I am still looking around for a complete TPI system for sale, so if anyone has one TELL ME.

Anyways, I have a carbeurated 305 in my 83 Z28. It's not the original motor, it had the Crossfire Injection in it.

Right now I have an Edelbrock 600 cfm performer series carb, with a Holley Street Dominator Intake..

I am seriously wanting to go TPI. And I need to know EVERYTHING.

I need to know how to wire up the computer to get power, where I need to get the power from, how I need to fuse it, if I need to..

What do I do with all of my vacuum lines? Like the vacuum advance for my distributor, or the vacuum for my brake booster.. all of that stuff.

Does TPI use a different kind of distributor, if so what do I need for it?

I already have the computer diagnostics port still mounted in the car, is it possible to hook that up, or does TPI use a completely different connector than the Crossfire Injection that my car had?

I'm sure there are more things I need to know, so whatever you know, teach me the ways. I want to do this right the first time, and please don't tell me to take it to a shop, I like to do my own work.

 

why would you want to subject yourself to all of this? Lots of time and money and will things ever be exactly right?

I pulled all my t.p.i. stuff out of my car in favor of a carb for my 383ci. I would hate to be going the other way like putting one in. To make this system work like the factory has intended you will need 100% of everything from a donor car. Including the check engine light and adl connector to monitor the systems working condition.
so without hacking this up, it will be alot of work. What are you looking to gain out of all of this? better cold starts? 1-2 mpg maybe at best?
Do a search lots of people have done this type of thing. I personally dont feel its worth it.
There are plenty of stand alone fuel injection setups on the market currently that you would be better off with. You would also get support from that manufacturer when things get tricky on the install.

 

I will probably see more MPG than that, or so I hope.

I want a few things out of it, I have a remote start that came with my alarm that does me no good with a carb, and my in-town gas mileage sucks horribly, I figure it will help me see a descent gain for in town. And also, my carb isn't tuned right and it gives the car starting issues after the car has been warmed up.

I want to do this so I can learn what it's like, really learn about my car.

If you wouldn't mind, could you show me some of these other stand alone systems?

I already have a check engine light, what is the adl connector?

 

starting issues after the car is warmed up is usually a timing issue

disconnect the vacuum advance and plug it

set the timing to about 4-8 deg avance

you will start to forget about TPI if your car ran right.

you would be amazed at how a small block can run if properly adjusted.

 

I'd take any flavor of EFI over a carb any day for a daily driver. If I were building a cheap drag car then I'd consider a carb.
With EFI, drivability is better throughout the year, lower emissions, better performance across the board (without tinkering all the time). To me, comparing a carb to EFI is like comparing indoor plumbing to an out house and a hand pump. Granted carbs are quick, easy. You can get a car running (not well) with little knowledge but they come with a whole different set of problems, many you will see frequently or need to learn to live with. EFI was invented to overcome the numerous shortcomings of a carb.

Installing TPI is not rocket science and if you get a harness to swap then 90% if the electrical takes care of it's self. There are many written words on the subject. I will see what I can hunt down for you but I would encourage you to make sure you understand thoroughly what it is your going to do before you start.

Once installed correctly, you will have the beauty of one crank starts in any weather with instant drivability. Tremendous low end torque and when your hood is opened you will have what in my opinion is one of the most impressive looking fuel delivery systems ever created.

 

I agree with TexasSilhouette!
I converted my 67' Camaro to TPI 6-7 years ago along with a 700R4 trans for over-drive. Found a doner 88' TPI setup off of a 350 sb. Did all the work myself, and have been enjoying troublefree high MPG (22 hiway 18 city) usage ever since. About 80,000 miles on the system and never a problem. I am 59 years old and have had many carburated cars in my life time, but have never experienced anything like TPI. Earlier this year I converted my 91' chevy truck from TBI to TPI as well.
It's not cheap to do right, but it pays off in the long run. Start looking around for a doner TPI intake,runners, plenum, throttle body, and ECM, preferably from an 86-89 MAF. Plan on using an aftermarket wire harness like Painless. Plan on buying ALL new sensors, and have your fuel injectors cleaned and blueprinted. I spent about $1200 on my truck conversion, but I had some stuff laying around that helped cut the price down as well as the distributor and coil on the TBI motor worked with TPI. You will need to pull the fuel tank and install a high pressure fuel pump for TPI. You will need 3/8" fuel line for the inlet and a 5/16" return to the tank. I recycled the 5/16" fuel line to return and added a 3/8" line for the inlet.

Start searching around for good info on how to do the job. Painless has some pretty good info, but there is plenty of info now compared to when I did my 67' in 1999!!!

 

Excellent analogy! Right on the money - Right down to the end product. With a properly installed EFI, all the problems are down the drain. With a carbed system, the eventual result is a big pile of... well, you get it.

 

Exactly why I want TPI. The car is my DD and fuel injection is just soo much nicer.

So, where would I begin with all of the wiring to get power to the computer and stuff? I may have a TPI setup found, still waiting on a reply.

I will have many questions once I get the TPI in my hands.

 

Id imagine its just wired to a switched 12v, but I dont know the fuse size.
Dump the vac advance line - see next answer. Brake booster hooks up to back of TPI plenum.
TPI uses a computer controlled HEI in two flavors. Earlier cars used the big cap HEI and later TPI used a divorced coil. Both pretty same thing just pick your flavor.

 

With a painless wire harness you need 1 12v batt and 1 12v ignition connection. Check your fuse/junction box for spares - 25amp will do. The 12v ignition must provide 12v when ignition is on and when in crank/start mode. Be carefull not to hook it up to an accessory connection!
All your wiring questions will be answered with the painless manual. You can get it off their web site free!

 

Wow you guys really hate your carbs. I ran my 305 t.p.i. for 3000 miles before tearing into the car. The only difference I notice is the cold starts. They are a little more involved. To go from carb to t.p.i. seems like a waste. just buy a good l98 t.p.i. car and sell the one you have. there was one down the road from me at an asking price of $2500.00 this seems like an easier solution.

Trust me to go and do this right it is not an overnight adventure. For someone just learning this could be a real long frustrating project.

 

I agree with rjt76, it would make since to just buy a 3rd gen with TPI.
My conversions were time consuming, but I had no choice because a 67' Camaro and a 91' Chevy truck didn't come with TPI.!

 

Why just take the easy way out and go buy a car that already has it? Especially when this car has alot of sentimental value to me. Taking the easy way out sucks, how will I learn if I take the easy way out?

I'll go look around on Painless's website and see what I can find as well, get a better idea of what I will be spending. And please guys, just answer my questions, not tell me what you would do/what you think I should do.

This is what I want to do, this is what I'm going to do.

 

Hey ling how soon do you want to get your hands on a tpi setup? I'm considering parting out my 88 ta.

 

If you go TPI, i think it would be easiest to Megasquirt it with a custom harness.

I think the hardest part about the whole swap would be the harness. By using a Megasquirt you can run a very simple custom engine harness.

 

I would just answer your questions but I really wanted you to have a good feel for what you are getting into.

Good luck with your project. There is a book out thats called the tpi swapers guide(I think) good info in the book I use to have it.

 

Well, I may have talked the g/f into getting me one for a christmas present, sooo.. sometime before or around christmas hopefully.

I would like Megasquirt, but I don't really need it nor want it. I probably don't have the internals to support it anyway.

Where would be a good place to look for that book?

 

I will probably make a decision on parting this thing out about then, if I do part it out I will have all the wiring harness, computer, intake, plenum, runners, maf, everything you would need to put it all together. Do you live in Gunsmoke ( Dodge City ) ? If so I'm not too far from ya as I live in Colorado.
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By the way I also have an Accel DFI computer and harness if your interested.

 

Yup, live in Dodge City. What part of Colorado?

Accel DFI computer? Does that just replace the stock one? What kind of advantages does it have?

 

Live in Estes Park, just west of Loveland. The accel computer replaces the stock computer and you dont use a maf sensor it comes with a map sensor instead. The advantage is it is programmable where a stock computer isnt. Stock computers you will have to change the chip or find someone to burn new chips if you plan any mods to the motor.
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I dont think you would need that accel dfi setup, just thought I'd throw that out there though. Pretty technical if your just getting into fuel injection.

 

Check this website out:
www.chevythunder.com

 

I will defenitely be doing some reading on that site, thanks a ton for that one.

Edit: It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to stick with stock for now once I learn the ins and outs of the system, then maybe I could start upgrading it later on.

What kind of price would you want for all of it if you parted it?

 

not sure yet, just started to think about it. I'll find ya or post when I figure it out ok?

 

Sounds cool to me.

 

i went from a LG4 Carb to a TPI setup using a stock Speed Density harness, if you can read a wiring schematic you shouldnt have any problems, the only hard part of the stock harness is you have to wire the aldl differently and bypass the check engine light driver, supply 12V for both injector banks, TCC ect, the only problem i see in this project would be tuning, unless you use an older maf setup, i had to tune my setup but my engine is not stock.

 

You have many options for EFI control "ECU's". The cheapest is factory ECU... and it is well supported on this site. Depending on the modifications of the engine it takes some time/experence getting it tuned correctly. If you have a fairly stock motor, it really can be plug and play.

If you want to get into more tuning down the road then look into a Megasquirt or Holley 950. They are the cheapest controllers on the market and are easy to tune with good flexibility.

Unless you can find a complete donor car with TPI, I also would recommend spending the money on the Painless harness. Their stuff is outstanding with very good instructions and labels. It will make your job much easier and you will not spend as much time chasing down issues from a 18 year old wiring harness.

Get the "TPI Swappers Guide" book at Amizon.com. I have this book and it is a wonderful source of information on TPI. It covers all the sensors, wiring and error codes in good detail.

Good luck...It is a lot of work but you will learn so much from it.