Tricks to revive an old 350 TBI

[midnitewarya]

So the old girl just turned 20. 280,000 miles! Same motor.

I've got 35s on 4.56s and I can barely do 80mph. Motor has no top end power at all. It smokes a little on startup. Leaks a little oil at the rear seal. No mods whatsoever.

Does anybody know any tricks for power restoration? Coil, wires, plugs and cap were changed about 180,000 miles ago.

I've heard changing out the entire distributer can help, along with a performance coil and new plugs.

 

[British Slave]

A good tuneup would probably help.

 

[midnitewarya]

Thats what Im thinking, but before I go shopping I want to get an idea of what I'll be needing.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Tricks to revive an old 350 TBI

With 280K on the clock it's time for a rebuild.

 

[79bonanza]

i did some work on my TBI and freshend it up, you know the ususall plugs wires rotor cap filters fluids and fixed the intake leak and detailed the motor. ran real good and strong all the way up to 100 mph or so then about 2 weeks later the number 8 connecting rod decided to break loose and goo threw the block but it was the original motor with about 270,000 on the ticker

 

[midnitewarya]

With 280K on the clock it's time for a rebuild.

I thought about that, but decided not to. My dad bought this truck in '90 while we lived in the UK. It's been to London, Paris, Munich and Rome. I've had it in just about every state in the Union. Wet the tires in both oceans and the gulf. I kinda just want to see how long the old girl will last!

 

[ryoken]

Does anybody know any tricks for power restoration?

new set of piston pullback springs would do it a world of good....

























































sorry, i couldn't resist...


seriously tho, it's probably pretty tired in the compression department at this point as Scott said... if you plan to keep the same setup in there, with an eventual long block replacement, you can do some exterior upgrades that could be transfered over to the new mill when ya do it.... TbI upgrades, headers, etc... cranking the fuel pressure up does the TBI's a ton in the power department.... all that could aid in the bottom ends demise too...

and obviously fresh tune up parts never hurts... at least plugs, no excuse to have crappy plugs in a motor...

 

[mrhoes]

Get the throttle body rebuilt, i sent to mine to turbo city and had them check it out. Doesn't leak anymore and the truck runs better.

 

[496truck]

I thought about that, but decided not to. My dad bought this truck in '90 while we lived in the UK. It's been to London, Paris, Munich and Rome. I've had it in just about every state in the Union. Wet the tires in both oceans and the gulf. I kinda just want to see how long the old girl will last!

Sounds like it lasted 280k. If you don't want to replace the engine with a different one, rebuild the one that's in there. That way it stays original and keep racking up the miles.

 

[cdoggwsu]

cap, rotor, plugs and an msd gm blaster coil made a world of difference in my '88

 

[USSkoval]

I'd start with a compression test.

Like 496truck said, rebuilding right now is an option. That option will be gone once a rod tries to exit the side of the block.

 

[midnitewarya]

Update here.

I had the compression tested, unbelievably only one cylinder was off. I'll take that as a success.

I replaced the plugs, wires, coil, cap, rotor and rebuilt the dizzy. A new ECM and a rebuild of the TBI body went in. Replaced the radiator and reinsulated all the wires.

It drives completely different now. Back on the highway passing cars, doing 70 mph at around 2000 rpm. I can also bark my tires again.

I finally got my detroit for my 14bff, and that's going in next weekend.

As soon as the weather cools down, I can finally start hitting trails again, for the first time in around 5 years.