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Expedition overland blazer. Please help

Jcash_k5 said:
The main reason that a carb was put on my k5 is because we put a cam in it that has the right sound and performance, with the tbi the blazer would idle ok for about 5 seconds and rev up for 3 seconds the computer was trying to compensate for the engine. I still have all the stock componentsto go back to tbi, if I do go back I would like to atleast try and upgrade the 24yr old fuel system. If I do go back, wouldn't I have the same problems?
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Think of your carb fuel system of being from pre 1974. (I'm guessing it has no emissions jazz). Now your Tbi setup is bringing you 15 years into the future.

There are much more expensive fuel injection options, but if you still have all the Tbi parts I think that's really the best way to go.

Have you measured fuel economy before carb and cam and after?
 
I never did measure mpg exactly, long story, with carb and cam I was getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 to 16ish mpg.
I found a few throttle bodies on summit. Wouldnt an aftermarket be better than stock?
 
These guys are making it sound like it's nothing to tune the TBI. It's a whole huge new world a person has to learn, and personally I found it more of a pain in the butt than anything. In my case, it turned out I had various problems including a bad computer and someone sold me 305 injectors instead of 350's.

Anyway, if you happen to have an EFI tuning place near you, you could farm it out. I've never lived anyplace that had that. If you have all the specs on your motor, maybe you can do it over the phone/computer. Otherwise, you're going to have to understand it yourself, download various software, buy various hardware to allow reprogramming, and start reading old threads and begging experts for the knowledge you need.

Do you really need/want a wild cam for what you are doing? If you went back to stock, the factory TBI will "just work". Besides, having a custom computer is at odds with the expedition concept IMO. If you kept it totally factory, you could source a new computer easily if needed.

If you want to stick with the custom motor, you could check out DynamicEFI. He sells GM TBI computers with some nice upgrades for ease of programming and datalogging. Also, once you "buy in" you have a good expert source to help you get it going. He won't program it for you, but he's got good starting points and will help you along. That's what I have.
 
4839 lb vehicle+210hp stock motor. That's about 23lb per hp... I would like my blazer a good deal healthier than that. The motor I have now can have more engine work done. Ive never even had it on a dyno.
 
Jcash_k5 said:
4839 lb vehicle+210hp stock motor. That's about 23lb per hp... I would like my blazer a good deal healthier than that. The motor I have now can have more engine work done. Ive never even had it on a dyno.
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If you have $2000 laying around for efi, you can get an aftermarket system that is basically bolt on and go.

But most of us don't have that, so that is more or less the reason we are saying TBI.

It just takes more time to tune correctly, but can be done.
 
Jcash_k5 said:
4839 lb vehicle+210hp stock motor. That's about 23lb per hp... I would like my blazer a good deal healthier than that. The motor I have now can have more engine work done. Ive never even had it on a dyno.
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You have a totally rebuilt engine? Or did a shop just stick a new cam in?
 
The efi is about 2gs, the tbi is about 5 hundred or so. Going back to will just be time. Im leaning back to stock, I haven't had any real problems with the carb. It may stay for the short term. I do appreciate everybodys input on this project.

Thank you to everybody that is helping me outon this. I love getting others input and weighing in my options
 
The last two pages are undisputable evidence that messing with a factory setup is a bad idea (carb issues, TBI tuning pains, etc). If the stock motor didn't give enough HP, you should've either swapped in a LS motor (which comes with its own issues), or bought a different vehicle.

My stock 350 TBI has plenty of power to get me anywhere I wanna go. It's always taken everything I've thrown at it: 900 mile straight shot doing 70mph on flat highway, hit the Alpine Loop for four days, then went 900 miles back home. Never did I think "man, I wish I had a more powerful motor".
 
clandr1 said:
The last two pages are undisputable evidence that messing with a factory setup is a bad idea (carb issues, TBI tuning pains, etc). If the stock motor didn't give enough HP, you should've either swapped in a LS motor (which comes with its own issues), or bought a different vehicle.

My stock 350 TBI has plenty of power to get me anywhere I wanna go. It's always taken everything I've thrown at it: 900 mile straight shot doing 70mph on flat highway, hit the Alpine Loop for four days, then went 900 miles back home. Never did I think "man, I wish I had a more powerful motor".
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Different strokes brother
 
Expedition rig, right? Reliability is what you should be thinking, not excessive horsepower.

Martin
 
Im not looking for excessive horsepower. 210 hp is under power to me. I'm open to new and alternative fuels. Is anyone running a supplemental fuel to boost economy?
 
Jcash_k5 said:
It's a totally rebuilt engine with a cam "upgrade" that was installed
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If that's the case I think people here could use a bit more info about the build before recommending a type of fuel injection.

I'm not versed in tbi well enough to know how it handles non stock engines. I just know it absolutely outperforms a carburetor in every practical situation.

Is there any chance they put in an "rv" cam?
 
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Richcz28 said:
If you go with h1s. Which, as said before, they are heavy. Get them re centered from someone like trail worthy fab.

Don't but the mililtary old stock ones and use wheelspacers.

This wheel choice also only makes sense if you are doing an axle swap involving an 8 lug setup.
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What's the problem with running wheel spacers? I'm running stock 24 bolt hmmwv wheels with 1.5" spacers in the front and 3" spacers in the rear. The only reason for the 2 different size spacers is so the wheels are the same width front and rear. I haven't had any issues with them, and a lot of other people run spacers without issues.

You can watch govliquidation and pick up a set of wheels and tires for cheap. I took out the run flats and am running PVC inserts, not to save on weight, but so I can air down and not be riding on the runflat.

Also the wheels ARE DOT approved, it's stamped right on the outer ring. They may be heavier, but if you're upgrading to 1-tons I don't see how alittle more weight at the wheels will hurt much. With the 2 peice wheels, if you really wanted to save weight, instead of carrying a spare wheel/tire combo you could just carry a spare tire and o-ring and change the tire. That's what I used to do in Afghanistan. Just have the tools to take the wheels apart and break the bead, and know how to do it...

*edit* I just did some googling, it looks like a stock hmmwv wheel without the tire or runflats weigh around 47 pounds. I can't find much on a regular steel wheel that's the same dimensions, but what I did find was that they are around 35 pounds. So a 12 pound difference, to me, isn't that much. Where the extra weight comes in is with the runflats, which are 35 pounds, I think that's for the rubber ones.
 
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The H1 rims are about the heaviest you can get. Same goes for the OZ radials. They basically weigh the same as swampers. Yes, the wheels carry a DOT stamp, but they are also stamped "Military Use Only", so I'm not sure we can just pick and choose. I don't know the regulations, but I imagine recentering also makes the DOT stamp null. It's probably illegal to ride on modified wheels, but I imagine there are probably also places where wheel spacers are illegal. If you look at TWF wheels, there is no way the welds are going to fail before the wheel is otherwise unusable, but I think if the right law enforcement person wanted to give you trouble over them they could. I have thousands of highway miles on mine, as do lots of others, but nobody is selling recentered wheels or add-on beadlocks for anything but off-road use.

What is a real concern is popping studs. In the 1st year or so of having my 8-bolts I must have lost a half-dozen studs. We don't know the history of these used wheels. Some soldier may have torqued them to 300 ft-lbs 20 times. Or a 12,000 lb HUMMVE may have driven hundreds of miles with studs missing, overloading the adjacent ones - and now they're yours. Now it's been like 3 years with no problems, so I must have run through all the bad ones but I still carry spares and at least one spare O-ring. Replacing them all with new sounds like a good idea until you discover that these nuts and bolts will cost more than you paid for the wheel.
 
Im probably going to be driving a good bit on the highway. Would a Detroit locker be a manageable situation in the rear or would it be difficult to drive or what. I might have found a set of axles d60 and 14bff.
 
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