hi, ive got an 88 chevy scottsdale 4x4 2500ld. the engine has 210,000 miles on it, so im lookin to rebuild and upgrade it. i know the heads intake and cam are the worst. i was lookin at doin a vortec head swap and lt1 cam but i've read that the vortec heads arent "legal" in california. has anybody run a setup like this in california and gotten away with it? and what intake did you use? the vortec carb intake with adapter or the gmpp vortec-tbi intake?

 

the only way i see it being illegal is if you do away with the egr or anyother emission equipment.You need to drill,tap your block for the LT1 cam.LT1 cam is a roller you have a Hydraylic flat tappet.

 

can i still use shorty headers with egr ports on them or will i need stock manifolds?

 

your 88 has egr ports on the manifolds?my 90 gmc didnt.

 

no i dont know i havent looked at them in a while and im deployment so i cant look at them for a while haha

 

Your TBI has EGR ports in the heads, just like the old perimeter bolt valve cover smog heads. You can keep all your emmission equipment with the vortec and just need the drivers side manifold you have the pickup tube for the Vortec divorced EGR. The GMPP intake has the EGR on it so for smog requirements you can use it.

By the time you fiddle around rebuilding your wore out 350 why not just buy a Vortec crate replacement and be done with it. Then you have a complete roller cam 350 with powdered metal rods and the Vortec heads you want. Change the cam ( honestly I would use an aftermarket grind over the Camaro LT1 cam, something like the Comp XR264 or even XR258 or equivalent Lunati, etc) toss on some shorty headers that are smog legal, tune it and be done. You can probably redo your 350 cheaper if you do an el cheapo rebuild, but then it's not a brand new engine either.

Your trucks block might be roller ready depending on the casting number. Certain 1 piece rear main blocks are and some are not provisioned for it at all. Some provisioned ones are drilled and tapped, some aren't.

Here's a quick breakdown someone wrote years ago:

ODDLY ENOUGH. The Edelbrock MPFI Conversion that changes TBI to MPFI and uses Vortec heads ( part number 3505/3506) has a California EO number making it legal to have a Vortec engine in a TBI truck..... Buttttt...... the GMPP intake for TBI to Vortec does not have an EO number...... Go figure lol.

 

i was about to do that vortec swap back when i had my tbi350.i agree on the swap but jyards want an arm and leg for a running vortec 350 atleast around my way.800 bucks with 140k on it.i can get a 4.8L LS based motor for 650 with 56k.

 

1994Vmax:yeah i kinda figured the lt1 cam wouldnt be as good partly since it's a roller cam and partly because it was made for a car and didnt necessarily need a lot of torque like my truck, but i had heard on another forum(not gonna name names) that it did well in tbi trucks... i dont really want to go for an all new vortec long block primarily for the cost, all i really need to do with my block is have it machined. i can do the assembly myself. and as for buying an entire junkyard engine, i dont want to deal with the hassles the vortec mpfi injection cause, nor the computer swap and associated interior parts, namely the dash. i am one of the few that like the 88-94 dash and FINALLY found a 91 tach equipped gauge cluster for it

 

i want to do an ls swap but to get this truck moving (700r4 wont shift out of first), i need to rebuild it, and the ls wont easily match up with the 700r4. so for the near term, a dinsosaur tech 350 and 700r4 will be staying, i just need to figure out how i want it set up. a guy on fullsizechevy was talking about how easy it was to tune his tbi 383 with ebl tuning, i'm looking into that. it will be pricey though, almost 400 dollars to have it installed...

 

Well just add up all your parts/labour costs first though. You need pistons, rings, bearings, machine work, heads( assembled), cam, lifters, retainers, pushrods, gaskets, oil pump, timing chain, etc. It's easy to rack over $2k out of that, very easy in fact. That's all a crate engine is, and it's all brand new to boot. But if you want the satisfaction, do it yourself.

Roller is the way to go though. Flat tappet can't touch rollers ramp rates and keep the same driving and idle qualities.

The MPFI is Edelbrocks crappy conversion that uses your throttle body minus the injector pod and their intake system.... Not the OE Gen 1 Vortec CSFI junk. I only mentioned it as it has a California exemption whereas any of the TBI to Vortec head intake options do not.

I really don't see how knowledgable and or intelligent these smog people are and if it all is there and working and the truck passes the sniff... well maybe you can run Vortec heads.

You don't need the dash if you ever wanted an OBD 2 equipped engine to swap. And if that's the case just dump a 6 liter in it.