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ignition systems for a 97 vortec 350 sugestions???

original balzer

original balzer

1/2 ton status
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I am a firm beliver in a good ignition system. Yet I often do not upgrade from the factory setup.

Several years ago I had a 1985 grand wagoneer with a 401 witch was built pretty stout. Anyway it had a jacobs ignition system and that system always ran clean and strong. The spark plugs where always in good shape.

So my 97 needs a complete tune up, from ignition upgrades to filter changes and a few small induction repairs such as the idle circit control.

Has anyone used any particular system from accel or MSD ect that you really like?

With the milage my truck has I would like to go all the way so a new billit distributor is also in the plans. I figure it will help wake up an old worn engne and if the engine fails its easy to tranfer to a new engine.
 
The factory setup on my 99 is pretty good . I saw no reason to change it . Like the way the cap routes the wires to each bank too . These don't seem to fall off at 4500 rpm accelerating on a freeway ramp either like the old HEI's did .

Save a few pennies and do the air intake and a good muffler after your freshening .
 
pauly383 said:
The factory setup on my 99 is pretty good . I saw no reason to change it . Like the way the cap routes the wires to each bank too . These don't seem to fall off at 4500 rpm accelerating on a freeway ramp either like the old HEI's did .

Save a few pennies and do the air intake and a good muffler after your freshening .
Click to expand...

I already have a HUGE K&N cone filter and intake tube and my exhaust is single 3" straight pipe no mufflers no cat. The truck has of 230K on the ticker and I doubt anything more than wires and plugs have ever been changed.
Before someone tells me how bad it is to run without a cat I am aware of it. When I got this truck it had 4 cats and tiny true dual exhaust. It was mostly rotten and VERY plugged up a 30 minute drive would cause the first 2 cats to glow bright red. At the time I didnt hve the money to do much so it got all new 3" pipe to get me by. Later when it gets a new engine It will get a singe high flow cat and a nice muffler.

I know it has some carbon build up and other gunk. It has a delay when you let off the throttle like 15 seconds to drop down to an idle. I know there is some sort of valve that gums up and causes that.

It runs great until about 2300RPM then it spits and sputters and backfires.
On a daily basis I dont usually get over 2000RPM anyway but I know it doesnt run right so it needs to be fixed.

Basically it was neglected the last few years it was a company truck and I didnt really care.

The fuel pump is SCREAMING at me. Its not running very healthy I know and can only really blame myself.

I am going to tune it up the way I should have to begin with. I will clean the air filter and any build up in the induction all new igniton, new belt ,and at least lower rad hose as well as a coolant flush. new fuel pump and filter the list goes on and on.

It has HIGH miles but from idle to 2000 it still runs strong enough that I dont think the engine is worn out its just sick.

I only paid $1000 for the truck 3 years ago I owe it some TLC.
 
I'm interested to see what you decide and how it works out for ya'. I've been eyeing the tune up kit from accel for my k3500 but nothing more than plugs/wires/cap/rotor... after everything is up to par I'm going to have Black Bear tune it since they do vehicle specific tunes, not just generic engine tunes.
 
Just a new cap/wires/rotor should clean up your misfire/sputter . Mine did that with the original 100,000 mile wires and cracked original cap . Kept getting the misfire code , # 3 wire was open , and several had the ends rip right off when I changed them , and the original cap had a nice crack in it .

Been ripping away DD this thing since I changed them :)

BTW , did you retain the four o2 sensors when you did the exhaust ? Or did you spring for the rear sensor delete harness ?
 
pauly383 said:
Just a new cap/wires/rotor should clean up your misfire/sputter . Mine did that with the original 100,000 mile wires and cracked original cap . Kept getting the misfire code , # 3 wire was open , and several had the ends rip right off when I changed them , and the original cap had a nice crack in it .

Been ripping away DD this thing since I changed them :)

BTW , did you retain the four o2 sensors when you did the exhaust ? Or did you spring for the rear sensor delete harness ?
Click to expand...


It has 4 new O2's in it and the rear 2 are in some sort of sleve or cup with a small hole in it. Every once in a while it will give a emissions code. Right now I get like 5 codes and havent looked to see what they are. Just a differnt code every time it throws a code. So I just have to tune up what I know and see if any more codes show up.

There was a web site I was reading about that they swapped the 4 for 2 and onew was a 3 wire or "heated O2" I wish I could find that now as it had a high performance Ignition system that was adjustable.

Bleh I just dont understand all this high tech crap LOL
 
check out davis unified ignitions hei's they pretty good equipment, but you'll need good sparkplug wires, i was blowing the sides out of stock type wires , it would start missing, pop the hood and 2-3 wires would have that silky stuff puffed out of them, i put msd super conductor wires and haven't had any more blown apart wires.
 
Be careful with no cats. I did that on my 96 and ruined my fuel injection. It was pricey to!!!! Buy you only paid 1000$ LOL
 
dfl701 said:
Be careful with no cats. I did that on my 96 and ruined my fuel injection. It was pricey to!!!! Buy you only paid 1000$ LOL
Click to expand...


HUH? LMAO

I cant see that happening but it will throw a code and try to compensate. It sounds like you had other problems that got blamed on the cat being missing.

Maybe you need to define ruined? A missing cat shouldnt do ANYTHING that cannot be fixed by putting a cat back on and clearing the codes.
 
So my next question is the tune. Once I get all the stuff repaired and maintained, what do it need to do to have it tuned?

Sorry I just dont know anything about modern engines.

All I know is everyone claims the factory tune is about as worthless at tits on a boar.
 
96 and newer have reactive systems per say.

air fuel mix is checked by the o2 sensors before the cat. then after the cat. it is checking to see if things are working right. and if not it try's to compensate for the problem. thats the basic idea.
 
There really is not anything you can do to tune a stock Vortec engine. The engine timing and fuel, is totally controled by the ECM. If you want to change the tune you have to either get one of those pocket programers like a Hypertec that reflash the ECM.
Or get a reflashed ECM from http://www.nelsonperformance.com/tuning.htm
Both will work. Cuustom tuned reflashed ECM will give you more power than the basic pocket programmer will.
 
Yep, you use one of his scanners to record vital parameters while you go for a joy ride under various driving conditions... then ship that back to him and he does a vehicle specific tune and sends you an ECM to pop in place of your factory one.
 
If its done that way does he even need a you to tell him what has been done to the truck? I mean like exhaust changes intake changes ignition changes ect. Tire size? all that stuff affects it im sure.
 
I'm sure you could mention it but he gets all of his information from the data you record.
He's really popular over on GMFS and I've heard nothing but great things from people.
 
Do not put anything other than Delco on that motor if you want it to run right. I dont care what anybody says...

New set of Delco plugs, Delco cap/rotor and a nice set of MSD wires is all you need.

I second Thunder's recommendation of a Nelson Performance tune. I have one in my 98 and it runs like a bat out of hell...

And yes you need to tell whoever does your tune any changes to the truck like tire size, exhaust ect.
 
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