I found an 1989 i-roc pretty cheap that has a tpi 350 that need rebuilt but it has a brand new 700r4 in it. What I want to know is can I pull that Buy a short block 383 crate motor add a good set of heads and put my TPI on it? If I can do all heads work with TPI I have been doing alot of looking and I have never seen a set of heads advertised say that they are for use specifically with TPI. If I cant use my TPI could I buy one of the 2 setups in JEGS they have of that says it is for 350 cubes and larger and it is like 3,300 dollars. I will do that if necassary. But for 3,300 dollars is that cost effective over a carb setup. I really want tpi I like the torque but I hate the HP. I would like to have about 450 hp and about 500 torque. This original 350 was at a 320 HP and maybe 350-380 torque. The guy who wants to sell it to me lives close to me and I have talked to him alot when his car was running and he has a really good suspension set up so I thing it will be able to handle the power. It has a 373 geared rebuilt posi rear end and it has weld in sub frame connectors and some kinda traction bars or lift bars or something. Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated. I LOVE TPI but no one can help me with it.

 

At the risk of being accused of bench racing or being a magazine mechanic, I'll tell you what two guys I know are doing here.

The more standard: '90 RS, originally 305 TBI. ZZ3 crate engine, ZZ9 cam & 1.6 roller rockers, CNC ported heads, Big Mouth base, short runners, ported plenum, 58cc TB. The plenum, runners, base & heads have been extrude honed as an assembly. Block zero-decked, heads shaved (not sure how much). Converted to '91 SD system & dual cats, Big Mouth cat-back. Shifts at 6k. At this altitude, with 4.10 gears & 2000 stall converter (not enough, but he gets by), he runs 14.4's, which converts to 13.3's at sea level. Oh, this is through owner-ported LB9 exhaust manifolds.

The wild: '88 Vette, 415 short block, AFR heads (not sure which, but they've been worked, anyway), Miniram, converted to SD. Bunch of other things I have no clue about. Race Powerglide, back-halved 9", big slicks. Carbon fiber front end amoung other exotic stuff. Purrs at idle like a kitten, shifts at 5800, runs 11.2's at this altitude.

You're looking at something in the middle. The TPI can be made to run (there is a TPI forum, you know), but figure on basically throwing away the base, runners, & TB (or at least porting the base a plenty). Adjustable fuel pressure regulator, likely different injectors, some PROM reprogramming.

Heads really aren't carb- or TPI-specific. Both guys above are running heads originally designed for carb engines (although both have been ported for their application). I don't think anyone would argue the AFR's are about the best thing out there.

Have fun.

Oh, after you pull it, you can send the 350 my way. No disposal fee will be charged...

 

scoggin dickey (sdpc2000.com) offers a big mouth baseplate made to fit vortech heads that runs about $400 i think....

Russ

 

well why don't go with that idea, and get the holleystealth ram, That should give you more than enough air flow. This like the tunnelram set up with a pleum, and it will bolt right in place of your tpi. With alittle mod, there's all kinds of stuff on the tpi board about it. And it's cheaper than getting a high flow intake, The HSR is only 450 for everything, the cheapest high flow intake is like 350, but then you got to get larger runners that will run you another 200. So the HolleyStealthRam is a better deal. Im putting all the stuff that I m running into to do the swap. Do a search on it and you ll see the guy that got his stock L98 dyno and gain like 63 hp with just the intake, the only thing he had was a catback. So that would be something to look into.

 

www.lt1intake.com