fuel injected engine for my 66????

[hewlett2002000]

ok ive been looking around and i see more than a few fuel injected engines being dropped into our truck. im seriously thinking of switching mine to a fuel injected 350. i have a few questions if ya dont mind. the junkyard i go to lets you pull any engine for $50 and any tranny for $30 and theres many to choose from. what year/type of truck should i pull one out of and what all do i need to get it all in my truck and going? are the motor mounts the same? what tranny should i go for? ive never completely rebuilt a engine except for a 3-wheeler engine and i dont have the $ to do it right now so id like to find one that runs and has fairly low mileage that i can just drop in. im good with wiring but what do i need to get from the donor in terms of getting the engine running? i can wire the rest up myself. would i get better fuel mileage with a fuel injected 350? i think that will do it for now. any help appreciated.
Thanks,
John

[60ratrod]

well there are quite a few choices that you can go with. you can go tbi, but i would look for something like a tpi lt1, but thats my personal opinion. i'm not really too hot on the tbi setup that you'll find in most fi trucks. but most of the fi 350's that you'll find should bolt up just fine. but you are going to need the ecu computer(the brain) and the wiring harness that goes along with it. outside of that i don't think that there is anything else that you should need.

[hewlett2002000]

what about along the line of sensors? what sensors will i need?
John

[64GMCHorsepower]

most evrything should come with the engine and harness.....if you get a complete motor and tranny, it is usually just a 4 or 5 wire hook-up...

When I bought mine, I upgraded from MAF to MAP, and also bought a custom wire harness for it....

LT1 would be the way to go if you can find one cheap enough...

[60ratrod]

oh yeah, also o2 sensors. but that should be about everything that you would need i think. try to get a tpi lt1 that has an odb2(onboard diagnostics gen 2) ecu. those you can "flash" and reprogram it to the paramiters that you want.

[fchava]

you also need a high pressure fuel pump and a return line to your fuel tank. It also helps if you have a fuel tank with a sump so that the pump never runs dry. An LT1 is reverse rotation water pump, so you will need the complete pulley setup. Pre 1996 engines are a little simplier because they are not OBD 2

[Stepside65]

You can also go with the simplified version. Find a FI truck that is totalled and steal all the electronics out of it.

[hewlett2002000]

well ive never used OBD2 but ive used OBD1 to find problems on cars with my laptop, i take it there about the same? i dont want an in tank fuel pump. any suggestions for the fuel pump to use? i wont do this unless i can find one that hasent had any parts removed, as i dont wanna hunt down parts. i hate hunting parts down.
thanks all,
John

[60ratrod]

odb1 has set parameters, to where you would either have to get a flashable ecu or get your ecu hacked to get your parameters changed, where as with odb2 you can change your engine's parameters with the right program on your laptop. the most that you can do to an unmodified odb1 ecu is erase trouble codes. that's why most performance chips that are out on the market today are for the odb2 ecu's and all they do is plug straight into the under the dash port

[64GMCHorsepower]

You can do an external fuel pump, but most people say internal to cut down on the noise.....Then you have to run high pressure fuel lines.....

[fchava]

Originally Posted by 60ratrod

odb1 has set parameters, to where you would either have to get a flashable ecu or get your ecu hacked to get your parameters changed, where as with odb2 you can change your engine's parameters with the right program on your laptop. the most that you can do to an unmodified odb1 ecu is erase trouble codes. that's why most performance chips that are out on the market today are for the odb2 ecu's and all they do is plug straight into the under the dash port

OBD 2 does not use a chip. It is all programed into the ECU. I think you have the 2 mixed up.

[hewlett2002000]

ok yall i think i know what i wanna go with, but i dont think it will get any better fuel mileage. lemme know what you guys think. my dad has a 88 suburban with the throttle body. i know how to work on that. only thing he only gets about 12mpg with it. its a 350/700r4. id like to get one from the same era as his. his truck has over 300,000 miles on it and still runs very strong, uses it every day for work. says he would trust it to go anywhere in it. only major thing he ever had to do is swap the tranny. lost all gears but first(that was fun, drove 30 miles in first). i dont like 700r4 tranny's anyway, never had good luck with them. anyways what do yall think about dropping in a 350 TBI with a th350 or th400? is there any way to improve that mileage and not lose power?
thanks,
John

[stepside66]

you could run a rear gear in the 2's but you would have no acceleration. thats why 700r4's are so popular because most have tall low gears and like an .073 to 1 OD so you get really good mileage. You could get a Gear vendors overdrive under drive but your talking about a nice chunk of change for that. a700r4 you can find everywhere I have 2 one I got for 200 and one for 30 bucks just because it was available goin tbi over carbed isnt much advantage really esp in Tx it never gets cold like up north I say if you can grab an engine and tranny together from the salvage and has most or all of harness go with it and bolt it up.

[Chevysdominate]

Tbi's dont require a high pressure fuel system. They usually run under 18lbs and i think the chevy tbi's run 15 or less.

If you all ready have a donor truck then this wont help, but i would look for a setup out of a newer chevy truck with an electronic tranny (i know that sounds scary but its really not). Something like a 4l60e or the heavy duty 4l80e would be stronger(4l80e) then a 700r4. Just make sure to get all the wiring and your set.

Just my 2 cents.

[poorboy]

Maybe this link will help.
http://www.persh.org/Pickup/TBI-1.htm

[63 & 64 Bowties]

If you want a complete & running donar car, consider a police cruiser at public auction. The 94-96 Caprice's (9c1 is the actual model of the police package Caprice's) have LT-1's in them. I bought one at auction (a 94) for $880. Try: www.publicsurplus.com for an auction close to you.

[hewlett2002000]

ok i got a question about poorboys link. i looked at it and the guy said he bolted the TBI intake and all that up to a 83 engine. i thought the tbi bolt pattern was different than older blocks? if not then could somebody tell me when the bolt pattern changed?
thanks,
John

[Chevysdominate]

The bolt patterns are close enough that you can make them work. The bolt patterns changed in 87(?) up until the vortec heads in 97(?) where they switched to 4 bolts per side. The 87-97 manifolds have canted center bolts on the manifold which can be modified to fit on pre-87 heads.

You can also get an adapter that will bolt a tbi onto any 4 barrel manifold.

[hewlett2002000]

ok just a few more questions..... i know i know im needy. could yall suggest what kind, and mainly what year car or truck to look for to get a TPI engine out of? ive been doing some study and i dont think it will be worth my time to switch to tbi. that and ive never worked on any tpi setups and i like a challenge. i am getting my engine from the junkyard i mentioned earlier as like i said its only $50 to pull any engine and $30 to pull any tranny. thats in my price range and well, i just dont have alot of money at hand at the moment. i have a 84 chevy truck with no engine or front clip on its way(hopefully) for a few parts and im gonna scrap the rest, and my buddy has a big van on its way that just needs a rear seal that was given to him. and also can someone point me in the right direction of some ECM and engine wiring diagrams for TBI and TPI engines? preferably late 80's early 90's. i used to have that stuff saved but it got lost a year back in a HD crash and i cant find them anywhere. i just wanna do some homework.
thanks,
john

[64GMCHorsepower]

Go to Chevythunder.com, and also thirdgen.org for TPI stuff...

2 very helpful sites....

I haven't forgot to post some pics of my engine in my truck, I will get to it when I get home.


Chad

[Tomsriv]

I put an aftermarket 4bbl TBI system on my 71 Buick Riviera 455. I only gained 1 mpg and it was a lot of work to modify the fuel lines, mount the pump and vent the tank properly. The fuel heats up as it travels around and pressurizes the tank so you need to vent it so the pressure can escape too. It does start easier, and it doesn't smell like gas on hot days. I can tune it with my laptop, which is kind of cool. The advantages end there.
In my truck I have a 200-R4. This tranny is considered weaker than the 700 but it has held up just fine in this truck and I have pulled yards of concrete and full loads, no problem. The 200 has a lower .67 OD than the 700. One trick for durability with these trannies is to install a regular torque converter. The lock-up converters add a lot of complication and can cause problems.
As far as your fuel system I would go with a really good quadrajet. If they are tuned right a quadrajet will get as good mileage as TBI.

[hewlett2002000]

thats why i decided against TBI. if i switch im going with TPI. like you said i just dont think TBI is the way to go. for me at least.
thanks,
John

[Deuce]

1967 style...............

[hewlett2002000]

see i like that. why cant they make the cars/trucks they come in look that simple? lolim finally getting my car as we speak so i can run to the junkyard and look around. ill post some pics later. its a old buick but at least its a GM product.
John

[Fastrucken]

How about a genIII engine. Here is my 5.3 swap and run by megasquirt.....