two months trying to swap over from tbi to tpi i still havent finished. i have everything. all the parts needed. the engine is sitting in the car. but i cant put the pulleys on. its an 87 block and im trying to use a 90 setup. what im having trouble with is the crank pully, its to big. itll fit but the water pump pully is... well if i turn the crank pully itll spin the water pump pully they are very very very close together. what could be causing this. are the blocks diffrent? im i putting it on wrong. i really dont want to have to buy a smaller pully. do i have to? or is ther something i can do about this? thanks for any help

 

On a serpentine setup the crank and wp pullies are pretty close together by design. Check the pic below and see how yours compares:

http://members.fbody.com/kevinc/engine98/engine2.jpg

 

thanks that helped. the pullys are closer then that. they actually make contact. so i figure they are to close. i was thinking, the 87 still has the dampaner (is that how u spell it?) i noticed it was thinner. does that have anything to do with it? do i have to swap in one for a ninety? i have one off my old tbi. anything else it could be? thanks for any help

 

also what is the tv kick down cable? cus im supposed to swtich it. im sure i have it cus i have a whole donor car.

 

The harmonic balancer doesn't change the up/down position of the crank pulley. I think maybe you got the wrong crank or water pump pulley...one's too big in diameter if they are touching.

The TV (Throttle Valve) cable connects from the throttle body to a valve in the tranny. It is used to manage line pressure in the trans according to how hard you're into the throttle. Without it you'll fry the trans in short order, and it will shift late & hard during it's short life.

You can change TV cables without dropping the trans pan but you may need a Helms manual handy to see how the linkage connects. I believe just one screw holds the TV cable housing to the trans case, then you maneuver the linkage to separate.

 

thats just the thing. im using the same pulleys from my 90 rs could another fit the water pump? i mean from my car. im sure im using the same pulleys from my 90. oh and im using the tranny from the tpi car it has a cable coming up to the engine i think thats the one. it should be fine right? and do i have to change the one that comes out of the fire wall to the tb? it seems a bit short. thanks

 

If you're using the trans from the TPI donor car, it already has the right TV cable so just hook it up to the right throttle body connector and adjust it as specified in the Tech Articles section.

For the pulley problem, the two cars are completely different...the '87 is v-belt and your '90 is serpentine so mixing up the pulleys would be hard. Double check to see they are both serpentine.

The cable that comes out the firewall and goes to the TB is the throttle cable. If it will reach the TB, and the end connector will fit the TB point, and the distance between that and the cable plate on the plenum is right, it will work. My old '82 cross fire TBI wouldn't, so I swapped in a new GM cable.

 

im pretty sure i didnt mix em up. im sure its a serpentine pulley. anything else cause the pulleys to be so close together? are there any diffrences in to position of th crank pulley on the 87 then the 90 thanks

 

I give up, totally stumped.