[bmalone]

Hey Turk:

I am negotiating to buy a TP SO in a 10 year-old Contemporary. I drove the car last weekend.

Build sheet shows 590 HP at 5800 and surprisingly, nearly 600 ft. lbs. of torque. Specs are 9.5:1 compression, custom-ground cam to match compression ratio, stainless roller rocker assembly, 2x4 intake. The motor itself is a thing of beauty, especially the chromed, TP intake, which sits way above the block (actually lots of space between manifold and block.

I too read the stories about fouled plugs and poor streetability. My impression after driving was this: surprising amount of torque and pulled hard from the bottom. At the same time, it was clear that the power didn't really come on till 4000 and up. It pulled long and hard well past 6000. It was a bit lopey, and idle was 1000-1100. I did not think it was so hard to drive. You did have to work the clutch a bit to get going.

I am told the trick to not fouling plugs is not to start it up to impress your buddies and then shut it down. In other words, every time you start it, run it untill hot. THere is also an MSD ignition which addresses this problem.

THe TP heads flow 20% better than standard MR heads due to circular port shape (wireframes of fuel/air would show mixture assumes a circular or oval shape under velocity).

I was motivated to do something a little different also. Decided SOHC would be too hard to get parts for, so TP is exotic and there are a fair amount of heads/intakes out there. THe look and sound of that motor is awesome.

In SoCal, an acknowledged FE expert is Don Borders at Image AUto Works. 760-200-5882. Please do not try and buy my TP =)

Bill