cheftaylor69

Hello all,

I have an 89 Pontiac Trans Am with a 350 TPI 5.7L Stock and getting ready to swap out the Injectors on it tomorrow. I received my new Injectors from South Bay Fuel Injectors and ready to tackle this challenge. I have watched a video on You Tube on this as well as read the TPI Injector Swap on here. I am fairly mechanically inclined and just love this car.
I guess what I am trying to do is ask, is it a job I can do myself? Should I be able to get it done in one day? Is there any tricks of the trade that I should know about? Do I have to replace the gaskets if they look in good shape?
These are just things running through my head before I tackle this job, but ready to get it done. If any one has any insight, ideas, suggestions I am completely open to hear from you all about doing this.
Thanks so much guys,
Jerry

zero13

you only gave a days notice?..on a saturday?..when everyone is out and about....like to know if it goes well though!

aliceempire

iTrader: (14)

Can you do it yourself? Maybe...we don't know how mechanically inclined you really are.

Can you do it in one day? If you are mechanically inclined enough, yes. It's not really all that hard with the right tools. The torx bit headed bolts sometimes want to strip at the head, causing it to take forever to pull it apart.

Tricks of the trade? Make sure the gaskets go on the correct sides. The wrong way causes vacuum leaks. If you have the orings for the fuel rails you could do them too. They are 25 years old by now... same with the vacuum lines. Don't break the plactic lines, they're brittle. replace what looks crappy now, while you're in there.

Reuse old gaskets? Just replace them. Vacuum leaks are a pain on these manifolds already. Why give yourself a reason to redo the job?

In all honesty, if you are inclined and watched the right 'how to' videos you'll be fine.

eseibel67

Each runner has a single bolt that needs to be accessed from the inside. You would never think that they would be there because all the rest go in from the outside.

And all those torx head bolts are different lengths depending on the thickness of the runner flange that they are passing through. Make sure you keep track of exactly what came out of which hole. I find it easiest to stick them in an empty Kleenex box in the right pattern.

Also make sure you replace the Viton seals in the inlet & return fuel lines at the front of the engine. Standard Motor Products part # SK18.

cheftaylor69

Thanks for all the information all.
Just to say the gentleman I bought the car from had receipts from the work he had done to it and I saw that in December 2012 he had 4 of the injectors changed, but not the other 4. ((go figure)) and of course the injectors that are faulty are the ones that were not changed.
Therefor, this is why I am changing them all out this time. This is also the reason why I asked if using the upper gaskets again, since they are not old, and was replaced also during that time on the receipt for the work done in 2012. If they look good I may just reuse them. I also see that the receipt states they changed the vacuum lines and fuel lines seals also, so I will look at them as I take it apart.
And thanks for the heads up with the different lengths for the bolts, I did not think of that and keeping them in order as I take them out will help a lot.
Do I have to remove the runners on both sides, or just the passenger side runner? The video on YouTube shows just the passenger side and the other says both?
Oh, and the reason I just posted today was, I just got my car back from the paint shop, they told me just a week but took a entire month to paint it. ((aggravated the entire time)) but it looks great. I will post pictures when I am done.
Again thanks for all the information, I will post tomorrow after I am done to let you all know how things went.

eseibel67

Since the gaskets are only passing air, they can be reused if they are that new and undamaged.

You can remove the rail with one runner still attached.

cheftaylor69

Ok, Got it completely done and took me a total of 6 1/2 hours to get it done. Could not even loosen the passenger side runner as it had a striped head for the torque bolt, it was a hard fight to remove fuel rail with that side still on, but by removing the injectors off the rail while on vehicle I was able to pull it out of there. As for putting it back together, I almost forgot the back inside bolt to runner and tightened all bolts at a good 20lbs of torque as I thought if I went further it may strip them. Checked for fuel leaks I have none and started right up, nice and smooth. Took it for a ride and nice power and running of the engine now. Only thing I can hear is the ticking of the injectors when hood is open. Is that normal???
What led me to doing this swap was a flash of my SES light once in a while and rough running of vehicle, I ohm checked the injectors and had at least one at 3 ohm, cold and 2 hot. This was why I decided to do this and so far with a good 5 mile run, it seems to have worked.

eseibel67

Ticking is common. Looks like you got it licked, congrats.

aliceempire

iTrader: (14)

Ticking is totally common. Some of the old Frods I've worked on ticked LOUD. Glad it all worked for you and got it done in a timely fashion.

Mr.ChevyStroker

I am soon to have a 1991 RS TBI, and was wonder since its kinda a dog (170 hp) if the difference in horsepower gain/loss was in the TPI setup. i know if i do it I will need the intake, runners, harness, ecm, injectors... Anything else? Is it worth purchasing it? It will be a DD so fuel mileage will also be increased..

aliceempire

iTrader: (14)

If it's a daily driver I wouldn't recommend it. Not likely to see a performance gain. The intake and tb aren't you current restrictions. Cam and heads won't help you make power with the tpi. If its a good running engine there is no point in complicating it with the whole swap. But if you do still want to https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tpi/...onversion.html
There are ways to get more speed with your current setup https://www.thirdgen.org/ultimatetbi
https://www.thirdgen.org/ultimatetbi2

A full exhaust will provide you the most performance at this point.

Mr.ChevyStroker

I was gonna add a pair of some dumpy flow techs, they are okay, but eventually depenind on what i wanna do, dougs header, long tubes is what im gonna run. Then use the old cat pipe and y pipe from the manifolds and make a y-pipe out those to connect the long tubes together, and replace the tip pipes, ( ones out each side of the muffler) with 4 inch pipes. Also removing cat as well.. Haha

MrPink

iTrader: (6)

I know its too late - but I would have suggested throwing out those stock manifold bolts and getting new ones. Those stock "star" bolts strip like butter. I bought some hex ones on ebay and they are much better.

I overheard a guy once say you can swap out the injectors without removing either of the runners. Just pop off the plenum and you can get enough room to move the fuel rail up. I have never tried this. Any truth to this?

cheftaylor69

As far not removing either, In my opinion it may be feasible. The hardest thing for me was removing to old stock injectors that had the clip holding them in then getting the rail out even with just the one side still on. If they were changed before with the plug and play from South Bay Fuel Injectors, or others sources then I would have to think that it is very possible to change injectors without removing runners.
I am no mechanic but I do what I can, as far as it is always a learning experience and knowledge for later.