They tell me I'm crazy.. anyways I've been using this place as my resource for a while, so I thought I'd sign up to make a post..

I want to take a 91 Camaro Z28 305 TPI 5 speed

to this car, I want to:

* Replace the 305 TPI with a 454 rebuilt and modded (~$3500)
* Modify the 454 to an OBD-I (ECU) computer setup.. including
all of the sensors, a TunePort Injection system (Holley maybe)
and all of the goods that come with an ECU equipped car..
* Make it driveable, and do all of this on a $8000 budget or so..


Anyways, my question is, how cheap could I find a good
91 Camaro Z28.. should I find just the body of the car, minus
engine and transmission; or will a stock 305 5 speed bolt to a 454? could I find a 5 speed that'll bolt to the 454 and still maintain
the driveshaft length?

Would converting the 454 to electronic ingition, O2, knock, MAF, MAP sensors, complete ECU setup, all be feasable? most
importantly, could it be modified to allow the computer to advance
the timing? (I've never really dabbled in timing, so not sure how
the computer does it)

The budget thing really doesn't bother me, I'll get the money
one way or another, if it takes me years.

Any answers are greatly appreciated...

 

Well the easyest way to go would be a tbi setup that would basicly swap minus alot of BFH modifications. A T5 will work but wont last long. If you go with a holley setup they make many different systems even ones that convert tbi to tpi.

 

Well I don't know if i'll need a TBI to TPI convert, the block might
not come with an intake at all, so I'd probably need an entire
TPI intake manifold to begin with.

I want something that'll flow well, very well for 7.4 liters.

Also raises the issue of computerising this block, its going to be
from the 70's, and back then a computer barely fit into a
warehouse, much less the dash of a car.

Would it be possible without extreme effort to modify this block
to accept all of the ECU sensors required to run the vehicle, including
the goodies such as O2 and knock, make the timing computer
controlled, etc? I want to take a 454 block, and make it run
on a computer, for very specific reasons.

You have 10 times more control, and alot more eaiser control over
your engine when you've got it by the circuit board.

 

your trans will bolt up to any SBC, BBC, or 90* v6. why worry about DS length, get another one or have your's cut. most 454s you find will already have hei and a lot will have all the ecm controle sensers. advancing the timing is part of what the ecm does, along with the est. i think you ought to do some more reading and research before you jump into this. you're asking some fairly basic questions and it'd help you greatly if you expand your knowledge base just a bit.

 

Most def read up some more. Your best bet for a car would be to find a rolling chassy - that is no motor or tranny. A BW t-5 will shatter under big block torque.I don't mean break I mean shatter (search under my name for a pic of what a stock 305 can do to a t5). T 56 would be the least I would use.

 

Well I havn't done too much research about the available
parts, what their limitations are. I'm all fairly new to it, and
learning as I go is apart of the process for me, nothing will
happen immediately; it's simply a project in my mind that i'm
saving my cash for.

I was pondering a tremmec 3550 5 speed, I hear they can take
a beating, but I'm not sure it'll even hold up to that, they're
rated for 400hp and 450 to 470 torque, roughly around thoese
numbers. and I'm shooting for 450 torque and 500hp when
i'm all done.

Could take me a year to complete this project, even longer,
but I look foward to the challenge, that's what makes it fun.

I wanna find a rolling chassi that I don't have to do much body
work at all to, something in good condition, not perfect, but no
real damage.

 

There is no such thing as TPI for a big block. TPI strangles a 305; it pains me to think of what it would do to a big block.

Holley doesn't make any version of TPI. They do however make the Stealth Ram, which is a certain old "street tunnel ram" intake from years ago for street rodders (a hairy-looking stick-2-carbs-through-the-hood kind of thing that didn't work at all as a go-fast piece), retrofitted with injector bungs, and a horixiontal-draft TB plenum to replace the 2 4-barrel plenums it originally came with. AFAIK they do not make this for a big block.

The big block uses the same motor mounts, same bell housing bolt pattern, and the same flywheels (subject to year-model differences of course) as the small block. So any trans that bolts to a SB will bolt to a BB.

The big block also uses the same distributors as a small block. HEI is just GM's trade name for "electronic ignition"; it works in a big block just the same as in a small block.

All you have to do is find an intake for big blocks that either comes with injector bungs, or that you could have somebody modify that way. There's no reason you can't have a knock sensor since it replaces one of the coolant drain plugs.

Like ede said, you should do a little more research, maybe go physically look at a big block or something radical along those lines, or talk to people who use them for racing and learn a little something about their parts, or possibly even look at some web sites like Edelbrock and Accel and GM and Holley and people like that, who make the parts and complete systems you need.

I would not get all wound up in what a transmission is "rated" at; the single biggest determining factor in how long one lives, is the driver. Driveshaft length is something you deal with at the very end of the process; you simply take your drive shaft to a drive shaft shop and say "take this and make it x inches long", and about $80 later you're done. It's not a "deciding factor" at the beginning of a project as to what trans to use. But a small block and a big block are exactly the same distance from mount to bell housing flange (i.e. if you take a SB out and put a BB in or vice-versa, the trans doesn't have to be moved), so you might not have to do anything to the DS at all.

Concentrate on things that matter instead of trivia. I'd suggest figuring out the exhaust system as a great starting point.

 

Alright, I apologise for all of my uneducated guesses/ignorant statements
I'm new to all of it, i've had my hands in some of the mess for a while now
and I like what I see, so I'm experimenting with more stuff.


I want to go with some kind of large near-exact fuel injection
system. my original plan was TPI, but like you said, it does
strangle a 305 (I've worked on a 305.. not much, but a little)

I don't know if I want to do TBI, the idea of two injectors for
8 cylinders just doesn't fancy to me, MPFI maybe? I'm not sure
what the best option would be, that's why I've got so many
questions. Everyone around in this town has their own opinions
about how things work and what the think might be a problem
which all contradict each other, and most of the time they're not
even anywhere close to the right answer;

Only to add to the fact that I don't listen to the jest of them for
this reason. When you're told your car won't start because the
starter solenoid on the starter is shot (and you know it isn't,
because the solenoid clicks when you attempt to start) AND
you have multiple people attempt to back this up, you know
some people don't know what the **** they're talking about.

Is there any specific resource(s) online to where I should look
to learn more, specifically about intake systems, and the ECU
in general.

I was under the impression that a 454 did not come with any
electronic systems at all, and was not compatable with an ECM
as stock.

 

Yea R8 is correct I'nm wrong but then again I try to exclude as many wires as possible so FI is not my choice, www.mrgasket.com look for accel, I think holley has a similar one but edelbrock has them also, these convert TBI to MPI, in a sence similar to tune port 8 injectors.

www.jegs.com/
#350 -3563 #350-3565. Or accel #310-74102, #310-74106

 

Some 454s came with no electronics whatsoever. Some came with regular carbs & HEI. Some came with electronic fuel injection. Kind of like the 350. But AFAIK, none of them has ever come with direct port injection, from the factory. But that has nothing to do with whether it can be done or not, or whether it's "compatible" with electronic control or not.

Yes, I'm rather familiar with them.

 

Thanks for all the feedback, one day I'll have this done, goona
take me a while to earn the money though.

That's half the fun, having something you can say is all yours
and all your work and your time and your money, with no
ties to someone else.

What I realise, though, is that the driving force behind it
has to be incentive, and feasability.

With enough time and money, you can do ANYTHING.