Ok, I'm a young guy(20) with not much experience other than working on the 60 degree series V-6s. My dad, on the other hand knows everything about the old style, 68 GTO, 69 chevelle, multiple 70s trans am deals. So, with my electrical engine know-how and his old school know how we've ran into this car that needs to be a hybrid, and it just isn't clicking for us. We've been looking at somthing to smack the ricers around other than my hopped up Z34 Lumina. I saved and saved looking for an american car with an LT1 untill I ran into this 1989 IROC-Z. All original, no problems, its from a dealer. Its been owned by 1 old woman bought brand new in december 1988 with 10 miles on the odometer. It was in storage untill she traded it in for some new...dodge. *shiver* Anyway, no scratches, no paint problems, no interior problems all original working power everything and T-Tops and 55k miles on the whole car. (I'm trusting the honesty of the woman. And the general know what to look at from dad.)

Now we have it and the 5.0 TBI just isn't cracking for us, granted the car weighs what, 3100 lbs? As far as smacking ricers around we figured the 350/290 would go great for the application, after fit with dual exhaust and all that. This should bolt to my trans and everything, as far as it seems. I have the automatic.

We just want to know...what do we do with the electric crap? What do we need to put on this to run right?

I will be saving money after I buy the block and all that fun stuff to buy the all-350-small-block-EFI from CustomEFIs. Actually, its a maybe. I just wanted the EFI system because it will plug right in and I won't have any problems.

I want to know your opinions. How hard will it be for all the gauges and everything to work properly with the carbed engine? In PA we only have visual inspection for emissions, and gas cap.

How is the carbed engine going to differ from the TBI system with the workings of the car? What about the brake vacuum and everything? I'd really appreciate everything, I'm trying to make this into a somewhat fun/powerful daily driver. Not taking it on long trips, but I want durability of this engine with the fun horsepower and torque.

Please, flood me with information. lol.

 

Welcome to the thirdgen.org family.

More like 3500 pounds.

Forget dual exhaust. More trouble than it's worth, no place to tuck it, ruins ground clearance. Go for exhaust for the following application: '86-'90 TPI single cat. Yes, I know that isn't what you've got, but that's the best for our chassis and for mild performance. Recommendations: Headers - Hooker 2055HKR shorty headers with y-pipe. Catco 9118 direct-fit cat. Whatever 3" exhaust from there on back that turns your crank (Hooker Aerochamber, Dynomax, Edelbrock, all fine, Flowmaster American Thunder probably not the best flowing).

The 290 horse Goodwrench 350 is okay, but not that great. Consider following this route instead https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tbi/...i-buildup.html . The TBI isn't that bad of a system, it was just never fully exploited for performance. It would be a lot simpler and cheaper to go this route than what you suggested, and easily pass all aspects of emissions. That is on the TBI forum, by the way, a good place to get good info on that system.

You'll probably hear plenty of "convert to carb". You could do that. I've got carb only because that was the system I had. If you convert to carb, you're going to have to change other things (fuel system, ignition, torque converter lock-up, etc.). Keep the TBI, those things won't need major changes.