i am doing a project build, and i was going to swap out a carb and manifold for a tpi system, but i am starting to wonder if its going to be worth it. the car is an 84 monte ss, and the doner car is an 86 TA. i was going to build a 350 with some 2.02 heads i got, and swap out the carb setup for the tpi system off of the 86TA. but... i keep reading that the tpi setup is only really good to around 5000 rpm, unless you spend a lot of money to upgrade it. i am trying to keep the budget as low as possible. what do you guys think? thanks guys, brian

 

What are your plans for the car? street, strip, autocross? I would prefer the tpi over the carb for the street, way better gas mileage. Also with the tpi you never have to worry about hood clearance our cars with carbs stock are already very close. If you wanna get the most horsepower you can and for the cheapest sacrificing a little gas mileage then carb is the way to go its usually alot easier to find horsepower with a carb'd engine then an FI. Plus TPI engine just look cool anyways...

 

street and stip mainly. i dont have a lot of money, so i have a limited budget. i already have an old truck block that is a 350, 4 bolt main, and a set of 2.02 heads. i have a TA with a MAF TPI 305, with a 700r4. i have a saginaw 4 speed manule, but it would need fixing, and everything else to install into an automatic car. (dont know how hard that would be) then the mont alreay has a H.O 305, that was rebuilt by the origonal owner. it has a 650 holly four barrel and an aluminium intake.

i believe that the intake and carb would fit right onto the 350. this would be the easiest build with either keeping the origonal 3 speed automatic, or swapping out the 3 speed for the 700r4. the saginaw would be awsom, but it would take a lot of work.

 

Definatley keep it a carb, the 650 and the manifold will bolt right on. The 650 will be a good size for street and strip

 

I'd say for simplicity and power stay with the carb if it isn't a daily driver. Also I'd swap the 700r4 in. What heads do you have? How are you building the 350?

 

im not exactly sure yet. will a zz4 cam work good with a carb setup? (to enable the installation of the TPI at a later date.)

and i dont know if i want to go 350, or 383. i think that the bite more money for the 383 will deffinatly be worth the power increase.

thats really all i know now. i got a set of heads form a guy at work, that was just going to through them away. i checked the casting numbers and the said they were:

3998983's

i guess they are 1.94, 1.50's, with 76 cc heads. if i were to deck these heads, valve job them and port and polish them., would they be okay heads, or are they a lost cause?

 

Yes the ZZ4 cam will work just fine with the carb, IMO 383's are expensive to build and from what ive learned can hurt higher rpm power over the 350 becuase of the longer stroke. Toss those heads and get aftermarket heads for a little more money buying a set of old heads is just not ideal when you can get some trick aluminum aftermarket heads that will give you 100 more hp for a couple more bills.