I have an 88 305 TPI and I want to repalce it with a built 383 with a large gas shot or perhaps a built 350 with an ATI Procharger, or maybe even a 383 with procharger. It depends on what it costs.

I want to buy a completely new (as in new to my car) engine that is fuel injected and ready to go in my car.
All the engine builders are offering carbs. I do not want a carb (not going to go into a discussion on that I don't want one end of).

Can ayone recommend engine builders who can provide me with a fully mapped ready to rock 'n roll high power FI engine?

I was thinking of spending $10,000 - $15,000.

The engine will be used in a weekend road car that will see some strip use (where I'd like to go as fast as poss of course).


At the moment I'm just sorting ou the best TH700 I can get hold of to replace my failing one and a decent diff (Chevy 12 bolt or Ford 9").


Anyone have any recomendations of builders?
Even better if they have sample prices on their website.

I'm in the UK so it needs to be reliable.

 

Have you thought about something like this?

This



Or this

 

I have.

Wanted a lot more power than that.

The 502 is more like it but too many mods to get the big block in there and I'd prefer to stick to a small block as that is what the car is meant to have. Plus it would mess up the handling.

 

I was gonna say, why don't you go with an LS1 if you have that kind of money you are looking to spend...

 

Since you have some beans to lay down why not start with THIS. Then get some nice phat heads, a custom ground solid roller cam, an Edelbrock Victor EFI manifold, spray it and go eat everyone's lunch while innocently proclaiming "it's just a small block".

 

Well, the 427 engine on there is $8,995 with 530HP and 540lb torque, but it still comes with a carb not fuel injection.

I want the easiest physical/electrical installation into my car and still having fuel injection.

I've looked through loads of sites but no-one seems to offer fuel injected engines.

I was looking at this: http://www.badasscars.com/engineprices/chevsb.html

Specifically the last engine on the list. I emailed them and was told fuel injection would add $2,000 in parts and cost $500 per day for mapping (no indication given of how long it would take to map it spot on). Followed by comments like Nascar uses carbs so carb is best. Well frankly Nascar is a pure racing car and my car is street driven in a variety of enviormental conditions and I don't want to have to fiddle with it. I want to tun the key and forget...

 

Care to explain the logic behind this? Or was that sarcasm?

I guess I am kind of offset by your desires. So you want to get the engine, bolt up the EFI and turn the key and have it run like a champ? Everything will require some form of tuning. Carb, EFI, or otherwise.

Why don't you build your own engine? Or are parts harder to come by in the UK? Keep in mind that kist because a crate comes for carb, doesn't mean you can't remove the top part and install an EFI system. Granted the cam will probably be something less than welcome to an EFI setup.

 

The first half of that comment came from the engine builder. The "it's on nascar so must be best".
The second half of the comment was from me.
Fuel injection is a better system for the street imho (can see an argument developing over this but I don't care it's my car) as it gives better fuel economy and better road manners (provided the mapping is there to deal with different temperatures and so on) and possibly emissions (not sure on that point). That's the reason it's on cars today.
Saying a carb is best because that's what racing cars use is a weak argument when the subject is road cars. A race car has a team of mechanics who can adjust the timing and fuelling and so on to give the best performance possible for that day. I don't want to adjust anything (one the car is mapped) to get the best performance when the weather changes. It's the whole advantage of sensors monitoring the input (and output), looking up values and adjusting the output. I love fuel injection.

I have several other reasons for wanting to stick to fuel injection, another is the fact that my car is an 80s car when fuel injection was the buzz word and that is how it came from the factory. For the same reason I'm not switching to a big block, I'm not fundamentally changing the suspension design and I'm sticking to an overdrive gearbox. Might sound stramge but I'm trying to stay true to the car's design concept. Each to his own.

Perhaps an LS6 would be the solution, not enough power really as it's "only" 405hp and I figure I'll need a lot more than that to get into the 11's while retaining streetability but I suppose I could do it in 2 stages. Stage one being getting the LS6 in there and running with perfect mapping (thanks Chevrolet engineers!) and then adding a supercharger later to get to 500-550hp.

Would be different I suppose but seems an expensive route to take for that power output is all. Plus I'd prefer a Gen I engine as opposed to a Gen III as again that is what the car came with.

 

I'm not surprised that someone said this to you. I had a know-it-all say the same to me once. My response was (after a good chuckle), "they run carbs in NASCAR because it is stipulated by the rules, fuel injection is illegal." Followed by another chuckle. The look on their dumbfounded face was priceless. . .

As you say, EFI is king for a street driven car.

RBob.

 

There is no real difference betwen a "fuel injected" engine and a "carbed" engine, below the intake manifold. The only thing inside the block that would be affected by this choice is the cam. But, any engine anybody builds for any reason using any induction would require a cam appropriate to the application to be selected; finding an engine with the right combination of parts for your goals, and then selecting a camshaft from the thousands that are available, is the same process one would go through regardless of fuel delivery method.

Exactly how much of this engine are you expecting to come already installed and tuned for you? Are you planning on re-using your TPI? Are you looking for somebody to build an engine, choose the components in question for you, sell you some other FI system, install it, and tune it for you to the extent that such a thing can be tuned before it goes in a chassis? In short, how much of the work are you expecting to be done for you, and how much are you willing to do yourself?

 

To be honest, after all the blurb and crowing on the tech page of that site about how wonderful their engines are and how much better they are than GM's crate engines I'm not inclined to send such a huge lump of money to them (it's risky enough as it is when you're in a different country, you never know if you're gonna get your goods and we're talking about a very significant lump of cash here).

I just had a though, what about Myron Cottrell (or however it's spelt) Racing Engines. ie the guys at TPI Specialities?
I have a few of their products and have been impressed with their customer service on the phone so far...

 

From reading up on here I figured I'd need to junk the TPI system as it restricts power?

What I want is a complete engine, that's oil pan to intake (ie to maf sensor or whatever, the old term being carb to pan) I want them to select the parts and build the whole thing.
I want it to come ready tuned to drop in to my car.
the physical putting engine in car and hooking up the fuel lines and electronics should be straight forward I figure. I'd like to stick to my existing wiring loom as much as possible, I appreciate my 305 prom isn't going to work but swapping prom is no problem, If it means making more changes than that (eg to a different ecu system) so be it, what must be done must be done.

I want to give the whole lot to a shop over here and say "put this in there".
There is a place not too far from me that specialises in F Bodies (one of the only ones in the UK) that have done engine swaps before, they mostly deal with carbs though. ie take your 305 tpi out and put in a 383 carb. They can build engines, but I feel an american engine builder would do a better job and frankly charge a hell of a lot less than the guys over here (who have the market to themsevles).

I want the whole smash ready to go.
Mapping done, drop engine in car, hook up the tranny, fuel lines and power, and whatever wiring to the existing or new ecu (as long as that last aspect isn't too complex).

I know it's cheaper to build the thing myself. I can't, I have no room I have no ability to do it and frankly, no inclination to. I also can't map it myself which may present a problem as in the UK the tuners over here are used to what you guys term imports.

I want 500bhp (all motor) if not 600bhp (blown I guess) as reliable and streetable as possible (ignoring big blocks) and as an easy an install as possible so the guys at this side of the pond have as little opportunity as possible to mess it up.
If I had 500BHP I'd want to stick as much gas through it as I could reasonably get away with without giving the engine a stupidly short lifespan. Street car remember. I'm paying a lot of money and want the engine to last. I do about 5,000 miles per year on the street and expect to do about 20-30 runs a year at the strip)

I don't plan on using anything higher than 3.73 hears for fuel economy reasons.

 

For as much as people bash TPIS, Myron's shop is one hell of a nice place. I live 10 minutes down the road and I know multiple people that are driving around with his motors in their cars, one is a 96 Firehawk that is pulling over 400 rwhp and the other is an 87 GTA that is pulling around 450 rwhp. Everyone at the shop is really nice and they know their stuff.

They had a crate motor that I was looking at it was a 450 hp small block but I decided to build my own. I say talk to them and see what they can build you. If you need to know anything about them you can PM me and I can find out or you can go to www.mnfbody.com and check out my car club, they sponsor us and are on the site quite often. Good luck with your monster build.

Almost forgot click on the mnfbody banner in the upper left side of the page to get to the message board.

 

Yea, I think TPIS will probably be your best bet for what you want to do. There are those here who have a pretty low opinion of them, but I've always had good service from their establishment. They answered all my cam questions before I ever laid down a penny for it. They could, conceivably, give you a complete, ready to drop in setup with a PROM burned for it and all. That's not to say it will be the BEST tune you could get (best way is to do it yourself) but I'll bet it would be "close enough" to scare the pants off ya.

So, yea, call Myron's bunch. For your situation at least, they can most likely hook you up.

YMMV

 

That engine is not emmission legal.
If you care about that.....

 

Buy a 2003/2004 Cobra then, pully swapout and ECM tune will get you 450hp at the rear wheels and about 24-25mpg.


J/K

There are guys who have taken an LS1 in a 3rd gen and with a cam swap and tuning on the motor took it down into the high 11's in the 1/4 and was able to drive it on the street without any problems with good milage using the motor and a 4L60E (if you want good mileage put a T56 into it)

Here's the link to the swap and the car itself with the runs at the track
Link