I don't mean to be a double dipping but I figured I'd ask in this section as well since it pertains to TBI as well as ask in the prom section for my issue.

Backstory, I found a 350 from a 1999 yukon in a junkyard about 4 years ago. I was getting ready to throw it in my Camaro when I found the first 7.3 I put in my Bronco was bad. Well almost immediately after fixing that, I got a call from my recruiter that I'd be heading off for basic. Fast forward two years after that and I finally got around to putting that 350 in my Camaro. I just finished bolting everything back up but the car really doesn't want to run well. I did manage to get it to stay idling for the most part (sometimes still dies), but it really wants to die if I try moving it. I suspect some of my issues may be coming from me setting the valve lash too tight, since I tried adjusting it when the motor was out and cold, but I know that can't be everything.

My current setup:

350 with 062 vortec heads
Edelbrock performer manifold with TBI adapter plate
#61 injectors set at 25psi
hooker 2055 headers with y-pipe an 3" exhaust
elgin 1136 cam (210/215 @ .050, .462/.470" lift and cut on a 110* LSA advanced to a 106* ICL)
EBL tuneable computer

I'm basically useless with tuning, so I don't know my best course of action to take on getting this driveabe. I tried using my old tune and adjusting some values, but it wouldn't idle at all with that.

With my old tune on the 305, I had the same camshaft/exhaust (re-used it in this motor). Are there any tables I can use (copy/paste) to my new bin that will work with the 350? Or does the configuration of the heads/motor change too much that everything has to be heavily edited? (You can maybe tell I don't know what I'm doing with tuning)

I figured that since I have the same camshaft, the valve timing would be the same so some tables (like my SA tables) would be re-usable, and I could re-use a bit of the .bin file to move over to my new file, but I don't know enough about this so I could be completely off.

I took leave this week to work on our house before the miserable wyoming winter ruins my life, so I do have time to mess with this thankfully. I figured my first course of action will be to re-adjust the valve lash and see if that's what's bogging the motor down so much, but I know the tune is in pretty bad shape. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Pretty sure its getting too much fuel try 18psi.

 

I'll bump the fuel pressure down a bit and see if that helps! I thought I had it set to about 18-20, but when the car started to idle better, the fuel pressure gauge increased where it sits around 25 when idling.

 

I ended up setting the fuel pressure to about 19, looked over the valve lash, and readjusted timing.

I think the main problem was I had the timing way off..... I thought I had it set around 0* but it was significantly after 0.

I ended up resetting the timing to around 10* advanced and adjusted the tune accordingly and was able to drive around! However, I went to tune and use the VE learn feature, and forgot to plug back in the ESC module so I don't think all the datalogging/tuning will really mean anything since that was unplugged...

However the car is driveable now so that's good!

 

I would expect that setup to need ~24 psi to adequately fuel it at WOT.

 

Hmm okay I'll see if I can raise the fuel pressure again. When I had the gauge initially hooked up to the adapter (between the hard line and the rubber line near the driver's side "frame rail"), the gauge was reading around 24-26psi when the engine was running. This was when the motor still wasn't running right (timing was off) and I couldn't drive it around.

I maxed out the spring adjustment before putting the TBI back on the motor during the insallo, but I haven't touched it since. (I did the adjustable fuel pressure regulator mod) The fuel pressure seems to be staying pretty steady at 19psi since I got the timing right. I'm thinking I'll either try and look for a different spring to throw in there, or potentially look for an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator I can hook up in-line or something. I find it kind of odd that when the car was struggling to idle (since the timing was way retarded at probably 10+ ATDC when I first threw the distributor in), my fuel pressure gauge was reading around 25psi, but now that the engine is idling better and decently happy-ish, the fuel pressure is at 19psi. I can't recall if I put in a different spring in the regulator when I did the adjustable regulator mod, but I want to say it's the stock spring in there right now.

I have a future goal which I know is far from practical/easy, but I would like to attempt to throw a turbo on the motor later on down the road. This definitely would be a bit later, because I want a little better handle at tuning first obviously, and I'd need to make custom piping and a TBI "hat", so my welding will need some practice for sure as well. I have two spare 7.3 turbos (from my Bronco) that I'd like to try and plumb in and get working. I know a turbo is going to require an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and a 2 bar MAP sensor. I may just look into getting an adjustable fuel pressure regulator now that's vacuum referenced that I can plumb into where I put in the fuel pressure test port or something.

 

If you fork over 75-100$ to a tuner on a lunch brake they may be willing to help you with a baseline to work from! And go from there. Just an idea!

 

Yeah I'll definitely look into something like that. Unfortunately, I don't think Cheyenne Wyoming has much for tuners, so I have to look at Northern Colorado for that.