Hey guys, Im a new member here but Ive been poking around for a while trying to figure some things out. And I was intrigued on how much great information is on this site.

I have an 86 K5 Blazer frame and body that I am "restoring" from the ground up. I HAD a 90 Blazer that rusted away, so I took EVERYTHING from that truck and planning on swapping over to the 86. When I bought the truck it came with a COMPLETE Speed Density TPI setup, 19lbs injectors, wiring harness, 2 complete intakes (perimeter and center bolt v/c), new gaskets, h/p fuel pump, the distributor, and a tuned 730 ECM (which I suppose is the greatest u can get of the ECMs).

I have MANY questions for the experts here on third gen.

First, how much of a plug and play system will this be?
The harness isnt one out of a camaro, it was made for an S10 by Howell.

The VSS, the 90 blazer had a VSS off of the transfer case, and I was planning on using the 86s interior harness so i didn't have to mess with the cluster. BUT the speedo is cable driven unlike the 90's which was DBW (in laments terms). Or should I use the botched interior harness of off the 90?

In terms of performance parts, what should I do and what can I do?
(cams, heads, etc...) Im planning on rebuilding the motor (out of the 90, one piece RMS/center bolt v/c). I want more low end than anything but power up top isn't the worst thing....I know the TPI systems are picky on cams so I don't want to buy things blind folded.

And this is more of a truck question, I know the truck motors weren't rollers but do they accept roller cam/lifters? I heard it is possible but is there truth to that? I dont know.

I guess Ill throw some pics up as well...

the center-bolt intake



the 1990 before it turned to rust



the 86 up on blocks (after I removed the frame)



the frame of the 86 before i removed all of the brackets, shocks, and steering box.



thanks guys, hopefully I can get someone to point me in the right direction!

 

the vss on the transfer case is 2k ppm the speed density you have will need to have a 4k ppm. I would go with a competition cam and ditch the 305 get a low buck 350 22injectors and have the memcal re done to a aujp broadcast code.

 

oh , as far as the roller cam. yes some tbi 1 piece rear main seal engines do. look in the valley of the engine. If you have raised bosses that are threaded it will use a factory roller cam if not you will have too pay more money out for a retrofit setup.

 

awesome, yea the injectors were just ones that came with the setup and I am planning to throw new ones in. People were telling me to just turn the pressure up or something....idk But I also heard that the buick 3.3? (IIRC) had the 22 injectors as well.

Now is there a "hybrid" speedo cable to where it has a sensor for the PCM and just a standard cable running to the speedo or is this just my imagination.lol

 

If it has a setup like that for the spedo off the 86 transfercase? the 88-92 tbi transfer cases had a 2k one that would work for maf. I wouldn't crank up the pressure and use the 19lbs safe your self the risk of a fire and get some bosch 3 from south beach not a band aid fix..

 

yea because all the speedo was, back before the VSS, was a cable going straight to the speedometer. Is there something to where I don't have to use the 90's cluster and just have the mechanical speedometer and also send a signal to the PCM.

 

Sorry to hijack the post but I just put a 5.7 TPI motor from a 1990 vette into my 1985 GMC K1500 with a 700R4. I used a painless harness, a 7730 ECM and a custom chip from Howell Engineering. Alot of other stuff to but those are the basics. I also used a 4 pulse VSS as I have the direct speedo cable, tranny to speedometer. I'll be glad to help if I can.

 

thank you

http://www.painlessperformance.com/w...rchField=60116

this is one that tunedperformanc led me to...that seems like its exactly what I need.

 

That is the one I used...

 

Forgot, you can use you stock 90 np241 2kvss the EPROM can be reptiles to expect to receive the 2k input. Easy mod to reprogram. You will need to use your stock 90 gauges or autometers they have ones that can be setup to run with almost any vss signal.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tpi/...pi-84-3-a.html

 

well did some poking around the motor today, have never had anything off of this motor. Pulled the intake, NOTHING very clean, and the valve covers..the same thing spotless!! very happy. BUT I found one thing very weird....two different casting numbers (heads). One a 191 and the other a 193...both are junk swirlys but that struck me as odd.idk

I threw the tpi intake and the valve covers, that i found in the junk yard (the ones off of the LT camaros), on the motor and "mocked" it up. Built my motivation by having that sitting next the me while i work.lol Ill post a pic tomorrow.

 

well just bumping this up,

here is the pic of the ok upper end and ishtty rusty bottom end.lol



and the suprisingly clean valley and head





Now I am being given a set of L69 heads, Im looking to get a few torques/horses out of this. Now should I go with that and build it out or just bite the bullet and get a decent set of dbl humps or an alum. set.

 

113's they are cheap bang for your buck just like zz4's, got the sppedo thing figured out pm me when you get that far.

 

yea i would LOVE to find a set of the L98s....I was talking to a friend of mine that says on the VSS there are different inputs for the different readings (2k, 4k, etc...) I have no idea, I never really looked into it. Havent been working on the truck lately because of school, and getting ready for the big vw car show this weekend.

 

mini update, picked up a torch to get rid of the crap off of the frame and get it prepped before blasting.

Also picked up a set of LT1 injectors off of a 98 Fireturd.

I also did some more measuring of my current 350....the rod end side clearance was .019", .005" off of allowable. So there goes the bottom end, and did a compression test (wet), and the lowest I got was a 110psi and the highest was a 195psi...Im starting to think this was a kerosene rebuild. So my plans have changed...a little, the block is going out to the machine shop and being punched out .030" over. And I've decided to get a nice set of 462 dbl humps..

 

welp ran into a huge wall. Pulled the heads off the block, all but one piston/cyl seems good. It has already been punched .030" over, and there are some nice scores in the cyl wall(s). #7 is the worst, there has been water in this motor, probly a crack in the block/head. The head gasket seemed OK, didnt look like water escaped it.











SO, onto plan B...picking up a vortec block assy.