Messages

Are you talking about bolting a TPI system on from the late 80's -early 90's camaro or vette?
The  TPI system falls on its face at about 4500 rpm on a 305 or 350  so on a 400 it will be lower yet. it will make good torque down low but just run out of steam at higher rpm no mater how big the throttle body is because the runners are small and long.  and any system will need to be reprogrammed to work well when swapping it to a 400. An LT1 efi intake and throttle body can be modified to work on a ols school sbc and it will support the higher rpms and make more power to meet your goals on the somewhat cheap compared to aftermarket stuff.

Ditto on the 305 heads bumping the compression up . The 350 vortec heads from a 96 thru 2000 truck will make 30 or 40 hp more than any of the old school factory heads will, so kick that around (note: Vortecs take a different intake than a conventional sbc) The aftermarket efi stuff is easier to tune  but cost more usually

Doug

I would try a better muffler, the glasspac isnt doing a whole lot of "muffeling"  something like a dynomax super turbo muffler or an oem type (more restrictive, but quieter.

Its harder to quiet down a larger pipe. Turbos dont like a restrictive exhaust  but maybe you can find a happy medium.  maybe you could make the mufflers easy to swap out and have a quiet muffler for long trips and put the other one on for performance..  just a thought.

Doug





"There is a 3" glasspack at the front of the 3.5" pipe. "

I like the Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers, they are quieter than the 40 flows and dont have that hollow sound.  and they flow better

Doug
what, I cant hear you

That "declutching device" may have been a whirlaway.  It lets the prop freewheel in the event of a locked up motor at high speeds to prevent the boat from going end over end. When you let off the gas on a boat without one it feels like you hit the brakes (hard)

http://www.arnesonconsulting.com/WWII.htm

Doug

I see in the latest Rod and Custom magizine that Barnet Navarro has died. In their RIP they mention his boat racing and in a recent "rodder's Jpurnal" they did an in depth article on him. He was responcible for the design of a de-clutching drivefor the props on racing boats and I wouldn't be surprised that there would be a lot of interesting information on sites found using his name or maybe H & H . Maybe nothing but it would be an interesting journey. GPster

Purple pickup, we have lots of ethanol gas here in Michigan  All the sunoco stations here sell it and many other brands are doing it. To loose 30 % in fuel economy there is more to it than a tank of 10% ethanol , maybe you got a bad tank or you left the shifter in first the whole way?  heh  just kidding.  If you ran pure 100% ethanol it takes about 30% more fuel by volume to do the same work so a 10% mixture shouldnt hurt the mileage by much, maybe a few percent.  Its interesting stuff, the gas stations owned by oil companys sure dont have any interest in selling ethanol. I dont think e85 will ever be a big hit, Ive read that we cant grow enough corn to make enough of it to replace all the gas we use and we need it as a food more than a fuel.

PS: what are these big fuel injectors used in, are they throttle body injectors?
Doug

thats ok, I dont poofread either    heh

dj

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. the fast ecu makes it easier to tune and has a wideband 02 .  

350 vortecs didnt come out till 96 btw
Doug

you're right, fat fingers got me again, that, and not proofreading...

[
the Ramjet 350 is based on the 350 Vortec motor but has the cooler EFI intake that was designed to resemble the Rochester fuelie vette setup. comes with a mild cam ground on a 109 lobe center so it has a slight lope. I have one on the stand in the garage that we pieced together and will be using a FAST efi controler instead of the GM MEFI-4 controller. the fast ecu makes it easier to tune and has a wideband 02 .  

350 vortecs didnt come out till 96 btw
Doug

I would recommend a stand alone efi controller like FAST makes rather than going with something that comes with a canned calibration  ( a pre programed chip) it is nearly impossible to nail the tune up with a mail order tune like they come with.  Get one that is user programmable and you will be much happier in the long run.  making that 350 run with 29 pound injectors would be easy, really a 29 pound injector is very conservative for a 350cu motor.

A stand alone system  could control any injectors and intake combo you wanted to go with.  The TPI intakes are good for low rpm torque but not so good above 5k.  an LT1 efi intake can be converted to work on a conventional sbc and works better at higher rpms.  it just depends on what you want to do with it. ANY intake can be converted to efi.

Id also recommend getting one with a wide band 02 sensor because it will really help you with the tunning process.  There are used FAST systems out there going fairly cheap if you look around and I could send you a tune up that would be fairly close and get you started.

You will love efi if its set up right.

Doug

Hi  Doug from Dexter here.  (round the corner from 348 tripower )
The 8.2" chevy 10 bolt is a fairly light duty rearend , I wouldnt worry about finding a 1350 yoke for it. Chances are a more normal1310 (or whatever the spicer style is) will be stronger than the rear itself.   The 8.5" 10 bolt rears like used in 71 and up F bodies ect are MUCH MUCH stronger and then might warrant a 1350 joint if you were drag racing.

Doug Jaynes
I was at KZOO too!

348,
is this a 6 star hotel ? is there 220 in the room to plug my welder in?

thanks

the plumber  :-)
( talking to my brother about coming down there for that. 0

These are actually in Jeffersonville, exit 6 I believe. Days Inn. I think they are 65.00 per night. They are reserved from Wednesday night thru Sunday. PM me or Email me if interested.
Don

also, the one piece seal motors are all externally balanced with a weight on the flexplates or flywheels . sort of like the old 400 small blocks but a different bolt pattern . Unlike the externally balanced 400 motors from the 70's the 86 or 87 (not sure which year they started the one piece seal) the harmonic balancers are neutral balanced.

Doug

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There isnt much pressure in the trans cooler lines (at least on the chevy stuff Ive messed with)  it flows through the cooler then dumps back in to the pan. Unless your return line is restricted its pretty low pressure.  

BUT , like mentioned its hot stuff and it is flamable too.  Id do it in as much hard line as you could. if it was me.

Doug

1939 coupe,

Well the "right way"  is probably lowering the compression with dished pistons or larger combustion chamber heads  or both.  do you know what the compression ratio is rihgt now and what type piston , dished, flat ect  and combustion chamber size.    I have some friends that are pontiac nuts  Ill ask them what the largest chamber head would be.

Happy New year
Dj

Hello Folks.  Doug the plumber here. First time caller,  love the show.  heh.  I live around the corner from that 348 tripower guy and thought Id join the fun here.  
I agree with a lot of what hotrodsrj said. Adding thicker head gaskets to lower compression is not a great idea because it screws up the quench height . your motor will resist detonation better with  the correct quench height of about .040" than it will with a larger QH. even though the compression goes down some, it will usually make it ping worse.  Also , your motor may have the pistons -.020 or more below the deck already and may have originaly had a thin steel shim head gasket  and now has a composistion type head gasket that may be twice as thick as the factory one was (just speculating on that)    The design (shape) of the combustion chamber is probably not a real effecient design and that directly effects how much octane you need at a given compression ratio.  An example of a really effecient head would be like a sbc Vortec head that makes max power at about 32 degrees total timing and with the right combo of parts run at over 11 to one compression with 94 octane gas. compared to the Poncho head that probably wants 36 or 38 degrees total timing and want race gas at even 10 to one.
The Edelbrock heads may be better in that department and I KNOW they flow better and will make more power  but your wallet will be lighter by about 16 hundred dollars.

The valve seats being  hardened wont matter other than they will wear down(sink) faster without the lead to protect them.

If you havent already , you might try to hook the vac advance line to manifold vac. That will give you more timing under low load conditions (like idle) and pull some timing when your foot is heavy (acceleration) This wont help at wot  but for cruising it might be enough to make it livable.  Is 94 octane gas avalable in your area?  that might be all you need.  But in the end, that ol poncho motor just might  not like the pump gas we have today.


Sorry to make my first post to the board a novel .

Doug




Problem:The above may be linked to the problem I have. After the engine is up to Temp. it pings under moderate acceleration. I run 92 octain fuel. If I add some octain booster it stops pinging but Id like to get away from having to buy booster all the time. The inital timing is set at 6deg btc. and the vac. can is set to add about 6-7deg more for a total of about 12deg at idle. The centrifical advance starts coming in at 1200 rpm, could this be to early?
I was told the problem could be solved if I replaced the 60's style cast iron heads with a set of Edelbrock alum heads. The resons givin where:
1-the new heads have hardened seats.
2- the Alum heads transfer heat better than the Iron heads.

Is any of what I was told TRUE ? I put a lot of blood,sweat and tears into my Olds and love driving it But I want to fix this problem before it causes ENGINE DAMAGE! I would be greatful for any help.

Thanks, Randy