPS position 10 times per second) so the accuracy has improved dramatically.......I no longer question the results it generates.

http://racing.qstarz.com/Products/BT-Q818XT.html

The first run I made with the car after getting it on the road last year.

15.26 slip by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

As it is today.

14.55 Slip by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Like I said above, I really wasn't wanting to make a stoplight brawler out of this car, but I am pleased at the improvement given the moderate amount of work I've done to the car.

Great video! Great job with the car so far, any other mods planned?

Performance wise I don't have anything further "planned" .......never say never though! At this point I thoroughly enjoy driving the car. It sounds great, the tune is nailed down now so it has no driveability glitches in it, has respectable power.....it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. I'm also at the point of would the cost of progressing further improve my enjoyment of the car? To progress further I'll be needing injectors (without digging up the datalog my current ones are @ 87% if I remember right), likely have to step up to aftermarket TPI runners and further porting of my base, cylinder heads (whether I complete porting the ones in my shed or go aftermarket that's a lot of work), & realistically would likely still gain "maybe" 10-20 whp?? I'm of the opinion at this point that, sure another 15 whp would be nice, but the expense of doing it isn't going to improve my enjoyment of the car enough to justify the cost.

I do have further projects planned though!!!

This is next !

20160808_063234 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

That has been driving me insane! I plan to pick out some fabric to reupholster it with this week while I'm on vacation. While I'm at it, I also will be replacing all the T-top seals. The previous owner tells me that someone attempted to break into the car years ago & consequently the A pillar seals are all torn up. The previous owner also broke EVERY damn piece of plastic he touched in this car.....the plastic caps at the corners of the T-tops are all cracked or broken.......may as well deal with those too.

So I'll be moving on to the cosmetic stuff that is annoying me at this point.

I hear you on the performance mods, I have cam, 113 heads, runners, ported plenum, edelbrock lower and the best I have ever run is 14.0. But I don't have my tune sorted out. All the mods and only a 14.0 made me a little frustrated so I put the car away for the last couple years, and played with other cars. But hope to pull it out this week again.
Keep up the great work!

I think it's hard to get a lot more out of the TPI without aftermarket heads and intake..then it's not much of a TPI anymore.. I ended up just going to an LT1 and am now onto an LS.. better bang for the buck.

It's nice to see a thread like this fixing up a Thirdgen to its former glory!

88GTA, I read your "Help wake up my GTA!" thread & see that you are using a Comp XR264HR cam.....the cam I was originally planning to use in this car before Lunati put the cam I currently have on Overstock Sale ridiculously cheap (admittedly slightly large for a stock TPI motor).
Given that our cars appear to perform similarly ( 14.35 @ 95.5mph vs 14.55 @ 99 mph) I feel a little better about cheaping out! I don't mean that as a bash against your car's performance, I mean it as I'm glad my gamble on a cam because it was $70 brand new doesn't appear to have bitten me in the ass!!

Hope you do get your car back out on the road..........enjoyment of a car isn't limited by the 1/4 mile time it generates!!!

^^ no offence taken. I did end up running 14.0 later in the fall with just that cam, before i did plenum and runners and intake. But I have never been able to do it again. Hopefully when I get it out this year I can go through a few things and try to see whats going on see if I can get to my goal with that car, 13.8!.
Got to find more time in a day, I have only put 100km on my 89 TTA this year, been hoping to dial that car in.