Well the engine in my brother's GTA seems to be gone; knocking and no oil pressure. So he wants to rebuild it. He has about $2,500 and we will be doing all the work other than the machine work and tuning.



So what are some proven smog-legal TPI combos that wont break the bank? How much power can be expected with these combos? Is his budget reasonable?



Thanks in advance

 

look at the engine swap forum, can you say ls1 swap,jimmy

 

No engine swap. We want to keep the TPI.

 

Search around I'm no expert look on jegs and summitracing I would personally ditch the tpi but thats me

 

Are you keeping the stock TPI or just staying with TPI? I'd buy some gutted SLP runners, ported vortec base, buy some vortec heads and have them worked over and look for a cam and a 3k stall. Should be good for high 12's.

All this is assuming you have full exhaust and can either tune yourself or know someone that can.

 

I just want TPI, doesn't have to be stock. The upper plenum has already had some work so I was def thinking about some gutted SLP runners but wasn't sure what to do with the base. What's a Vortec base; from the late 90's trucks?

 

The vortec base is just a base with bolt holes that work with the vortec heads. You can't run vortec heads with TPI, unless you get the base.

 

 

Now, is it worth it to swap to vortec base and heads over ported TPI heads and base?

 

Absolutely, but your looking at around $350-$450, just for the Vortec/TPI base new.

But on the upside, bone stock NEW Vortec heads complete, are CHEAP (compared to other heads), and only cost a little more for better springs to handle higher lift. Stock, they can only handle .480 lift.