My friend just purchased a 96 T/A, can't remember the exact mileage off the top of my head, but seems to be in the 150,000ish area.....

Needs all teh tune-up it can get, the car is BONE stock.....

where should we start?

-Will

 

Rebuild it. Although there are guys still running good times on 130k motor miles, 150k is too many miles IMO to start building a performance motor.

Check out the "355?" thread in this same forum, if I were you, I'd do a 383 stroker. Good luck

 

if you dont want to bore or stroke the engine, just change to good bearings(clevite), some good rings(speedpro), some good rod bolts(ARP) and be done with it. The motor will handle most any RPM you would need for a good heads cam package and would be a very cheap rebuild

 

DAng, I wish he had the $$$ right now, but as I said, he JUST bought the car :o

I was meaning more of fluids changed, ignition, spark, distrubutor, etc....

Cheap mods, et al.

Thanks,
-Will

 

If the optispark is fine, dont mess with it. Just change the wires and plugs. Change the oil immediately and check for metallic residue. If its an auto, i would change the tranny fluid but no need on the 6-Spd unless you just have the urge too. Check for smoke when you first start the motor up or if you get on it pretty hard. Valve lash should be fine, but the pushrods do wear out the pockets in the rocker arms after that many miles so you may want to reset the lash just to be safe. Intake gasket leak is infamous and im sure at 150k miles you got it so check for it. Most common place to notice it is on the back of the intake near the oil pressure sending unit. Springs and shocks are shot if they have never been replaced. Change your rear end fluid and look for leaks at the pinion seal or around the girdle. I may have left things off, its 7am on christmas and im dog tired, hopefully some others will provide you with some information as well.

 

Much appreciated, I've not heard about the intake leak, I'll have to check that, and we're changing the plugs tomorrow....

Also, its a 6-speed, should we just use syncromesh?

And what oil would you suggest?

We'll check the other stuff, thanks..

Anyone else?

-Will

 

I just bought my '96 Formula in Aug. w/ 92k now it has 100K and a Granatelli MAF and my gas mileage has droppped by 50 - 65 miles to the tank. I was like DAMN!! any help on this????

 

We've got the same problem Evil LT1...

Any help on that?

-Will

 

Dump the granatelli and throw back in a stock maf. Do some new plugs and wires, and change your o2's.

 

So, would ne o2's be a solid investment?

-Will

 

not likely, if the O2's are shot, teh car will stutter and buck all over the place. If you have the GMAF, just take that off and put the stock one back on and you should generally see an increase in your milage again. Change the air filter and fuel filter if the GMAF isnt the culprit.

 

Thanks everyone, but I think some bad spark plugs along w/ a bad EGR were working together to slow it down drastically..

Runs like a champ now

-Will