ItalianZ32

First time posting in a long time. I am looking to put a 350 in my 92 camaro RS 5 speed. I am currently looking at 2 motors for sale that are about the same price. One is a custom built carbed 350 that just came out of an 82 camaro and the other is a 350 tpi out of an 88 iroc. I am not planning on doing this swap myself and wanted to just go over what I will need to make this as cheap as possible as far as labor costs are concerned.

I was planning on going with the 350 tpi for cost reasons. I have researched these boards and it looks like I should be able to just use the 88 iroc motor with all accesories and the fuel pump from the 88 iroc. My questions arise when it comes to the wiring harness, ecm and prom. I plan on getting a harness and ecm from a 90-92 camaro to use instead of the wiring harness from the 88 iroc. The only thing I planned on doing to the motor is to put in a more aggressive cam.

Here are my questions now that I have given some background.

1) will I need to do anything to my prom or can I use the prom from the 88? (don't know much about this)
2) will the 90-92 Wiring harness be a direct swap for me or does it matter that it obviously comes from an automatic transmission and I have the t5?
3) will my 1 5/8 headers that I have in my car now need to be replaced with the 350 tpi?
4) is it easier and more cost effective to just go with the carbed 350 instead?
5) can anyone recommend a good cam to go with?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

For the record, the 350 might have last been in an '82 Camaro, but it didn't come in the '82 Camaro. That being said, the 350 could be most anything.

The '88 TPI is the MAF system with 9th (cold start) injector. '90-'92 would be SD system with no 9th injector. There is no big difference in the TPI hardware except the presence or absence of the 9th injector, but a '90-'92 harness will not work with an '88 system/ECM. You didn't say how much of the system was included in the '88 TPI engine, but it is possible to run the '88 TPI engine-mounted hardware with a '90-'92 harness and ECM (you just won't have anything connected to the 9th injector or the MAF - leave the 9th injector in to plug the hole, and leave the MAF out).

Your '92 TBI ECM/PROM can be tuned for TPI with a TPI harness (I know someone who rewired a TBI harness to run TPI). Most people just get a TPI PCM/harness, but it can be done.

Auto trans doesn't make much difference. You won't be using one of the harness connectors.

1-5/8" primary headers are fine for a mild 350.

"Easier" and "cost-effective" are relative terms. Carb swaps also have issues (like fuel pressure control). EFI is typically more daily-driver friendly. You're more likely to tune a carb'd car without special equipment (EFI tuning requires special equipment). Fine tuning a carb requires either special equipment, or a lot of trial & error.

Cam recommendations require knowledge of what you expect to use the car for. However, with a T5, you're probably fine with a stock TPI cam.

ItalianZ32

The 88 iroc has just about the entire car still available so I can get the complete motor with ecm and wiring harness right out of the 88 as well as the fuel pump. Is there anything else I would need if I get all of that? I was thinking of putting a dual fan in as well, but I don't know if the 88 iroc's had that or not.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

I would buy a TPI fuel pump and install it in your '92 (along with a new pickup sock). It's a relatively high failure rate item, and putting a new pump in your existing tank would avoid dropping two fuel tanks. And I wouldn't trust the old one since I'm already going through the hassle of dropping the tank.

TPI IROCs had dual fans, TBI did not.

I'm not completely familiar with the details, but I believe TBI cars used a VSS buffer box, while TPI vehicles did not. I think the ECM received unbuffered VSS signal in both cases, but I'm just not sure. If you're keeping your T5, you may have to unwrap some tranny wires in the ECM harness and swap them over. The '88, I believe, had a mechanical speedometer and VSS on the back of the speedometer, while the '92 had an electronic speedometer with the VSS in the transmission tailshaft housing. Again, not clear on the details, or how that affects the ECM harness.