Hi guys
I am new to this forum but not to drag racing. Problem is getting old usually means a change in priorities. No more 9 second street cars. Anyhow, my "cruiser" has an 89 5.7TPI/700R4 combo in it and I want some performance gain using the mileage of the stock cam. I am looking at the vortec head/intake package but I have heard that this set up will raise the plenum by an inch. Can anyone confirm this? I have no more hood clearance to use. Thanks for your time.

 

Rob, I've got a 1992 z28 with vortec heads and the SDPC tpi intake. I've also got polyurathane motor mounts that I've read will raise the motor up a bit. I've not had any problems with my hood clearance. I don't know if the 92's hood sits any higher than your hood but I would doubt that it does. Hope this helps.

 

how many miles on bottom end of engine. I bought the same kit from sdpc and got the headers and 1.6 rollers and didnt see much of a difference. i did test over the weekend and found out i need to have the bottom end reworked. i was told that it was good and didnt need it but guess they were wrong. just a heads up. if you have over 75000 miles on engine, i would just rebuild the bottom end also while you have it torn down. you should be fine with the clearance. the kit worked fine with my hood.

 

Ok Can any of you guys that have done the conversion do me a favour. Can you measure from the front china wall (top of the block where the intake seals against the block) to the highest point of your plenum. I ran a straight edge (ruler) foward off of the finned part of the plenum and measured up from the china wall. Could someone with the vortec install get me that measurement. I would very much appreciate it. So would my bank account if I buy this stuff and can't keep it under the jag hood!! Thanks for your time.

 

Rob, I measured mine and came up with 8 inches. That's from the top of the plenum right down the middle to the top of the block where the intake seals.

 

That is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks very much for your time and I hope I can repay the favour some time.

 

I have the vortecs in the SDPC 360 so I have not run it with a small cam, but I can tell you that vortecs are not optimal on a stock chip. The fuel and Spark requirements are totally different than stock. I ran my car with the ARAP bin an really wasn't that impressed. Then I got it tuned ( A chip burnt by someone who is considered an vortec expert in the hot rod industry (Not PCM for Less - they suck)) And my car has incredible low end torque, just a nice strong hard pulse down low, and the upper mid and top are great especially for a TPI- actually pulled an NSX to 120 last night- couldn't keep up with that car's handling - but I'm pretty pleased with the power of the vortecs- and I do own a LS1 - ( when tuned the vortecs can make a pretty satisfying level of HP and TQ for the street)

so stock cam untuned chip - you will wonder why you bought the vortecs, get a mild cam like a comp XE264HR and get a custom chip, and have a car that will run with 93'~97' supra turbo's , lt1's, basically most stuff on the road. It took me 6 months to get it entirely right- TPI's have alot of stuff that can go wrong tuning wise- but it is worth it - you will be able to pull a wrx from a stoplight and not look back.