TBI and Vortec heads

[manicsquirrel]

I've got a 95 s10 that i am building a 350 for, looking at using vortec heads. I have the tbi setup off of the 4.3, from what i have found it is the same as what is on the 5.0 and 5.7, just with different injectors. I am not sure as to what intake manifold will be the best setup for with TBI and vortec head. GM performance makes a conversion manifold for with TBI and vortec heads (PN 12496821) but it looks a bit on the pricey side for me. (trying to build the motor on a budget) Is it worth the price of admission? I think Edlebrock makes a similar setup (also pricey). I also know the vortec heads are not the standard bolt pattern for the intake manifold, and it is almost impossible to plumb the EGR valve. Anybody done a similar build got some advice? Should I stick with TBI or throw a Qjet on top?(got one sitting on the shelf in the garage) Or try to find a set of heads off an earlier 350 (pre-86) and run the stock TBI manifold? Anyone have info on how the stock intake manifold for TBI flows? This is going to be a daily driver truck when its all said and done, so I am looking for a setup the just works, no need for extreme HP numbers. Thanks

[racer1182]

i am building the same motor and used a set of heads off of a 87-95 motor that was tbi so i could bolt the manifold to with no problems. you may wanna go that route or just run a carb it's your choice but if you wanna run tbi i would go that route.

Greg

[manicsquirrel]

I know the stock heads off of a tbi motor will work, I would rather not use them. They have some of the worst flow numbers of any heads GM manufactured. I'm looking for a good cheap combo of heads and intake that i can bolt a throttle body on top of. Not finding a whole lot of ideas online, thinking somebody must have done this before though.

Joe

[redneckgames]

but it seems like you are contradicting yourself. You dont care about highest hp, but you dont want bad flow.

The big question to answer first is are you sure you want to stay FI?

You are on a buget, that is very understandable. Do you have any heads right now? What shape are they in? What machine work would need to be done to them?

[Terrybneal]

I bought a gm performance intake for the vortec on ebay and gave 220 for it. I also found a set of 1998 vortec heads on craigslist and gave 75 dollars for them. I built a 305 with a lt1 cam, vortec heads, and the gm intake,ive been working with Brian at TBIChips to get a chip that will work with the combo, so far, he has burned 3 different chips, and we still dont have it right.Im pretty determined to make the tbi setup work on my combo. All of this being said, if I had it to do over again, I would go with the carb. Its cheaper and a whole lot less headaches.Just my opinion..

[manicsquirrel]

redneckgames- Highest hp is not the overall goal, efficiency is. Better flow, more efficient, byproduct being more power. As of right now I have a good line on a set of used Vortec heads out of a late 90's 1500 for $80, but i dont own them (yet, payday is thursday) Look to be in good shape, need to be cleaned up a bit before I could tell how much work they need. At the junkyards out here i can pull 86-95 heads for about the same price, and earlier heads go for a little bit more. Vortec heads are usually pushing 150 for a set, if you can find them. I've never built a motor using Vortec heads and kind of stumbled on them the other day. (all those fun thoughts started running through my head) I am assuming at least resurfacing the heads, and combustion chamber volume matching. I guess I wont know till I get a set how much time in the machine shop they will need. (the machine shop seems to be taking up a large portion of my small budget)

I guess that is the big question, FI or carb. Benifits to both, carbs are simple, cheap and easy to work with, FI will be more reliable (if I can make it work right), keep the motor from running too rich in the mountains or lean if I head down to sea level (colorado has some pretty serious changes in elevation), and its something new to play with (havent built an EFI motor before) I think I may just take Terrybneal's advice and consider a carb a little more seriously. Sounds like he's had some fun playing with chips. Maybe run a carb just to get the truck back out of the garage and on the road for a while. I can always change it out later, when the budget is bigger again (HA!!)

Terrybneal- How is working with TBIChips, checked out their website, seemed like they know what they are doing. Did he charge you to burn a new chip each time? Sounds like it should be a pretty hot setup with the combo you've got, once you get it dialed.

Joe

[chris1972]

you can use a vortec carb intake with a plate to use tbi ..but no egr..

[Terrybneal]

Brian at TBICHIPS charged 250 for the first chip. He hasnt charged for the other chips. All he has asked is that I send the chips back that doesnt work. If you do go with tbi, go to his site and download the winaldl program. If you have a laptop, it is an invaluable program. You have to either buy or make a cable to go from your aldl link in the truck to a serial port on the laptop. It costs about 10 bucks for the stuff to make the cable or you can buy one for 60 dollars.

[manicsquirrel]

Cool, sounds like a good company to work with. I'll keep them in mind if I go with FI, working on pricing a carb motor build now. I'm thinking I will build a carb motor with the vortec heads i found, and plan to swap it to TBI sometime down the road. That way I will at least have a drivable truck sometime in the near future.

[tonloc]

Cool, sounds like a good company to work with. I'll keep them in mind if I go with FI, working on pricing a carb motor build now. I'm thinking I will build a carb motor with the vortec heads i found, and plan to swap it to TBI sometime down the road. That way I will at least have a drivable truck sometime in the near future.



i got a carb manifold for vortec heads its a dual plane. pm me if you want it

[Terrybneal]

i got a carb manifold for vortec heads its a dual plane. pm me if you want it

I would look into the manifold that toneloc has. You can go carb for now and if later you decide to go the tbi route, you can buy an adapter from summit and go the tbi route with the same intake. I would try to keep the harness pretty much intact, just in case ya do go tbi.

[manicsquirrel]

TBI build is on for sure, just found a sweet deal on a whole top end. Heads (complete, been through the machine shop already, new valves springs etc.), stock TBI manifold (new), used throttlebody, wiring harness, computer, and some various other parts for $500. Not the heads I wanted to use, but I cant pass up that deal, getting the heads alone done would cost me almost that much.

[harleyboy]

Im going to throw my two cents in, you are looking for efficiency, well that what we all could say we are, but I have a 92 350 flat top pistons, 87 305 heads and a 600 holley carb and I just found out that I am running 11.5 to 1 compresstion and now getting 15 mpg and mine is a DD so I don't think that the efficiency is going to be a factor, whats going to factor is your right foot and how fast you drive.