jaredi

Hi guys, I have a 1986 IROC with a pretty much rust free body. The engine and trans I've written off as garbage. The wiring harness is upon further inspection, not much better.

This is a long story on th history of the car. I bought it in January 05 while I had a 1992 RS 305/T5 as my daily driver. Me being a full time student and a full time employee didn't leave me with much time to get into the car. When I bought it I didn't expect to have to pull the engine/trans. Anyway, I bought the car and brought it home. It would barely run. I was told it needed a new MAF sensor, which it did. I changed the MAF and the plugs and wires and distributor cap and etc. etc. etc. it still runs like garbage. As soon as it got to where it would keep itself running, I changed the oil and found about 1.5gallons of a gas/oil mix in the crankcase. Not good. It had to have come from the PO running it with a bad MAF for a long time. The trans is shot, but I knew that when I bought it. It will move around the driveway but thats it.

Anyway, the car sat through the summer because I didn't have the money to mess with it. If I had money I never had time, if I had time I invariably wasn't working much and didn't have money. School also sucked my resources down the tube. I drove my 92 until the fall of 05 when I decided enough was enough with that car. It was overheating and I think a head gasket was going. I traded it for a nice Chrome Yellow 95 Mustang GT convertible. Fell in love with the Vert. For all the Mustang's shortcomings it was a nice car. The IROC plan went from keep to sell. I thought I'd pretty much just sell it as a clean body and get it gone. Anyway, an uninsured driver made sure I didn't keep the yellow vert too long and I got screwed and barely broke even on the car. I then went looking for another and found my current 2000 GT convertible. The whole time in transition between cars cost me alot of money so I was still broke. The car was listed for sale but nothing really happened with that.

Now, 2 years after purchasing the car, I have a better job and more free time.

I want to get the car up and running in good roadworthy condition.

I will be replacing the wiring harness, engine, and transmission.

That being said, I want to procure a cheap and reliable long block that will make decent power and run on low to mid-grade gas. I keep leaning towards scavenging a Vortec 350 from a salvage yard and adding a good cam to it. The problem with this is the TPI Vortec base is alot of money and I really don't want to spend that much just to go back with basically stock induction. Am I crazy for thinking I should grab a TBI setup with a carb Vortec intake manifold and run the 454TBI on an adapter? From what I know of TBI this sounds like a pretty potent setup. I would rather keep the port fuel injection, but cost is a key deciding factor here, and I don't want a huge outlay of cash for some exotic induction system. If I could put upwards of 300hp to the wheels, I'd be happy.

What's a fella to do? I'm already replacing the harness, so it wouldn't be a big deal to change the harness to something different.

Also, thoughts on the transmission? I think I'm going to locate a low mileage or rebuilt 700r and put a shift kit in and be done with it, maybe a higher stall converter.

I'd like you guys' insight on this as I'm not really sure the direction I want to go in with this car. I'm set pretty well against a carb but if someone makes the argument for one I'll listen, it just seems like a lot of trouble to go to.

TIA,
Jared

3rdgenZ

iTrader: (1)

wow, that a story. sorry about the stang. thats a nice car.

any way, how much money are you willing to spend. because ill be honest with you... 300rwh is a good bit for any type of induction. are you leaning towards one, tpi or tbi?

jaredi

Well, at this point not really. I keep thinking a Vortec headed 350 with a good cam would get me where I want to be. 300 isn't a number set in stone. I'm looking to stay with parts I can find used or in a salvage yard to keep the cost down, I'm just using 300 as a target. If it gets there thats awesome, if not no biggie. Now that I think about it I probably should have said 300fwhp

I'd like to stay around 1500 or so for the longblock and induction components. I've seen 60K ish longblocks for ~700...

I suppose the cheapest route to go would be to find an LO5 and stick the TPI on it with a better cam but I'm not real excited about the level of power that would put out.

EDIT: Is the search function not working or what? I searched for Vortec and found exactly zero matches, even tried it on the entire site...

rocluvr0013

http://www.thunderracing.com/catalog...vid=6&pcid=177

If its within your price range the vortec HSR should work well for you.

If not maybe you should check out the tbi forums and see what kinda power theyr making with those setups. (you cant be the first person to do this)

jaredi

Thanks for that link. I did not know they were making the HSR for Vortec heads. That would definitely stretch the budget a bit, but probably not too much more than stringing all the TBI stuff together, and alot less hassle.

GRRRR Why can't I use the search? I think there is an error occurring between the seat and the keyboard. Holley and Stealth turned up nothing either.

3rdgenZ

iTrader: (1)

a vortec headed tpi would have little problem passing 300fwhp. thats if your willing to $ to get the vortec base.

> http://www.sdpc2000.com/catalog/1460...-Baseplate.htm <

what year is the vortec motor?

jaredi

I can't remember what year it was. I am doing some searching here and I'm seeing less low mileage specimens than before.

Found one out of a 98 Silverado with 97K on it for 750. A few more miles than I'm looking for but I'll sniff around some more before I settle for one.

I think I'll do that HSR if I go Vortec TPI.

EDIT: Found the HSR FAQ