morepowerjoe

I have a 86 Camaro that originaly came with a carbed 305, and I was wondering if anyone has ever swapped in a TPI system. Or does anyone know how hard it would be? I have a 1991 TPI System (intake, complete harness ecm to firewall block, and ecm). I know I'll have to get a high pressure pump and put in a vss in the tranny. But do I have to change everything in the dash? Thanks.

morepowerjoe

Or let me ask this. If I have the engine and tpi system sitting on a stand, and have all the stuff turned off in the prom that I don't need (like vats for sure) what do I need to do to make it run?

Toyota h8r

if the car is carb id leave it carb'd...i put tpi on my car and its slowed my car down ALOT!

my poor 327 acts like a 283 sbc now.....(i have it tuned and everything new BTW)


im just saying......food for thought

morepowerjoe

What about all these people saying that tpi makes gops of torque and power? Don't get me wrong I have a demon carbed olds 350 in there now that screams, I would just like to have the drivability of the fuel injection. So I know like you what a carb can do for you. And what it can't.

Come on anyone else have any opinions on tpi? Maby they do suck, I'm still trying to make the first one run right and nobodys even replying to those post. Yeh maby your right Toyota it looks like even GM has turned thier back on tpi.

Not the kind of response I was hoping for from this sight.

birdtojag

iTrader: (1)

I did the swap and came out with good results. I feel my car getting a good boost with better response. The swap took me about 2 years, but it's because of limited time to be able to work on it. I also put everything to stock locations and made things a little harder. I'm not sure if the intake will bolt up to an olds 350 engine. In the car's fuse block, there would be the need to add another fuse for the fuel injectors. If you get a wire diagram of the engine and body for a 91, you can make the right connections and get it to work. Good Luck with the project.

camaro87-alex

I have just finished my swap on my 87 Camaro...305 LG4 engine is now a TPI engine...The swap went fine and I learned a lot...
the swap took me about 1-2 weeks...If you can work a little bit every day.

I can notice big difference on the car so I would recommend that you do the swap...Let me know if it is anything I could help you with...

morepowerjoe

Thanks for the info guys. Oh and I'm not going to try and put the chevy intake on the olds engine I know that'll never work, I have a chevy block. Not unless I fab my own intake, now that would be cool. I wonder if I could do that out of steel?

vetteoz

iTrader: (13)

Like everything else in the world people have their own ideas.
TPI is very popular swap; cheap entry to EFI.
You have all the parts ; do it and let others know your results; good or bad
Everthing you need to know here
http://tpiparts.net/installing_tpi_on_your_vehicle
http://chevythunder.com/chevythunder%20introduction.htm

http://www.ultm8z.com/EFI%20swapper%27s%20guide.pdf

Toyota h8r

i would HIGHLY recommend to stay away from tpi due the cost to swap to the stock tpi and only to slow your car down. Id recommend to go straight to Holley steath ram or accel DFI fuel injection using their computer and harness setup. Expensive, but well worth the cost to horsepower ratio.

Fast355

iTrader: (2)

TPI will NOT SLOW DOWN YOUR CAR....When you are talking about a LG4 with a computer controlled Q-Jet.

I had the truck version of the L69 in my van. I swapped a set of TBI heads onto it with a TPI setup and it ran VERY well. Much better than it ever did with the Q-Jet on it.

LE9 305 converted to TBI



Pulling the burned valve "601" casting heads and TBI setup. Notice factory flattop pistons in 1983. Those are the same original 250K mile pistons in it. It had run around 100K miles on TBI, as you can see TBI setups run clean. I am sure those pistons were carboned up at 150K miles and cleaned up.



Assembled with TBI heads and TPI. After tuning, compared to the stock CCC Q-Jet, it pulled like a rocket ship from off-idle through the 5,500 rpm WOT upshift.

darbysan

I just finished my swap yesterday to TPI on an L69. Still working out a few bugs, but a tremendous difference in power. Yesterday, on my first test drive, I decided to open it up a little. First WOT on a rolling start lit up the rear tires for about 3 seconds, followed by a good chirp in second and another when it went to third.
It's not a cheap project. Got my "Complete" setup for $200, including a complete harness. Final cost was near $1900, by the time I replaced all the bad sensors , injectors, hoses, etc. My goal was to make this a long term No Maintenance issue, so I may have replaced more than necessary. Since you have a lot already, it may cost you less. I have a complete list of parts needed on an Excel Spreadsheet. PM me if you would like a copy.

morepowerjoe

Thanks for the heads up guys. I know I want to go fuel injected for sure and I already have an extra tpi system, so that seems like the thing to do. But I'm thinking about trying something. What do you guys think would happen if I put the injectors and fuel rail right on my olds 350 intake and put some kind of throttle body on it? Could I get it to run right without that big plenum and runners? I just like my olds block and have a lot of money in it.

camaro87-alex

I can understand that you want to use your olds block but I don't think I would have done it..And I also think that if you want to go TPI it would be better do just go with a TPI setup...Since your olds block is a chevy small block and it is a 350cid you say?..That is a very good block to use.

I have converted my 305 engine on my Camaro, but I think I would go for a 350 very soon...

If I were you I would go for a complete TPI setup. Intake, runners, plenum, throttle body and fuel rails....

Fast355

iTrader: (2)

I have some pictures of an Oldsmobile 403 in a GMC Motorhome that is running a late 70s Cadillac Seville EFI manifold and fuel rails. It is running on a speed density TPI ecm. Keep in mind that the late 70s Cadillac Seville with EFI ran the Oldsmobile 350. I have seen the intakes on some of these cars and at the time could have picked them up for nothing. You can use a distributer for a mid 80s Oldsmobile 307 with the CCC Q-Jet to control the timing.

EDIT- This is a 403 PFI setup.

morepowerjoe

Fast 355, that is awsome. How does it run? And where did you get that throttle body, did it come with that cadillac set up? That's exactly what I was thinking of doing but I didn't know olds ever had a efi set up.

stolen86bird

im in the thinking process of converting my 72 cutlass with this fuel injection setup I nearly **** myself when i stumbled upon this...could i trouble you for some details about what you used to make this setup work or what you know about it...thanks for any help

Mike....I had a 86' firebird Formula That I built to hell but was stolen about a year ago...miss it

camaro87-alex

Hey there stolen86bird. Converting your 72 cutlass sounds like a nice project to me. Actually converting to TPI setup isn't that hard that it sounds like. Sure there are a lot of wiring and sensors but actually it isn't so hard to understand. You can get a complete wiring harness from painlesswiring and they seem easy to install. If you are a little bit short on money mayby you can buy a used wiring harness with ECM and everything from Ebay or something. Then you can customize the wiring harness so it would fit your car more. For example air condition system and things like that is in the same wiring harness so mayby you want to cut that out since you don't have camaro/firebird.

When it comes to the mechanical parts it is as simple as a carbed system almost. Just a regular intake manifold, some runners and a upper manfiold.
There are also some fuel rails that you can either customize or use some AN fittings and make your own fuel lines from the end of the fuel-pipes.

Please feel free to ask as many questions as you want. I am glad that I could help someone out with converting to TPI setup..

paulisgod

I went from a 350 carb to a 350 tpi and it was a night and day difference, the carb had a bit more high end but the tpi easily made up for it in torque. With a mild cam, AFR heads and full MSD ignition, the 350 carb ran a 15.3 in an 88 firebird, put in a ported TPI base, stock runners, and a ported plenum on same engine, and enjoy a steady 13.4-13.7 and a mpg increase, even on a POS tune.

I'd go with TPI for looks, driveablility, mpg, and the gobs or torque. Just save a few bucks for new rear tires, you will need them.

morepowerjoe

Do you have an Oldsmobile Engine?

stolen86bird

yes fresh rebuild mild cam ect. looking for this intake but would like to use a better setup on it what do you guys think....would like to be able to adjust air fuel ratio I hear the caddys computer would not let you do that, they were specific to each model. Have to keep the olds motor .....my main reason for this setup is so I can run a twin turbo setup next year and fuel injection is what i prefer when doing this. what setup is on the pic....is that a stock ...I dont even know what to call it not a carb or T-Body you know lol...off a cadillic. thanks for the help.......

morepowerjoe

Go to my old post and read through it. It will probably answer almost all of your questions.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...ldsmobile.html

morepowerjoe

That is the caddy intake I believe.

Blaize

i would definetly go TPI if you have the setup allready. if everything is setup and installed properly the reliability alone is worth it. after messing around with finicky carbs for a while i picked up a TPI setup and ran it. I was very pleased with everything about it!

KNBlazer

And here I am thinking i was the only one fed up with our Quadra-Junks... I too am in the mental process of converting to TPI... out of curiosity, any of you have MPG numbers, both pre and post conversion...

Noey

Hi I'm doing the same swap instead I have a 91 donor car which I removed the wiring harness, computer, engine and transmission! I am installing it in an 84 Firebird, the wiring harness inside the cab has alot more wires which means I might have to tear down my dash to replace all of it, I don't know if there is any other way to do so...how did you do yours?

Thank you!!

slowmaro90

Hey guys I have a 1990 camaro.
It has a stock 305 in it.
I found a good deal on a mild built carbbed 305 from a 82 iroc for 300$.
It is bored .40 over flat top pistons, street/strip cam, shorty headers.
I think Im gonna go ahead and jump on it but I want to keep my fuel injection.
Will tpi parts go off my 305 right on to the 1982 305.
I have looked aroud and seems like it will be pretty easy but i need some reassurance. This is my daily driver.
Thanks

camaro87-alex

Hi Noey.

If you have a donor car then I say go for it. It may sounds a little bit difficult but baby steps and you will complete this swap without any big issues.

The first thing that comes in my mind now is that you have a 91 donor car and that means a speed density TPI system if it is the stock system on the car??...Do you have a 305 or a 350 engine??..This is a little bit important because of the knock sensor, injectors and what ECM you are going to use.

Then we have the bolt on's as well...What engine is in your 84 now??..If you are using your stock engine and going for a TPI parts on a newer model you need to keep in mind that you have early intake bolt pattern on your heads. That means that you need some minor modifications to make the intake fit. Other than that you also may need to relocate fuel lines and heater hoses and of course a lot more wires goes to your engine compartment since this is a lot more electrical. If you are going to swap the whole engine then it is mostly the wiring that would be an issue, but it is of course possible to complete. You have basically 2 connectors that connects to your wiring harness. One of them the C100 connector is located right next to the brake master cylinder. The other one the C220 connector which is located next to the ECM where the passenger side is. It is located right under the dash there.

Those 2 connectors should hook up pretty easy but you need to relocate some pins to make them fit your stock "dash" wiring harness and mayby you need to add wiring to a fuel pump if you don't have an electric fuel pump from before.

That is something that I forgot to mention above. The fuel pump you probably have (if you've got an electric) is to weak for the TPI system.
The TPI system needs a fuel pump that can deliver up to 45PSI and your carburettor fuel pump does only deliver a few PSI so you need to change or add a fuel pump, fuel sending unit, and your fuel lines so they can manage the bigger pressure.

I am gonna give you a link to a guy that really has explained well the process of swapping a TPI system to a car. There you can find wiring diagrams, pictures and a lot of information on how to complete your swap.
http://www.chevythunder.com
Good luck with you project and feel free to ask any questions.