I have a 355 with a vortec roller cam. stock heads stock manifolds. i did all of the tbi mods, i.e. port/polish, injector spacer, adjustable fpr. gutted cat, 3 inch cat back. i tow a car and this thing really sux. it doesnt have the power i thought it would. i know i need a chip and i hear i should do it myself, but im sooo confused on what to get and when people talk about it, i hear a million different ways to go that make it worse. Does anyone have input on what i should do to make this truck tow better??? Will a good tuning job do the trick???

 

Tuning helps no matter what mods you have. The more mods you add the more chip work you will need. It is the heart and soul of these motors. To increase the power of your motor you will need to look into a cam swap. What heads does your motor have (193's?). If so you can port them to increase the power potential of those heads. A matching cam, even if mild, combined with head work should net you a solid 400+ lb ft of towing power.

 

Yeah they are the stock heads that came with the truck if that is the head number?? i figured the vortec cam would be a quick responding low rpm torque cam so i went with it. who can do me a good tune job??

 

I ran a 268 high energy, stock swirl heads, tbi, and intake. The thing was a tourque monster. Died at 5000rpm though.

 

Yeah that should still have some pretty dam good torque as it sits. What did the engine come out of? I would datalog it if you can, you might be running out of fuel. Check your fuel pressure, check your timing, what's base at?

edit: didn't see your second post, probably 193 heads then I'd assume if they came on the truck. Meant to be torque producing heads, you should have more power.

 

the motor only has like 12,000 miles on it. stock swirl ports all rebuilt with a good valve job. yeah i mean really extremly low torque is oka but the truck is a turd with or with out the trailer.
Dataloging: Thats just the thing....I have no clue when it comes to doing anything like that or i guess it has never been explained to me proporly??? would an after-market intake wake the thing up??? And just put an adaptor on it??? I really hate to mess with it too much because it runs really good, and very dependable, just doesnt have the wevo's


oh yeah, my base is at 0* then i let the ecm take over and it advances to 20 something *

 

IS your truck the one listed as:

If that's the summary of a timeslip, then for a 4000+ lb pickup with a mild cam (same as LT1 Bcar cam), stock swirl port heads, a modified exhaust, and no real ECM tuning, I'd say you are doing pretty well. You need 270 fwhp and 330 fw ftlbs to move a C/K truck (or a Bcar) to that kind of result. There must be places in Houston where you can get some tuning done. Too bad you weren't closer to DFW.

 

You did not mention what you are towing or what gearing you have.

My combo with the ported L05 193 heads, LT1 roller, headers, etc. Pulled my Jimmy on a trailer, though 80 miles of rolling hills @ 60 MPH just fine.

Oh and I have 3.08 gears, all I did was drop to 3rd.

If you want to tow real well you need 3.73 or 4.10. 3.42s are marginal when towing. With the 3.08s towing off the line acceleration is poor but when the engine gets into its mid-range, it is sweet.

The vortec cam should not require a reprogram as compared to the standard L05 cam. They are almost identical just the vortec is a roller and traps a little more cylinder pressure.

 

I would say closer to 330hp, and 400tq. Trucks are a brick wall going down the quarter.

 

actually i pulled a 350 out of there that the truck ran a 14.6 with. It was a 10:1 motor (same compression i have now) with world products s/r heds with a pocket port, bigger valves, valve job. .462-.470 inch roller cam. stock manifolds also.
little more details than that, but that is the basic. thats with a hypercrap chip also.

yeah i have a 3.08. you know now that you mention that, it really does run smooth once your up and running with the trailer, but if you need to get on it while towing, the motor sounds like its rocking and rolling.......but it's not lol.

i have a 20 foot car hauler and i tow the white nova in my sig. it weight 3200 lbs and no telling what the trailer weighs??

 

Get the lowest ratio gears you can. That alone will really help since the motor will almost immediatly be in its powerband as soon as you start off. If your engine was a cummins turbo diesel then the 3.08's would be ok, but with a 350 trying to move 8000+ lbs, its going to have a hard time getting going. Also, a higher stall stock dia. TC (with massive trans cooler) will help get it going as well.