a couple months ago my friend askd me to beef up his ride(91 camaro)... the car was in good condition but the tired old 180,000+ miled 305 tbi was on its last breaths...being my first time working on a tbi engine i did my homework a little...went to a few sites and learnd exactly how tbi's work...with some confidence i pulled the greasy 305 out of the rs...took it apart and analized it a bit...come to find out this little guy is a roller engine...nice...i thought of salvaging the engine...but the small dish pistons and the bent rod made mind up for me...the decision was made to build a beefier 350...a call to wholesale engines.com made that happen...we ordered a 350 short block assembly...made sure it was a roller block cuz i wantd to salvage the lifters from the 305...anyway the new engine showd up flat top pistons all assembled very nice costing less then a grand...nice ...took me a while to pick a cam but i ended up slappin in comp cam CS 266H-R14 the specs are 210/220 at 050...266/276...500/.510 lift with 114lsa...hope that was a good pick...anyway the lifters and lifter retainer were cleaned and reused...that saved me a couple bucks there ...i was in a budget here but i sure in hell wasnt gonna put those small port heads on this new 350...it needed more so we ordered a set of gm vortecs...there cheap and i heard they make good power...along with that came a set of 1.5 aluminum roller rockers covered by some nice valve covers and toped with a edelbrock vortec performer rpm...underneath i installed a high flow oil pump and with a little cleaning and some fresh paint i reused the 305's oil pan...now the engine was ready...after droppin it in i bolted on the pulley assembly, headers, ignition, and tbi set up i crossed my fingers and turned the key...nothin ...after a good inspection i realized we werent gettin fuel...but weeks before i had installed a new high flow fuel pump...come to find out the damn relay was shot..so a new one was slap in...next try thing fires right up...nice too...after awhile we bolted up the 5speed back in and now the car runs strong...nice idle too...the cam is very noticable...the computer seems to b fighting with the engine a bit...needs to b tuned...i notice that the tbi seems to be holding some power back...i installed a 30 psi fuel pressure regulator spring and that helpd alot...it runs a bit rich tho...later on i'll up grade the tb to one of those big bore ones...but cuz of low funds the old one will have to do for now...the thing revs to 6000 no problem...but the power cant really b felt cuz the lack of posi...in third gear it pulls hard tho...i also had put in a nice mcleod clutch kit in it...really stiff pedal...nice ... before this build i didnt have too much faith in the tbi system but now i know u can pull some nice power outta these things...i know of atleast one 5.0 stang thats seen the backlights of the camaro already ...for all u tbi guys out there i'd like to know wat u think bout this build...suggestions, questions or comments let me know...hope i made u guys proud

 

needs a tune...

Check out craigmoates website.

And read stickies. above is "come on in" and read up on stickies in DIY Prom.

First step is the datalogging cable(buy or make) and second is download winALDL or TunerproRT.

Are you running that spring at 30 lbs fuel pressure?

 

i dnt know the spring is rated at 25-30 psi...
i just opened it up and installed the new one...
i dnt have a fuel press gauge...
ive seen them installed on the inlet line but how does that work?
doesnt the gauge have to be after the regulator and before the injectors?

 

Are the vortecs you ordered already modified for higher lift cam? if not stock vortecs are only good for about .470 -.480 lift before they bind on the valve seats.

sounds like a good budget build, i was thinking of doing a similar tbi/vortec sbc when my s10 needs a new engine (although the tbi 4.3 just wont quit). Awhile back Chevy Hi-performace mag did a vortec/tbi 305 and 6 spd in a 92 rs, if i remember right that car ran 13's and got like 26mpg.

 

Your quote: i installed a 30 psi fuel pressure regulator spring and that helpd al

What spring did you use? In the big block truck GM used 2 diff springs. low press and high. Is your spring aftermarket?

FP reg is downsteam of the injectors. FP gauge is between the reg and injectors. I run aftermarket FP reg/gauge independent of TBI unit.. There is a sticky or thread on the addition of gauge to stock TBI unit somewhere.

 

none modified heads...ya i heard of that binding problem but i couldnt go with such a small cam...at full lift the springs seemed like they had a good amount of clearance...seems to run fine but i'll cross my fingers...

i ordered the fp reg spring from tbiparts.com SPR Performance