Hi!
My 5.7 TPI on 1991 bird needs a rebuild.
While doing that with my experienced local engine builder, I am also considering street level power upgrades while keeping it looking original - keeping the TPI.
I do like the down low torque for street driving, which would be the 90% of use for this car. So I VERY much like the idea of 383 Stroker rotating assembly and possibly new heads, ported intake, bigger runners and a mild cam to support all of that.
For my disappointment BobR@DynamicEFI told me that available EBL Flash-II does not work with my 1227730 ECM and EBL P4, which did work, is discontinued.

What are the chances to get tuned or tunable ECM for power upgraded TPI?
Should I just forget about tuning the TPI in 2024, short of just carbing it?

If I stick with only 383 rotating assembly and suitably upgraded injectors, would the original chip work well, or would I run into issues?

 

Although your ECM doesn't work, there is a long list of ECM's on Dynamic EFI's website that would work with Flash II. I didn't check but I'm sure they are readily available and there is lots of support for tuning the EBL here on thirdgen. If you want efi and the tpi sort of look you might consider the Edelbrock Pro Flo but it's considerably more expensive.

 

If you keep your eye out here and corvetteforum.com classified sections, I do see the P4's pop up for sale from time to time.

But other than that, your existing 7730 ECM is a very capable ECM. I'm running it with my 383 and I actually tuned it myself.

Based on your plans (keep the TPI, probably mild cam, etc), should actually be very easy to tune. You could contact someone like Tunedperformance (who is a member on this site) if you're interested in someone else tuning. Otherwise you'd have to buy all the equipment and learn to do it on your own.

 

91 is 7730, super AUJP is more than capable, those aftermarket self tuners only tune part throttle everything else needs to be gone through to get it running like it currently is, tunerpro is free and a burn 2 is $100-140 if you want to tune on the fly look for a ostrich or wait till boosted releases there clone. With the burn 2 and a datalog cable you should be able to tune the car the emulation is just to make the processes faster

https://boostednw.com/engine-managem...-chip-emulator

 

Yep...SAUJP and all that equipment you mentioned really modernized the ECM and IMO (except for the VE learn) makes it an extremely capable performance ECM.

If it wasn't for that (and so mant of the experts on this site) there's no way I could have tuned my Miniram. Probably would have ditched the 7730 and went with an aftermarket ECM setup.

 

Keep in mind the horsepower limitations of the Pro Flo setup. I noticed for a post-1986 it only supports up to 450hp. This is the only one I could find, so if your 383 build is in excess of 550hp (like mine is), you might have to look for other options (which I'm currently struggling finding one that is port injection, not TBI).

 

It's not cheap but you can theoretically run it with a LS PCM using some hardware from efi-connection. Basically you need a provision for a crank position sensor and a cam position sensor and they sell kits that output both signals so an LS PCM can read it. Then you could run terminator EFI computer if you wanted.

You're probably talking several thousands worth of investment to do it, but it would bring you into the current era of EFI control and the parts are all out there and available to do it.

 

MS3 Gold lite is $540 right now from EFI source. Can run a distributor/tpi or full sequential 24x, 58x, etc.

 

I'm quite interested in this also. I like the idea of keeping the engine stock looking and love the street friendly aspect of the TPI. I wouldn't go full 383 stroker but maybe .030 over, 113 ported heads, ported/big runner TPI etc would be just fine with me. But not knowing how to mesh it all together is definitely an issue.

 

What year car?

If it's a MAF car, you can probably get away without tuning if all you're doing are heads and a manifold.

Even ff it's a MAP car, you still might get away with it.

It's not until you change the cam that tuning (particularly on a MAP car) becomes more of a necessity. For what your goal sounds like (mild upgrade without loss of good street manners)... I'd probably keep the cam to 212@.050 or less, on a 112 LSA.

 

Agreed. Just updating the cam with a CC equivalent to the LT1 or similar would be the case. I remember years ago having an XFI284 in a carbed 383 roller motor for an 88 iroc I had. My car now is an 89 so it has the maf. I'm toying with the idea of getting a 91 Formula to make my own Firehawk out of though.

 

Hi,
I did all the 'bolt ons' on my '87 5.7 and got by on the stock MAF fed ECM with, initially Ed Wright custom burnt chips and then tried 'PCM for less' chips. They both worked well.
Last year the stock ECM failed and I could not get a replacement...more difficult for me as I live in the UK. I finally went for the Haltech ECM which is MAP based. Luckily I am only a few miles from a guy who has a lot of knowledge and experience in installing and tuning these ECM's. All is now good again. It even fits into the stock location.
Obviously I have no idea what the availability there is in the US of these ECM's but at the time I was having the same thoughts as you about, basically..where do I go from here!

 

The problem with staying with 1980's technology is it really limits camshaft options. And it will not be as fuel efficient as a modern crank trigger, cam sync, and coil near plug. Those last 3 items I listed are all about drivability, economy etc. Consider the last sbc gm sold for public highway use was the l31, it had sequential fuel injection, a crank trigger and cam sync.. and it was 20 years ago.

 

You can get usable results from points, and 3 2bbl carbs too, but nobody does it unless concourse restoration is the goal. Tpi is good, but bringing the electronics into this century makes them even better. If you want to leave power drivability, and make major compromises in camshaft selection for a street car oem ecu is fine. IF YOU CAN FIND SOMEONE TO TUNE IT. Even doing a 411 ecu upgrade opens a lot of possibilities, and finding a tuner is much easier.

 

411 ECU or Terminator X would bring that so far a head of what the car came with.

I went with the Terminator X.

 

with LS droid and Turner pro being free im currently taking the wiring harness from a late 90s vortec truck and the timing cover with the crank sensor pinned to a LS 411 ecu on a tpi. nice thing about the 411 ecu is it has all the factory output(speedo,A/C,trans control ) aftermarkets dont always have and it all cost less than what i sold my tpi 165 ecu for