I was curious. What do you think the best site to find crate engines is? Any suggestions on favorite's to swap in?

Me too............... best price I have so far for a ZZ4 is $3779 before shipping from crate engine depo. Any one know of a better deal??

I bought my 350 HO Deluxe from Jeg's, which was the cheapest I could find.

JamesC

Can I bolt my TPI on this: http://www.crateenginedepot.com/ZZ4-...2609-P4C2.aspx

It also says for pre emmissions vehichles...what problems will I run into?? If I put all the smog and emmissions stuff on the new engine it should be OK?? Help!!!

Obviously you have a 350 HO Deluxe now. You still have the T5 tranny right? Is it your basic T5, or beefed up? I was just curious if that transmission has or will have problems handling the power of the 350 HO Deluxe.

The T5 is a stock, non-World Class, transmission. If I thrashed the car, the T5 would be no doubt go south, I think, pretty quickly; but I'm an old fart. If I break the tires, it's an accident! Down the line, maybe a T56 and 3.73's.

JamesC

James C........... Hello from another old Kansas guy. I have the T56 and 3.73's in my 91 Z now and it's great! I had to go to more work than you will because I started with an automatic. It should be a piece of cake for you. 6th gear is so high you could even go with 4.11's with out a problem............ if I had it to do over I probably would. What part of Ks are you in? I'm in Topeka.

Mlanzo.......... If I'm not mistaken the heads on the ZZ4 are the same ones that came on the L98 vette motors, and they have the old style bolt pattern for the intake. If your base is 87 or newer you would have to modify it or buy one from a vette or an earlier (85,86) TPI. Lots of people have modified them though, with out much of a problem.

I'm in Belleville, north of Salina near the NE line. My children both live in Lawrence, so I pass through Topeka frequently. Do you belong to the Kansas F-Body Association?

JamesC

Yes I belong.................. sort of................... It seems here lately all they want to do on their board is talk about getting drunk, and disparage the import tuner drivers Last year they got together in Topeka from time to time and I went to a couple of GTG's This year not so much............. "lets get drunk, and make fun of ricers" is more what they have been planning. Don't get me wrong, I was young once. There is a national Camaro meet at the Corvette Museum in KY next month........... I would really like to go.

I once purchased a 68 Camaro parts car in Bellville. I was working on a 68 convert. That was probably 20 years ago......... back when you could afford to own a first gen.

I go to the Cruise on Sat night from time to time. Tonite should be a good one.......... the drags are in town I went for a couple hours today, but it was HHHot!

Would there be any issue with bolting a TPI on this and using a stock 350 computer, injectors etc..?

350 Crate Engine 290 HP HO 12499529
http://www.crateenginedepot.com/stor...29-P824C2.aspx

There are people on this board that know this stuff forward and backward...... I'm only pretty good at it, but here goes....... It could be done, and the cam dynamics are probably not so radical that it would cause a big problem with tuning or emissions. That said the cam is designed for a carb, and may not be optimal for EFI. It is an "early style" block and heads (not one piece rear main, or center bolt valve covers) The heads may not flow as well as 5.7 TPI heads. Your intake base will have to have the center holes drilled out to fit it for 87 and up TPI. This motor has a flat tappet cam and lifters, not a roller cam like a L98. It may not even have the castings to put a GM roller cam in it. The roller cam is a nice thing to have. I looked in another site and found more specs. The compression ratio is 8.5 to 1......... kind of low.

Sounds like there must be a better alternative then to make it work. Does GM offer a crate 350 that would allow the use of TPI easily?

I saw that same site offered a rebuilt 305 for camaro's but Id really prefer to go with a 350

If some one wants to jump in and bail me out go ahead, but I have searched several sites and I don't see a ready to run replacement engine for a Third gen with a TPI. They used to sell a L98 short block with no cam or timing parts for $1100, but it has been discontinued.

I'm pretty sure the after market base manifolds are drilled to work with both styles of heads............ but if you are going to do that you might as well buy a base for vortec heads for about the same money, and go with this..................


http://www.crateenginedepot.com/stor...282-P73C3.aspx

You could swap the truck cam out if you want, but I saw the cam specs for a vortec truck motor and they were pretty stout............. just a thought.

This months Chevy High Peformance mag has a hole crate motor section .

JB22........... I was looking for something else and I found your motor!

I didn't check into it, but here is the link:

http://www.goautocenter.com/300hp_tpi_1987-89.htm

have fun

Awesome, thanks for the heads up