I want to build a 355 for my 1988 Iroc. I really don't want to mess with my gearing(I have 2.77 gears and I love the fuel mileage, plus it helps save my tires) and the trans is only going to get a shift kit and a corvette servo. I'm not looking to go for a full out race car, as it is my daily driver. I would be happy with 350-400 hp at the crank. What is the best way to do this while keeping my TPI and keep the engine bay looking mostly stock? I've also heard that Vortec heads perform well with the TPI; is this true? I'm a college student and don't have much cash, so I would like to do this as cheap as possible. My main goal would be to have a car that would run low 13s at the track, and still perform well on the street with decent fuel mileage. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

350-400 hp and I don't have much cash ! Ponder ! Set a budget then do your (Search) homework. Power band goal your after ? The tpi is not a breather in stock form.

 

Small cam, collect tpi parts. Need big tube runners and aftermarket base. Retune chip.
2800 stall. Drag radials and some suspension tweaks will be bottom 13's or high 12's in right conditions on stock heads.

 

Thanks for the advice. I figured I was going to have to modify the TPI to make it breathe better. I figured that a stock TPI runs out of breath around 4500 to 5000 rpms. I'm not looking for a top end screamer, I'm more into the advantage of the low end torque.I know I do not have much cash at the moment, I was planning on running it this summer and taking it apart next winter. Ill set aside as much as it will take to do it, I just am not sure how much it going to be in the first place.Most of the work will be done by me, I'm just looking for a parts list.Also, how streetable would a 2800 stall be? All of the vehicles we have ever built we have used the stock stall.

 

First of all, why do you want a 355? Do you NEED to bore the engine out? Is the short block need of a rebuild? Unnecessary expense.

Stock TPI car? Do the intake and exhaust bolt-ons, with a stall. You'll be happy enough with that for now. If this is your daily driver, forget about seriously modding it. Stick with maintenance items and light bolt-ons. Don't risk reliability. If you really wanna get serious, you need to spend serious money on intake and heads. Leave that stuff for down the road when you have money to spend on the car and do it right.

 

I do not want to have to bore it out, but I am fearing it is inevitable. When I first bought the car, the first thing I did was an oil change. When I pulled the filter off and cut it apart , it was a solid mass of what I would guess was paraffin wax. The guy who had the car before me used Pennzoil and did not do regular oil changes. Also, when I did intake gaskets and valve cover gaskets, I scraped off 2 pounds of the same crap from my intake valley and my heads. I know for certain if the top end looked like that , the bottom end is going to be pretty gummed up too, so it will at least need to be taken apart and cleaned. I just don't know what other damage that caused,if any. I guess i'm figuring with the luck I usually have, its going to need to be bored. Right now the only problems I have with the car is that it smokes on start up(which I assume is from the valve guides) and it runs a lot hotter than I feel comfortable with, usually around 210 on the freeway but in stop and go traffic its closer to 225, even with both fans running.

 

That's normal operating temps.
Just keep doing oil changes and that gunk will come out or you can pull the pan to clean and inspect it.
Valve seals are a common issue on these.