a little off this path but i wasnt sure where else to ask, I've been told the '88 L89 350TPI is supposedly only a headswap away from the engine that came from the factory in the same year corvette, with the only difference being the aluminum heads on the vette. I have the feeling thats not all that goes into it, Any insight?

 

Yes there is one other minor detail; the heads in question lack the exh crossover passage, so the EGR had to be plumbed externally instead of being internal to the intake base.

Also I seem to recall something being different about the trim piece that covers the distributor.

So yeah, HUGE differences there...

 

The biggest diff in the heads is the angle on the middle intake bolts, 72deg. not 90 but that's not a big issue. The vette fuel rails are different also, rear hookups instead of front and indeed external EGR feed from pass side header.

The vette trim piece is aluminum, the f body one plastic. the texture on the manifolds and runners seems to be different too, On the vettes I have have it's a much rougher texture.

Why would you want to swap manifolds? They are the same internal size

 

Exactly; performance (HP and torque) isn't materially different between the 2. Most of the differences are just trivial details.

 

sorry its taken me so long to get back to this, I had heard there was a good amount of performance to be gained using the vette heads and manifolds as apposed to the iron ones. although if all the other specs line up maybe just running the corvette manifolds might let things breath a little easier. what year vettes would have the right mainifolds?

 

As noted all TPI intakes flow the same.
Alum head L98's have factory shorty headers which drop down in the center like the old "ramshorn" manifolds
but they are to suit the "D" port alum heads

 

but the short headers have to outflow the square manifolds that came on the irocs right?

 

Most likely but first you have to answer the questions
1.Can you make them fit engine bay
2.Can you get them to seal on your heads

 

Its starting to sound like more trouble than its worth to make the swap, even if i did both the heads and headers(assuming they fit) it doesnt sound like it would mate up with the iroc intake manifold runners and plenum. so say everything did by some slim chance work out is there a signifigant gain in HP or weight savings to make it all worth it?

 

The heads are worth it if you do some port work on them. I would just use a nice set of aftermarket headers 4 the Fbody. Dyno Dons..

 

Vette alum heads have reg SBC bolt angle; just file out the center holes if you have a late TPI base

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