need help

[DHolmes]

Hi Ive always been a riceburner guy but recently drove a muscle car and loved it so I sold my honda and got a 1995 firebird formula 133,000 k not one scratch or dent from a rich boy for $5000 ( he says its a firehawk but I think its a clone) My first problem is how do u take off in this beast when racing,its not like my honda where u pop the clucth at 3 or 4000 rpms .In the bird ill peel out through 1st and 2nd no traction at all . my next is im not up on all the muscle car mods im going list all the mods on the car the ones with ? behind could some explain to me 3:42 limited slip rear differential ? ram air system, 160 slp thermostat and overflow contianer? Lt4 knock module? Holley throttle body airfoil and throttle body bypass? jre springs, poly torque arm bushings poly transmission mount? skip shift elimination kit , pro 5.0 shifter? 3 " carsound hi flow cat ? borla 3" y pipe? 3" cutout and edle brock muffler ( is this just a catback exhaust) hypertech chip theres probaly more too i have stacks off records 3rd is 133'000 to many miles to put on a super charger I have hookup where I can get them at cost thanks hopefully someone helps me

[78formula78]

First let me say congradultions on the upgrade.

Heres a quick explation of your mods.
3:42 limited slip rear differential
This is just the gearing in your rear end a 3.42 is a stock gearing BTW

160 slp thermostat and overflow contianer
This just means that the thermostat opens at 160 degress insted of the the stock 200(ish) I can't remember the exact one thats in there stock

Lt4 knock module
Was a popular mod a little while ago It's basicly a knock sensor that doens't freak out at the sounds of 1.7 rocker arms that came on LT4 engines

Holley throttle body airfoil and throttle body bypass
Not to sure about the airfoil, but the throttle body bypass just means they eliminated the coolent lines from the throttle body.

poly torque arm bushings poly transmission mount
This is just New stiffer bushings that just stiffen up the suspension.

And you can supercharge it just make sure you go easy on the boost not any more then 6# if you want the stock pistions to survive. As long as your good to your engine they can go 250K easy we have a member with 190(ish) on his and he still rocks it hard.

[DHolmes]

thanks do u no how i can take off in this without peeling out so bad while racing

[RangerBob]

drag radials

[Rede]

see your other thread about ths.

[Injuneer]

my next is im not up on all the muscle car mods im going list all the mods on the car the ones with ? behind could some explain to me

-3:42 limited slip rear differential:
As noted in the earlier response, 3.42:1 is the rear axle gear ratio. That is the stock ratio on all 1994-2002 V8 F-Body's with the M6 tranny. You can pick up some added performance with 3.73 or 4.10 gears, but tractions becomes even more difficult. The "limited slip" means the rear axle carrier has a clutch pack that locks the rear axles together when one wheel starts to slip. That helps your traction, preventing one wheel from spinning. Again, limited slip was atandard on all V8 F-Bodys.

-160 slp thermostat and overflow contianer
The stock t'stat in an LT1 is 180degF. Installing a lower temp t'stat allows the engine to run a bit cooler, and with reprogrammed fan on/off temperatures, and some extra ignition timing, will net you 5-10HP. Not sure why he changed out the coolant overflow container. That is virtually never done. The stock overflow container is under the battery (the top of the container is the battery tray), and it works find.

-Lt4 knock module
The 1996 LT4 Corvette engine had 1.6 roller rockers for added valve lift. They made a lot of noise, so the filter in the knock module was changed to filter out that noise and prevent it from causing ignition timing retard via the knock module and the PCM.

-Holley throttle body airfoil and throttle body bypass
The stock throttle body has 2 side-by-side 48mm throttle bores. The space between them is sort of flat. The throttle body air foil streamlines the space between the bores of the TB, picking up a tiny amount of extra HP. The bypass is explained in the response above - it adds about 6HP by not heating the incoming air when it passes through the throttle body.

-poly torque arm bushings poly transmission mount
As explained in the post above, the stock toruge arm bushing is soft rubber. Using a polyurethane replacement reduces flex of the torque arm, improving front end lift on launch. The stock tranny mount tends to tear itself apart. The polyurethane mount is harder and stronger, with interlocked metal top and bottom ends to eliminate total failure. Downside is a small increase in vibration and noise of the shift lever, on some installs.

-pro 5.0 shifter
The stock T56 shifter had a loose rubber bushing in it, and requires a long "throw" to shift gears. The Pro 5.0 shifter eliminates the rubber bushing on the stick, and has a shorter throw to change gears. Its an excellent product.

-3 " carsound hi flow cat
Your car left the factory with a single catalytic converter, at the point where the two sides of the Y-pipe combine. It was a shade less than 3" diameter. In theory, the CarSound should flow better, but there's not a lot of HP loss even with the stock converter.

-borla 3" y pipe
Stock Y-pipe is less the 2.5" diameter on each branch, and "crimp" bent. The Borly is a larger diameter and mandrel bent, for less pressure loss on the exhaust.

-3" cutout and edle brock muffler ( is this just a catback exhaust)
If all he did was replace the muffler, its a "muffler". The cutout is an open pipe that can be uncapped to allow the exhaust to dump under the car and bypass the muffler.

Interesting thing is, he did the Y-pipe, the cat, the muffler, but doesn't seem to have upgraded the stock 2.75" intermediate pipe, and that's one of the major pinch points in the stock exhaust.

-hypertech chip
Not possible. There is no replaceable chip in the stock 95 PCM. He may have use a Hypertech "Power Programmer", and they are useless with regard to performance gains, other than resetting the fans for the lower temp t'stat.

Your list in the other post says it has "nos" - does this mean a nitrous (N2O) system?

[DHolmes]

its the hypertech power progamer so that isnt a full exhaust should i get a 2"75 intermidit pipe to make a full exhaust and what do u recomend to get more hp 4 the least money nos supercharger gears headers thanks, u sure no ur stuff how much is the pipe i forgot he said he took off the governers with the hypertech progamer

[DHolmes]

no nos he had that listed with other performace part i dont have the papers with me right now so i cant check at work

[78formula78]

[
-Lt4 knock module
The 1996 LT4 Corvette engine had 1.6 roller rockers for added valve lift. They made a lot of noise, so the filter in the knock module was changed to filter out that noise and prevent it from causing ignition timing retard via the knock module and the PCM.

Thanks for clearing that up I thought It didn't sound completly right when I said it. And to the OP listen to Injuneer he KNOWS what hes talking about better then almost anyone.

[Dave M]

its the hypertech power progamer so that isnt a full exhaust should i get a 2"75 intermidit pipe to make a full exhaust and what do u recomend to get more hp 4 the least money nos supercharger gears headers thanks, u sure no ur stuff how much is the pipe i forgot he said he took off the governers with the hypertech progamer

Your stock intermediate pipe is 2.75". If you upgrade you'd go to 3". It is possible, however, that it was upgraded with the muffler. If he just bought an Edelbrock muffler, than that's all that got switched. If he got an Edelbrock cat-back system, then the intermediate pipe would have been changed and you're good to go. Since he upgraded the cat, y-pipe and muffler, I would think he would have just went with a cat-back system. Crawl under the car someday and check it out. You should be able to tell if just the muffler was replaced.

[DHolmes]

thanks ill do that tomorrow how can i tell if they are stock headers i cant even see them, in my honda the were easy to see, and what are some good not that expensive brands and what are the hp gains thanks

[ConElite]

Just look on the side of the Engine. You should be able to see the Exhaust Manifolds or headers. Im pretty sure if the previous owner did all that, He would have threw some headers on there. Yeah I used to do the Honda thing, but once you have one of these beasts, its a whole different story.

[DHolmes]

your right once i drove this baby i was hooked, ive had 2 civic hatchbacks all moded with b16 engines and a 95 honda accord with a turbo h22 compare with my formula, the only thing that sucks is the gas,it does get good mpg if drive responsible but thats so hard

[ConElite]

The only thing that sucks is the gas,it does get good mpg if drive responsible but thats so hard

Thats for sure. Yeah its hard to keep the RPM's under 2k. ha ha ha