500 stroker Caddy to 350 TBI ?

[yellowroket]

Hey Guys new on here with a few questions. I built an 84 blazer with a stroked 500 caddy more or less for mud bogs. Its wicked for straight bogs but when it comes to wheeling trips it kinda sucks!! I cant keep it cool, its carbed and doesnt like hills, and has a nasty cam that doesnt like low speed trails. I just bought a 87 c20 that has a 350 tbi that runs great for next to nothing and am thinking about swaping it in place of the big caddy. Questions are how hard is the swap going to be (wiring wise) and is it worth it or better to try and detune the big caddy down? Im running 38 boggers on it with 4.10s, and i know these motors are no power houses so would a cam change and headers give it enought power to turn em. The caddys cool but im getting burnt out on broken parts all the time, too much power!!

 

[sweetk30]

stock back then was about 130-140 hp to the rear wheels . you will see a big power drop from the caddy motor you are use to.

you can build a good 300hp at rear wheels tbi 350 for a fair price. brian has good info for that at tbichips.


info for tbi to caddy swap. my bad info opps.

2 big things first. go to www.tbichips.com and READ all info he has posted on tbi needs and how much you can do with it. its good info and simple to understand.

next after you read all that contact http://www.coloradok5.com/forums/member.php?u=10072 this member. he has a 500 caddy in a blazer trail buggy with tbi injection. he is real cool and will help what he can to the combo he has.

but i will tell you this much. your big radical cam/big cid motor/and power needs will be a big big streach for a modifyed no were near stock tbi system.

 

[4X4HIGH]

I just bought a 87 c20 that has a 350 tbi that runs great for next to nothing and am thinking about swaping it in place of the big caddy.

He's talking about swapping the TBI 350 in place of the caddy engine.

 

[sweetk30]

i fixed it sorry.

 

[yellowroket]

Sorry should have made that clearer, im thinkin about takin the caddy out and putting the 350 in it but cant decide between leavin the tbi or just putting a carb on it. Been readin up and i cant see where the conversion is going to be real easy to do! I want to set it up so i can go out wheeling all day without breaking down or tearing something up everytime i mash the skinny pedal!

 

[dyeager535]

OK real simple. (or not lol)

TBI runs good because of the injection...there is absolutely no point to consider swapping to a 350 if you are going to carb it. These are my opinions, but I doubt anyone on the *injection forum* is going to give me grief for saying that.

The problem is that if you start swapping cams and so on, it will need a chip burned. You already got good advice to go to Brian over at TBIchips.com, so your best bet IMO is to talk with him, and see what he can do for you.

You really aren't going to make anywhere near the torque you do with the 500, but if I understand you right, you don't like the fact that it lets you break things every time out, so a loss of power might be acceptable?

Last option, assuming you DON'T want to get rid of the torque on tap, is to combine the two. Get a 454 throttle body, and inject the 500. TBI should actually make this pretty simple, just get the 454 carb to TBI adapter plate GM used, and go for it. Brian could probably give you some ideas here too. Best of both worlds IMO.

I plan on someday fuel injecting my Oldsmobile, and since they never had injection, TBI is about the easiest way to go, utilizing the method above.

 

[yellowroket]

Thanks for the info, never really have gotten into injection. Actually i always tried to stay away from it, too complicated! If i do end up staying with it what all do i need to swap it over. Im assuming i will have to take the whole wiring harness, computer and splice everything into the blazer. Honestly how hard is the swap?

 

[dyeager535]

When I wired mine I simply swapped over an entire harness, but the body was pretty well stripped, so IMO it was very easy to do.

TBI is so stand-alone even wiring it up via a few splices wouldn't be too tough.