Alright, after weeks and weeks of researching this I have finally ordered everything I am going to put on my 88 355 TPI. I have a set of 2.02/1.60 AFR 190 heads, a comp cams 08-464-8 (202/212 .550/.546 113lsa), 1.6 comp cams rr's, a cold air intake off ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ksid=p3907.m29)
not sure if it will be functional or not but it sure does look good, and a custom made prom. I already have an AFPR, a MSD coil, cat back dynomax exhaust, the stock 22 lb. injectors, and everything else is pretty much stock. I just rebuilt the motor and bored it .30 over about 20,000 miles ago. What do yall think about this? I am going to port my intake and plenum, but I dont want to lose any bottom end torque, so I think I'm going to mildly port my intake and siamese the plenum.

 

not sure if theres any interest or not, but thought id keep yall posted. i have the entire top end off my engine including the heads. I went ahead and bought a set of SLP runners and some 30# injectors. the exhaust manifolds were no fun getting off, but I won. I compared them side by side with the headers and y-pipe, and there really is no comparison. I cant believe GM would put something like that out from the factory. Very excited about my engine build. Im going to hold off on gears (2.77 right now) and a TB because I can do those very easily in the future. For what its worth, I've only, and I use that word liberally, put 1500 bucks in my motor so far.

New Mods:
190 cc AFR cluminum heads
Comc Cam 202/212 .550/.546 113lsa
1.6 comp cams rr's
slp runners
ported and polished SLP runners
polished throttle body
polished alternator
ported and painted intake
hooker 2055 shortie headers
30# ford injectors
cold air intake

comments?

 

I'm not positive, but I thought (I know - scary ) that if you siamese the plenum and runners, you would lose some bottom end torque but gain power in the upper RPM band. I would recommend doing a search on siamese before you cut into anything just to make sure.

Hope this helps.

 

UPDATE: I just installed all these mods in my car, and it runs like a brand new car. I haven't even done any computer mods. I think it runs so good because I put a smaller than usual cam in my car, emphasizing bottome end torque. Acutal installed mods were:

-AFR 190 heads
-Comp Cams Cam
-30 lb injectors
-SLP runners
-Ported plenum
-Ported intake
-TB coolant bypass
-Air Intake
-Headers, y-pipe and cat-back, all 3"
-1.6 RR's

Will break tires loose at 40 mph now. makes me happy.

 

The advertised duration was smaller but a .050" and higher up I bet it was bigger. Also the lift is way higher. I was thinking about that cam in my Tahoe but went a different route because of the work that woud be required with the Vortec heads. Yep, you should have plenty of torque.