96 chevy truck
Dec 9, 2013 | 10:41 AM
#1
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Teching In
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96 chevy truck
i got a 1996 chevy truck bone stock.
was looking at doing some work to it, was wondering what the best things to do to the engine, exhaust, air,.
Not real familiar with the wana be fuel injection it has. is it easier to just take it off and put a carb or leave it like that.
all help will be great
thank you james
was looking at doing some work to it, was wondering what the best things to do to the engine, exhaust, air,.
Not real familiar with the wana be fuel injection it has. is it easier to just take it off and put a carb or leave it like that.
all help will be great
thank you james
Dec 9, 2013 | 12:06 PM
#3
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,379
Likes: 0
From: Woodstock Ontario Canada
Getting rid of the hugely restrictive dual 1-7/8" headpipes, that connect to the cats.
Left is 1/2 ton Vortec 350 pipes, and right is the 3/4 ton Vortec 350 pipes that are 2-3/4"-3" along with larger cats.
Here is a Walker replacement for a 3/4 ton.
And here is teh rear portion that goes with the above exhaust
Running long tube headers forces you to use custom headpipes. I used 2-1/2" headpipes into a dual 2-1/2" in/out muffler into dual 4" exiting out the passenger side before the tire.
PCM tuning helps quite a bit. Leaning out the WOT Power Enrichment Mode fuel multiplier which takes a bit of fuel out of teh WOT fuel map.
A basic PCM tune that leaned out the PE mode multiplier and disabled Torque Management 100% along with the headers/exhaust made my truck launch like I dropped in a 383.
Here is a marine intake right after removale from a boat.
Here is the bottom of the marine intake plenum. Nice and flat
Compared to this mess lurking underneath the stock pleum cover. I call all that stuff that impedes airflow through the intake manifold "Injector Debris".
Side by side Marine left, truck right
Here is a differentmarine intake that uses a tunnel ram design with a progressive dual blade throttle body off to the passenger side for Vortec heads.
Here is the inside of the tunnel ram marine intake
GM Ramjet 350 crate engine intake manifold also works
Ramjet 350 intake on Vortec 350 along with CNP(Coil Near Plug) ignition
Vortec 350 dyno of Ramjet 350 intake with LT4 hotcam on a stock Vortec 350
A dyno of a Vortec 350 van with marine intake, custom PCm tuning, 206°210° roller camshaft, LT! Camaro stock exhaust manifolds. Look at that torque curve, or torque LINE.lol
This is a stock open rear diferential carrier pictiured next to teh Eaton Tr track gear type traction aid. Look how much beefier the Eaton unit is. Obvioulsy stength is greatly increased. Your truck will have an 8.5" 10 bolt semi floating rear axle assembly. if you count 10 bolts of the dif. cover. If you get under there and find 14 bolts on the cover. That rear is a 14 bolt 9.5" semifloating rear end.
I personally would stay fuel injected, but the stock intake is really bad for performance beyond stock levels. If you wish to get serious about increasing power, by the time you upgrade the intake manifold, you are getting to the point of where you can start talking about a GEN 3 or GEN 4 engines swap.
The stock "blackbox" PCM is fully tuneable by professionals and by Tunercats OBD2 and JEt DST and Westers GMT but the 96-97 is unsupported by EFILIve HPTuners. The 1998-2000 trucks/SUVs that use teh blackbox PCM are supported fully by Tunercats OBD2 and JEt DST and Westers GMT and has limited support by EFILIve.
The Blackbox 1996-2000 Vortec 4.3/305/350/454 (L35/L30/L31/L29) can be swapped out for a more modern 512kb PCM called with teh last 4 numbers of 0411 which uses the dual 80 pin connectors. The 2001-2002 Vortec 305/350 powered Express vans are powered by this PCM and therefore can be retrofitted into the older 1996-2000 trucks/vans SUV's. This retrofit opens up full support by all teh previously listed aftermarket tuning products and adds full support by EFILive and HPTuners.
There are 100% complte templates for swapping teh blackbox PCM pinouts to the dual 80 pin connectors.. These templates are differnt between teh 1996 and 1997 and 1998-2000. A gentleman named Lextech made these up and will email them to you upon request. He can supply you with an 0411 PCM with a starter tune for you as well. Let me know and I get you in contact with Lex.
The black box PCM's have a rev limit hard limit of 6000rpm. I have contacted/contracted with many PCM calibrators around North AMerica and no matter what rev limits you tune into the PCM's, the result is the injectors powering down at 6000rpm. If your require 6000+ rpm, the 0411 PCM retrofit is a requirement.
FYI There is the Chevrolet Performance PArts (old GMPP) 383 crate engine in which you remove teh L31 and drop in the 383. Tuning isnt required, but IS required for max performance. I dont understand how people will spend thousands of dollars for a brand new engine and dont allow the PCM to control it properly.
17800393 is $5200 and includes the engine, distributer, wires etc. It is said to make around 340hp@4500rpm/435lb/ft@4500rpm.
Just keep in mind that if you use a comparable dyno test of the stock engine in your truck the 255hp@4600rpm/330lb/ft@2800rpm is actually about 310-20hp. You dont go from 255hp to 340 hp, you go from about 310-320hp to 340hp.
New for 2014 there is the ZZ383 with the new for 2014 designed 210cc intake runner volume aluminum FASTBURN cylinder heads that feature teh same Vortec intake bolt paytter as your stock Vortec 350 does.(it actually has the old 12 bolt pattern as well.)
For 2014 the ZZ383 19301295 $6483 gets an extra 25hp for a rating of 450hp@5400rpm/450 lb/ft torque @4500rpm.
THIS is the engine I would get if I wanted a performance engine from GM. But again, it would require intake and exhaust mods.
The GMT 400 trucks(88-99 trucks that ran the 4.3/305/350/454) and seeing as you have a 1997 you have a truck that GM had a long time to improve any design issues.
Enjoy.
peace
Hog
Left is 1/2 ton Vortec 350 pipes, and right is the 3/4 ton Vortec 350 pipes that are 2-3/4"-3" along with larger cats.
Here is a Walker replacement for a 3/4 ton.
And here is teh rear portion that goes with the above exhaust
Running long tube headers forces you to use custom headpipes. I used 2-1/2" headpipes into a dual 2-1/2" in/out muffler into dual 4" exiting out the passenger side before the tire.
PCM tuning helps quite a bit. Leaning out the WOT Power Enrichment Mode fuel multiplier which takes a bit of fuel out of teh WOT fuel map.
A basic PCM tune that leaned out the PE mode multiplier and disabled Torque Management 100% along with the headers/exhaust made my truck launch like I dropped in a 383.
Here is a marine intake right after removale from a boat.
Here is the bottom of the marine intake plenum. Nice and flat
Compared to this mess lurking underneath the stock pleum cover. I call all that stuff that impedes airflow through the intake manifold "Injector Debris".
Side by side Marine left, truck right
Here is a differentmarine intake that uses a tunnel ram design with a progressive dual blade throttle body off to the passenger side for Vortec heads.
Here is the inside of the tunnel ram marine intake
GM Ramjet 350 crate engine intake manifold also works
Ramjet 350 intake on Vortec 350 along with CNP(Coil Near Plug) ignition
Vortec 350 dyno of Ramjet 350 intake with LT4 hotcam on a stock Vortec 350
A dyno of a Vortec 350 van with marine intake, custom PCm tuning, 206°210° roller camshaft, LT! Camaro stock exhaust manifolds. Look at that torque curve, or torque LINE.lol
This is a stock open rear diferential carrier pictiured next to teh Eaton Tr track gear type traction aid. Look how much beefier the Eaton unit is. Obvioulsy stength is greatly increased. Your truck will have an 8.5" 10 bolt semi floating rear axle assembly. if you count 10 bolts of the dif. cover. If you get under there and find 14 bolts on the cover. That rear is a 14 bolt 9.5" semifloating rear end.
I personally would stay fuel injected, but the stock intake is really bad for performance beyond stock levels. If you wish to get serious about increasing power, by the time you upgrade the intake manifold, you are getting to the point of where you can start talking about a GEN 3 or GEN 4 engines swap.
The stock "blackbox" PCM is fully tuneable by professionals and by Tunercats OBD2 and JEt DST and Westers GMT but the 96-97 is unsupported by EFILIve HPTuners. The 1998-2000 trucks/SUVs that use teh blackbox PCM are supported fully by Tunercats OBD2 and JEt DST and Westers GMT and has limited support by EFILIve.
The Blackbox 1996-2000 Vortec 4.3/305/350/454 (L35/L30/L31/L29) can be swapped out for a more modern 512kb PCM called with teh last 4 numbers of 0411 which uses the dual 80 pin connectors. The 2001-2002 Vortec 305/350 powered Express vans are powered by this PCM and therefore can be retrofitted into the older 1996-2000 trucks/vans SUV's. This retrofit opens up full support by all teh previously listed aftermarket tuning products and adds full support by EFILive and HPTuners.
There are 100% complte templates for swapping teh blackbox PCM pinouts to the dual 80 pin connectors.. These templates are differnt between teh 1996 and 1997 and 1998-2000. A gentleman named Lextech made these up and will email them to you upon request. He can supply you with an 0411 PCM with a starter tune for you as well. Let me know and I get you in contact with Lex.
The black box PCM's have a rev limit hard limit of 6000rpm. I have contacted/contracted with many PCM calibrators around North AMerica and no matter what rev limits you tune into the PCM's, the result is the injectors powering down at 6000rpm. If your require 6000+ rpm, the 0411 PCM retrofit is a requirement.
FYI There is the Chevrolet Performance PArts (old GMPP) 383 crate engine in which you remove teh L31 and drop in the 383. Tuning isnt required, but IS required for max performance. I dont understand how people will spend thousands of dollars for a brand new engine and dont allow the PCM to control it properly.
17800393 is $5200 and includes the engine, distributer, wires etc. It is said to make around 340hp@4500rpm/435lb/ft@4500rpm.
Just keep in mind that if you use a comparable dyno test of the stock engine in your truck the 255hp@4600rpm/330lb/ft@2800rpm is actually about 310-20hp. You dont go from 255hp to 340 hp, you go from about 310-320hp to 340hp.
New for 2014 there is the ZZ383 with the new for 2014 designed 210cc intake runner volume aluminum FASTBURN cylinder heads that feature teh same Vortec intake bolt paytter as your stock Vortec 350 does.(it actually has the old 12 bolt pattern as well.)
For 2014 the ZZ383 19301295 $6483 gets an extra 25hp for a rating of 450hp@5400rpm/450 lb/ft torque @4500rpm.
THIS is the engine I would get if I wanted a performance engine from GM. But again, it would require intake and exhaust mods.
The GMT 400 trucks(88-99 trucks that ran the 4.3/305/350/454) and seeing as you have a 1997 you have a truck that GM had a long time to improve any design issues.
Enjoy.
peace
Hog
Dec 11, 2013 | 08:48 AM
#5
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,379
Likes: 0
From: Woodstock Ontario Canada
All thats there is a tune, intake, cam for use in an 5500lb vehicle.
Dont get all hung up on max dyno numbers, on the street the torque is what you use 95% of the time. Thats would be a decent daily driver combo in ANY vehilce on this site and would do it with a stock TC.
Decent for a GEN 1 engine IMO. You can get a brand new L31 from GM for $1900 and have 200,000+ mile longevity. The bitch of the L31 350 is getting rid of the stock intake and injection.
peace
Hog
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