to tbi-or not to tbi

[blazin_blazer]

i keep seeing these threads where the tbi is giving someone troubles! i have an 87 3+3 i bought mainly for its 454...to go into an 85 k10. i like the idea of having tbi for quick easy starts &...uh..yea, theres where i'm at! it looks like to me, if i tried and succeeded to get the bbc and tbi into the 85 i have a stock 454, and can't really go wild w/ a bigger cam and such w/o alot of troubles, like having the ecm reflashed and other expensive mods, if the tbi would even handle a semi wild cam. i'm running a sm465, so i wouldn't need a high stall converter to go w/ a wild cam.

but if i pull the engine and put a dual plane aluminum intake & q-jet on it, i can put a 272 or 280, maybe even a 292(i know 292 is a really radical cam in a sbc, but comp cams has told me that in a bbc its just starting to get wild), so putting a comp cam in it w/o having to really do anything else to it to wake the engine up really appeals to me. i really don't like the idea of electronics(ecm) & water mixing, this is a strictly mud & trail truck. i've been in some of my friends trucks w/10-12'' lift and 44's in some of the sloughs we go threw in these trucks & you can literally roll your window down and reach the water, it will be up to the body line, on a truck that has 12'' of lift and 44''s. the only trucks that run tbi are the sas'd trucks and they ussually get drowned out at some point and they swap to a carb.

its not uncommon for the trucks that have bad weatherstripping, to flood their cab! we spend alot of time finding places where water can get into the cab and seal them up and run no carpet or rubber mats, b/c of the deep water we encounter from time to time. theres always someone trying to go somewhere that noone has been before. i watched a truck once pull up to a mud hole that no1 had ever been in....he pulled off in it and his truck literally did a nose stand, he was lucky he had a huge brushguard on the truck or it would have rolled on forward onto the roof, the rear tires were in the air...we scrambled around and got some winch cables hooked to him and pulled his rear end down and him in 4lo and reverse...and a 8000lb warn and a 12000lb ramsey slowly pulled him back out, dragged him out, is more acurate, but we broke the cable on the warn once(we did a infield repair), before we got him out! his grille and headlights were packed w/ mud all the way back to the radiator!

like i said i like the quick starts and the reliability of the tbi, but i just question if its worth the while on my truck. even if i didn't swap in a bigger cam the swap would be so much faster and easier to swap into the 85 by using a carb. also, i'd like to pretty up the 454 while i have it out..put on a chrome oil pan and timing cover and cast valve covers and paint the heads hi-temp aluminum paint so they match the aluminum intake...chrome pulleys and alternator mount. i won't have to worry about oil pan to diff clearance w/12'' of lift. i've found these pieces i would like to add while the engine is out...will this oilpan fit w/o the cross member being in the way? pros-cons?

oilpan:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0156867447&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT&viewitem=

pulleys:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0395951663&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT&viewitem=

timing cover:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BB-C...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

alternator brackets:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0167118833&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT&viewitem=

and i've already bought these, b/c they are going on in place of the factory stamped steel covers tbi or not:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0375578413&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT&viewitem=

any thoughts about this..flame away or support me!

 

[Burbdood 74]

I think it's all up to what you really want to do. EFI is simple, but a carb with a big cam is simpler. Not to mention the fact that if your fuel pump dies on you with a carb, you can Afro-engineer your way home whereas with EFI, you can't. I've had two trucks with EFI and I wouldn't go back to a carb again if I didn't need to. I like easy starts and being able to run at extreme angles.

 

[Mastiff]

I upgraded my K5 to TBI and it does start way easier, but if I had it to do over again, I'm not sure I'd go away from the carb. I'm scared of the TBI because I have a totally custom, non-stock EPROM in there to match my non-emission engine. If anything goes wrong or needs to be fixed, I need to dredge through my computer trying to find the files, remember how to use the programmer, figure out what to change, etc. I'm all alone since no shop in this city will ever be able to help me. And the thing still starts poorly cold because I have a mistake in the BIN file that I'm not totally sure how to fix.

Any old timer mechanic can help with a carb, but if stuff goes wrong with an EFI that's not totally stock, get ready to go begging on 3rd gen or other TBI type sites. It's unnerving.

If you're swapping in a totally bone stock engine with matching TBI from the factory, then ignore all I said.

 

[chevyuser74]

tbichips.com ask brian about what u want to do, my performance tbi setup has been a real pita though, really wish i would have done a 5.3 swap now that i look back. tbi engines can only handle so much cam.

 

[michaelgilitiuk]

i bought my 81 blazer with a 95 tbi motor and i would never put a carb on it i never bog down because of angles.I go muddin and never had a problem with it.

 

[Fabrimacator21]

A stock 454 with a cam is not that bad for tbi... but I'd recommend a computer controlled cam. They make decent power and won't require tuning.

 

[dyeager535]

I can find just as many posts on here, if not more, where people have problems with carbs than they do with TBI. I can also find a lot more engine fire posts.

Yes, TBI takes more to set up correctly if the engine isn't stock. Is driveability 100 times better? Resounding yes, which is enough for me.

 

[chevyuser74]

id never go back to carb, once the fuel injection went in.

 

[84 bbblazer]

Howell engine developments made my 454 tbi 4l80 swap into my 84 simple (almost) , non emission harness and custom prom burn for whatever u want.

 

[Mastiff]

Howell engine developments made my 454 tbi 4l80 swap into my 84 simple (almost) , non emission harness and custom prom burn for whatever u want.

I went with CustomeEFIs and it was torture. Should have gone with someone else. In the end I had to learn up and make my own PROM. Like I said though, I cringe at the though of having to modify it. I've switched computers since then (home PC I mean) so I'd have to reinstall and figure out all the software tools, pray they still work, etc.

If something goes wrong, or even if it dosn't, I may eventually pony up the cash for an EBL system.

 

[70jimmy]

I will give kudos to howell also. I swapped in a 350 TBI from a 93 Sub and ordered a new harness, computer, manual, and later when I had a bit of a problem found out I needed a new prom. They shipped that out and bam it has been working great ever since.

And no I don't wanna go back to a carb, at least not for a trail rig.

 

[Fabrimacator21]

I went with CustomeEFIs and it was torture. Should have gone with someone else. In the end I had to learn up and make my own PROM. Like I said though, I cringe at the though of having to modify it. I've switched computers since then (home PC I mean) so I'd have to reinstall and figure out all the software tools, pray they still work, etc.

If something goes wrong, or even if it dosn't, I may eventually pony up the cash for an EBL system.

I was looking at the ebl also. If your gonna tune your own maps you can't beat it.