New here. I have been trying to decide what to do for more performance on my 1988 Formula with a TBI. I have decided I want to keep it IM legal and keep it as simple as possible. As far as I have seen this is the place to get the right info.

What I need to know?

1. Can I put an edelbrock TBI intake directly on the heads that come on the ZZ4?

2. I assume that I will need a chip burned for the engine specs, but will the original computer work ok?

3. I also assume I will need to put 350 injectors in the throttle body?

4. I plan on shorty headers with the AIR injection and y-pipe any sugestions on what brand is best. Also plan on a 3" cat back .

5. Can I use the new distrubiter that comes with the ZZ4 or do I need to use the original out of the 305?

Any info is much appreciated. Happy Holidays to all from The North Pole in Alaska

 

Okay, I'll answer best I can. 1)Not without modification. You'll need to modify the intake. The angle of the four center bolts on your intake are different than the angle of the four center bolt holes on the heads. I believe all you have to do is re-drill the intake. 2)No, the original computer will not work okay. I know because I had a Vortec 350 with a ZZ4 cam and it ran terrible on the stock ecm. 3)Your throttle body is the same as the 350 throttle body. Yes, you will need 350 injectors or even the 65 or 68 pound injectors from a Caprice police car. 4)Hooker 2055 with y-pipe from Jet Hot. The fit is really nice and they've got a good coating on them so you don't burn up everything in your engine bay. Expensive but accept no less. I used a Hooker 3" cat back but I like the Flowmaster sound better. 5)Use your 305 distributor. The distributor that comes with the ZZ4 is for a carb application and will not plug directly into your wiring harness not to mention I don't think it will function if you splice it into your harness. Your original distributor should be fine unless you plan on lots of oval track racing.

 

Do you have a ZZ4 laying around that you're going to use or do you plan on purchasing one? You can probably get the same or similar power numbers out of a build where you don't have to modify the intake. I had a 383 hydraulic roller built using aluminum Vortec heads and the GMPP Vortec TBI intake. It should make somewhere around 375 to 385 horsepower with a computer compatible cam from CompCams. It's in the car now but haven't gotten it started yet.

 

Last one. I promise. To keep it simple with the least amount of headaches and good power. Get an L98(350 engine that came in the TPI cars) and swap it in. Everything will bolt right up with an Edelbrock TBI intake and no modifications necessary. With the headers and cat back, an adjustable fuel pressure regulator to turn up the fuel pressure a bit and an open element air filter. This will easily push you past 250 horsepower. Maybe even up to 275 with some chip tuning. Tuning an L98 will be much easier than tuning a ZZ4. I think you would be happier in the end. Just my opinion and my experience with the ZZ4 cam and TBI.

 

The last f-Body I had was a 84 Z-28 it was a burn I rebuilt I put a ZZ3 in it with 3.73 and a 5-speed it was a blast to drive. Last fall I came across this 88 formula and even though it was TBI instead of TPI it was clean enough I couldn't pass it up. I have muttered arround with different ideas, I have a gen5 427 tall deck 4 bolt main engine sitting in the garage along with a 85 305 TPI out of an IROC and a goodwrench 350 in the crate. I decided I wanted to try to keep this a little simpler than the other projects I got. I just want a daily driver with a good system to take my kid out cruising. My other projects need alot of time and My son who is really into cars I want to start teaching him how to work on them is almost 8 and the major resto work on my 68 chevelle even though I've allready painted it is to intensinve for him.

I saw you posted again. I hate trying to multi task and keep my thoughts.

What could I do with that L98 for a cam that is easily tunable to get me in the 300-325 range?

I assume I still need to do the injectors, computer and a chip?

I really appreciate the info I have been away from the cars for a while to busy building houses. but hey no house pmt!! Now I just got to build a new shop.

Thanks

Doug

 

another issue with the ZZ4, is that you won't have a working EGR Valve, so forget emissions. as for a cam, many budget minded people are turning to the LT1/4 cams, for an easy to tune cam.

 

Actually the ZZ4 engine can pass emissions without the EGR valve. Just hook up everything and disable it in the tune. The cam will provide all the EGR the engine needs.

 

Depending where he is - he may fail visual - functional portion of emission test. To keep smog ****'s happy he needs to have EGR connected and plumbed to exhaust. As Fast355 said EGR functionality can be easily disabled in EPROM.
In Cali, during bi-annual test techs used to verify EGR functionality by applying vacuum to EGR with a hand vacuum pump. This used to be the case during 80's and 90's. I have not seen them to do this functional verification as of late. The only functional checks they perform (in OC where I live) are SES and gas tank cap.
All of these emission testing procedures very from state to state and in Cali which air basin your car is registered in. To me it is just another excuse for government to empty our valets without any oversight. Do not get me wrong I like clean air, but why do I have pay when factories half way around the world are belching more smog and crud into jet stream than ever before possible?
Marry XMAS.

 

Hey Guys this has been alot of help. I live in North Pole Alaska and because of the extreme cold our emmissions regs are pretty harsh. I belive we are secound to Cali. It looks like the best bet for this project at this time is to look twards the L98 350 with the exhust and maybe a mild cam upgrade.

Any sugestions on what a good cam to bump up to 300-325 horse would be. I would perfer roller.

Do I still need the different computer or can I just do a chip? If so what do I need and is the pin out on the harness the same?

Those Hooker 2055's do they have the air injection fittings?

Thanks

 

I forgot about the LT4 cam. With some 1.6 rockers on an L98 that should get you to your desired horsepower levels The 2055's have the air injection fittings. If you want to read some good info, look at the budget tbi build by Fast355 in the stickies. I learned a lot from that sticky and I'm sure others will chime in with more good info.

Gene

 

I forgot about the chip. You don't need a different computer. You'll just need to modify the programming in the chip. You'll need to purchase the equipment to datalog and burn your own chips. I use EBL which is a modified TBI computer with high speed datalogging, an Ostrich and a Burn1(burns the chip). In your case with the stock ECM, I believe you would need an adapter, a couple of electronically eraseable PROM chips, a Burn1 and an ALDL cable. Go to www.moates.net. That's where I got al my stuff and the EBL I got from dynamic efi. If you've got more questions about this stuff just ask and I or someone else will answer to the best of our knowledge.