i want to convert my 350 tpi to carb and i am stuck on which manifold to get. some old timers from my shop told me i may need a special intake manifold and that a standard gen 1 intake may not work. is the true? if so what manufactures makes carb intake manifolds that fit?

 

nobody?

 

I dont think so because i have 87 l98 tpi engine but since im probably gonna go carb i installed a carb intake and it bolted on if you want to know which intake i got just let me
know but just make sure its compatible with the heads

 

It is true a 1Gen intake won't work, the bolt pattern (angle) is different, just buy one for the year of the engine, the bolt pattern changed in 87 and up. Edelbrock is a good brand, but it's not the only one.

 

Check out this article https://www.thirdgen.org/carbswap
You should also do a search in TGO and you'll learn a lot on the subject.
Good luck!

 

My car has a tpi setup on 60's sbc heads.... maybe that's why it runs like crap

 

Yeah, take a look at the middle bolts and you'll probably see that they couldn't put them in because the angle is different unless they enlarged the whole, but even then there could be a serious vacuum leak there. Check it out!

 

You don't state ( as you should when asking questions ) what engine you are talking about; but if you have a '86 then it has the regular SBC intake pattern and bolt angle so any old skool intake will fit

Doesn't present a leak problem.
Elongate the holes and use washers to get correct clamping to head

 

That's why I said "there COULD be a vaccuum leak" I'm not saying there WILL be a leak, but if not done right it could have one. It's a matter of checking it to see if it was done right. An easy test would be to spray water around the intake gaskets while the engine is running and see if there's any change in idle speed. If there is a change then you have a vaccuum leak. I hope it works.

 

Kinda off topic but im lookin for a tpi setup if either of u r willin 2 sell urs

 

Have you tried posting this in the "Parts wanted" forum?

 

He did say it was a 350 TPI engine which puts it in the 87 and newer bracket

 

No it does not, The first TPI's came out in 1985

 

My bad, I forgot that, sorry.

 

there are plenty of manifolds out there go to jegs they have manifolds just for this type of thing

 

if my chiltons is correct the first tpi motors in camaros were 305's.that would be in 1985 and 1986.

 

I'm sure that there is manifolds that you can use with those heads.
Your best bet would be to get rid of the heads and move up to a set of used Vortec heads and an appropriate intake manifold - realizing that you need to maintain a certain amount of clearance between the air cleaner and the hood.

If you could get one of the HO hoods that has a scoop - you might be able to gain some hood clearance - but it probably would not be enough to use a dual plane 7101 Air Gap intake manifold.

I would also recommend using a better camshaft because the torque curve between the roller lifter camshaft they used for the fulie heads and intake might not work as well with carburetion.

The Fast Burn heads would probably produce an extra 15 to 35 horsepower just by bolting them up - with no other modifications.
You just have to make sure to get the right ones and not the truck heads which had less compression.

 

idk what year the engine is, i bought it from a local shop. the guy i bought it from didnt know anything about it, it has dented runner from what appears to be neglect. that and new fuel injectors, ecu, harness, and less headache is why i want to convert it to a carb setup. ive tried to find the year by the numbers on the block but i had no luck, i put the numbers in a website a while back and it didnt have anything on it and i triple checked to see if i input the number correctly and i did. idk whether of not if it is speed density or maf what do i look for to distinguish between the two?

 

check your facts dood.

305 tpi = 85 up

350 tpi = 87 up


It does put him in the 87-up bracket if its an original 350 tpi.

 

are the intake bolts at an angle or straight up???