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Injection on '82 454?

MNorby

MNorby

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I have a mild built 454 in my 71 k5. It came from a 82 3/4 ton 2wd truck and it was rebuilt about 5 years ago. Its bored .030, a bit of cam, roller rockers, weiand intake, peanut port heads, etc... What would be required to put injection on it? If I found a 87 or so 454 truck and get the injection stuff or would custom tuning be required? I have a stock replacement plastic fuel tank. Any aftermarket kits very good to just bolt on? Trying to decide between EFI or 'pane.
 
biggest problem i forsee is what cam specs. this will help a lot in chip tune.

other than that basic swap over. if you dont do a tank swap to efi tank and sender then use aftermarket frame mounted fuel pump and look for one with around 255lph rating. this will save you from upgrade later as o.e suck at high flow and drop off fast when rmp goes up. inline filter will be required and efi pressure rated also.

then make sure you have a 5/16 return line to tank.

and you dont need a 454 setup per say. but it helps to find one. 305/350 stuff can work with little mods.

if you want look at www.tbichips.com for some good basic info on tbi stuff. brian is good guy and lots of info.
 
If you can find a 454 throttle body and PROM you might be able to make it work without burning a chip. Personally I'd get a 350 computer and harness, get a big (52mm) throttle body off of E-bay and some 454 injectors from E-bay as well. I use an Airtex # E2000 fuel pump mounted on the frame and have had no issues in 4 years. Have tbichips.com burn you a chip that will match your intake and cam and enjoy the advantages of injection with no power loss compared to the carb and not have to hassle with propane.
 
Concur with all the above. Chip tune is guaranteed to be necessary for it to run at it's *absolute best*. Injection setups will tolerate a lot of variation, but they won't run as good as they can. That's the point of injection IMO, driveability. Carbs can make just as much power, a heck of a lot cheaper and easier, but I've yet to hear of a carb setup that makes you completely forget about cold or hot start problems, running rich, etc.
 
You'll be able to tune that cam. But instead of paying the big bucks for a chip I bought the stuff to do it myself. Yes it's time consuming and a bit of a learning curve but I've been helping a lot of guys locally convert there rigs (not always chevy) to GM TBI systems as well.
 
Sweet, thats good to know it could work, would I be best to source the tbi stuff from 454 truck? Specific years to look for?
 
The 454 TBI and ECM are all you relly need from a 454 truck. The rest can be sourced from any simalar GM car or truck. The IAC valve on the TBI is a differnt plug but can be obtained from Turbo city.
 
Good timing to bring this back up.

Dad just got the 454 stuff out of an '89 'burb, took everything including the interior wiring.

Hard part now hardware-wise is going to be the dual fuel tanks, since his now has no fuel return.

Pretty wild cam in his, going to be interesting to try and tune. :) I may force him to invest in a Wide Band O2 (WBO2) with me.
 
I would prob go to wrecking yard and strip a complete motor of what I need. Can I use my spread bore intake with an adapter or anything?
 
Yes adapters are made and if you get an early Big Block it will have an adapter as they used the same engine with a carb for bigger trucks. Don't know what year that changed.
 
The intake my dad grabbed is the same bolt pattern as his "old" (70's) 454, and happened to already be an aftermarket piece. :)

It must have been '87 and maybe '88 that the adapters were used, unless the '89 had an adapter from the factory and whoever swapped the intake removed it.
 
Friend that owes me has a 91 crew cab truck with a blown up tbi 350 in it. aid I can have whatever i need so prob run out there next week and pull everything. What all do i need to make sure to get? TB, distributor, coil, computer / harness, what else?
 
Everything attached to the harness.

If the GVWR is over 8500, then it will have the hot fuel module.

Did some reading on it the past few days, for some reason the 454's had a heat soak problem, and the hot fuel module was their fix. Should be bolted to the drivers side of the brake pedal assembly bracket.

(stupid solution IMO, but GM didn't ask me)
 
well another friend has an 88 454 truck I can steal the efi stuff off too, will prob take everything off both trucks and see whats best from each. The 88 should have the adapter too for my intake.
 
MNorby said:
well another friend has an 88 454 truck I can steal the efi stuff off too, will prob take everything off both trucks and see whats best from each. The 88 should have the adapter too for my intake.
Click to expand...

OK so I am in this boat now, helping a friend figure out the best solution.
He has a 79 Class A motor home with the 454 carbed, it runs strong in the valley but once he starts going in the mountains it's obviously starving for O2.
He's looking at the cheapest way to do this and I suggested a TBI upgrade.
I have been looking at what was offered in the early years and saw they used the stock 4BBL intake with an adapter to run a TB which to me looked like the same as my 350 TB.
Was there a difference in the TB other than the injectors?
And assuming we can get the adapter and injectors can the rest be from a 350 with a custom chip burned?
TIA
IceMan
 
imiceman44 said:
OK so I am in this boat now, helping a friend figure out the best solution.
He has a 79 Class A motor home with the 454 carbed, it runs strong in the valley but once he starts going in the mountains it's obviously starving for O2.
He's looking at the cheapest way to do this and I suggested a TBI upgrade.
I have been looking at what was offered in the early years and saw they used the stock 4BBL intake with an adapter to run a TB which to me looked like the same as my 350 TB.
Was there a difference in the TB other than the injectors?
And assuming we can get the adapter and injectors can the rest be from a 350 with a custom chip burned?
TIA
IceMan
Click to expand...

Yes there is a difference. A SBC TBI has 1 11/16" throttle bores and a 454 TBI has 2" throttle bores.
 
Bring this back up. I got my stuff from a 88 1-ton 454 pickup so it had the tbi/spread bore adapter on it, I just plugged the water ports. I got the wiring harness cleaned up and am hoping to start installing everything this week. Friend that has nearly identical engine (we built at same time) and I went in together and bought a tuner than can be watched and changed in real time while driving (forgot name now, he researched and has it). I picked up a handful of e2000 pumps from late 80s/early 90s fords for $10 each. My pump will be mounted directly below the fuel cell so I hope I don't have the priming problems these pumps have (or don't have technically). Only thing I need to decide is fuel hoses. The pumps have a fitting on them for the ford fuel lines. A 5/16 hose fits on them ok but is that enough for a supply line? Can fittings be obtained for those pump for a 3/8 hose or even a -6 connector? The fittings thread onto the pump with a o-ring type fitting.
 
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