Results on Conversion of 350 from Carb to Fuel Injection (3 Viewers)

[Romer]

I converted my freshly rebuilt GM Crate 350 running a 600 CFM Edelbrock Carburetor to a Holly Multiport Fuel Injection Kit 550-810.

They ran a baseline before and noted the Carb was running rich and then ran a baseline afterwards

They also swapped my fuel pump (went for an inside tank pump) and Distributor

I am not smart enough to answer questions about these plots, but thought it would be of interest to those thinking about the change.

I know if I want more power I can swap this setup to any GM small block engine and it would just need to be retuned

They told me they were measuring the HP at the wheels. I do have 32" tires.

As you can see there is significant Horespower increase and it doesn't start to drop off at 3500 rpm

Torque is improved but not as significantly

The second HP plot focuses on the two runs rather than 4

I am not sure what the last plots are telling me. I am sure someone here is

And the most important items:

• It starts with the turn of a key without having to give it gas
• It runs much better and I won't have to worry about dying in the mtns or in an incline
• It feels faster, not what I was going for

 

[Romer]

Suppose some before and after pics are needed

Before

After

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi all,

FI, whether TBI or TPI is well worth the effort, especially on a 'wheeling rig!

Regards,

Alan

 

[Romer]

Especially here in Colorado where the altitude changes dramatically from leaving your house to hitting the top of a trail, sometimes as much as 8000 ft delta. I have been on plenty of runs where someone dies because the altitude or couldn't make it over the obstacle because it would die with the combo of alt and angle.

 

[DPV7070]

Looks good. Nice, simple, and it works. I'm getting more and more to where I like the stock look for everything, even if it's not original to the vehicle. Congrats on a cool setup.

 

[Romer]

Looking at the codes on the passenger side of the engine near the alternator

Looks like this originally was out of a Chevy K30 truck from 1982-1986 and is the LE8 350 engine with 454 ci of displacement, 230 hp and 460 lbs torque. Those are the specs of the engine in the bay as it was built 30 years ago, who knows what has been changed since The next history I know is it received a full rebuild in 2012 and from looking at the receipts of $5700, he likely could have had a shop install a new motor for less, he did do a full rebuild:

• Boil block
• Bore Block
• Valve Job
• Replace Guides
• New CAM bearings
• Turn crank
• Recondition Rods (Not sure what they would have done here unless it includes Piston seals)
• Replaced all the wiring
• Replaced all the seals and whatever else comes in a full engine kit ($750)

Just wanted to define the configuration

 

[Downey]

Ken, you have done well my boy, other than your stock transfer case can only take about 400 ft. lbs. of torque (or less), so you will need to be very respectful of your 460 ft. lbs.. Your engine's 02 sensor takes care of the altitude problem nicely, another reason 6 cylinder guys should go TBI conversion, not to mention you have no "float bowl" off road problems with fuel injection.

 

[B y r o n]

Those are small block valve covers and not big block covers. More than likely it was "LT9 350/V8 160 hp 260 torque K20,K30 81-86".

 

[inkpot]

Those are small block valve covers and not big block covers. More than likely it was "LT9 350/V8 160 hp 260 torque K20,K30 81-86".

Agree. That ain't no 454. John

 

[Romer]

Thanks for the clarification. I was just going off googling the numbers I found on the block. I know nothing about shortblocks so would appreciate anything you can tell from the pictures

 

[pb4ugo]

What are the numbers you found on the deck pad near the alternator?

 

[murf]

no more sputtering at "just the wrong moment"

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I was curious about how someone managed to get 454 ci out of a gen 1 small block... they didn't. The most ci available to a SBC is 434 cubic inches - and doing that with a stock block would be a poor use of money (Dart makes a block that would cost less to get 434 out of than machining a stock block).

To what you have, you probably have a 4 bolt main 350 - not 100% sure because I have a motor on my stand that's out of a 1 ton truck that's a 2 bolt. In any case, 2 bolt is more than adequate for what you're doing.
$5700 is a lot to machine and build a SBC - since you can buy a crate motor for less... but, if you want to do it yourself....

anyway, reconditioning rods - they grind the flat portion of the cap .0010, then resize the bore so that the hole is round. When motors go round and round they make the large end slightly out of round... but normally speaking that comes from high-rpm motors. So, I think that was useless.

They do need to rebalance the assembly when they change pistons (and I'm certain they changed the pistons), resize the rods, and grind the crank because the balance weight will be different... common term for all the work of balancing is called blueprinting - which means that they put the motor back to perfect factory specs.

I'm not sure why they reconditioned the heads.... the first thing I'd do to that motor would be to replace the heads with Vortec heads, at minimum, and something in the 190 cfm aluminum if the budget allowed.

I'd be interested in what the cam is (roller?) - that said, 460 lbs of torque is unlikely in a 350. And your dyno runs shows you're actually in the 300 lb torque range and 200 hp. Which is pretty close to stone stock.

With those numbers, you have a pretty-close to stock build. When I build my 350 for my land cruiser, I'll invite you to watch over my shoulder. The motor should be 300 hp and 410 lb. torque. The torque should be all in at 2000 rpm. I could get 50 more hp and 70 more lb. torque if I build the 400; but frankly, I don't see as it's worth it for the cost difference (to build the 400 would require new pistons and the machine work to put them on).

 

[Romer]

I'm in Maui when I am back I will post the numbers

I am pretty sure it is a 2 bolt engine mount.

All the rebuild was done before I bought the vehicle. Frankly he could have put in a much better engine for the same cost.

With the NV4500 it has good performance and is great on the highway. It isn't like driving a 2F

I appreciate the corrections on the engine, I'll post the codes early next week that were on the block. Doing a Google search I think they lead me to the LE* which is were I got the ci numbers from via google.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

you lost me, I'm referring to the number of bolts in the main bearing caps numbers 2,3 & 4... If I had a bet, the number cast onto the rear pad (in front of the transmission will be 3970010. 4 bolt main 350, but they can come in two bolt and 4 bolt main cap flavors... it's a good question for trivial pursuit, engine edition.... it came in full-size, early 70s wagons (the 2 bolt version); but I've seen one or two come out of trucks - so even the number-guru books aren't completely accurate. At the time, if GM ran out of 4 bolt motors, they'd simply put in 2 bolt motors... drives the purists nuts (a good thing, IMO)

here's a picture, if you look at the main bearing caps (excluding the front and the rear), you'll see two bolts holding in numbers 2-4


whereas, this motor has 4 main cap bolts

I have a picture somewhere of a motor I put together for my Corvette that has this flavor motor.

 

[Romer]

Ahhh I thought the number of bolts referred to mounting bolts to the frame

 

[terrx]

Looks like a really nice system. Most likely you'll not need to do anything except change spark plugs once in a while.

The last graph shows air/fuel ratio which tells how much air is being used to burn the fuel. Lower values mean a richer burn and higher is leaner. The carb run shows around 10.4 which is rich and why they commented on it. 13.12 on the EFI run is slightly rich, enough to protect the engine from damage when at wide open throttle (e.g. the dyno run).

Any reason to keep the A.I.R. system? The Holley is probably not smog legal, even though it's going to be far cleaner than the carb setup. You can remove the tubes from exhaust manifolds and plug with brass MNPT plugs, carefully as the threads are different but the brass will conform enough to seal.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I just noticed something.... get those spark plug wires off the manifold!

 

[Romer]

this is what is stamped on the engine on the passenger side
C5E443128 V0724TKF (? Not sure on last digit)

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

V07 is a truck vin/truck block number... the numbers, though, that I'm talking about are on the back of the block...

here's what I expect to be cast into the driver's side, rear, top of the block