I bought this 1990 Chevy stepside pickup brand new in 1990.
Started redoing the truck about 2 years ago. It has new
leather interior, new paint, and now I'm ready to start on
an engine for it.

I'm 47 years old, and not up to date on the newer engines
at all. I did quite a bit of work on 70's models, but haven't
touched one for about 20 years now, but I haven't forgot how.

The truck has a 5.7 L05 TBI engine in it now. I don't want
to race the truck, what I'm wanting is a daily driver that
sounds good, looks good, and has more power than the
stock engine, which only produces about 200 HP.

I would like to get up in the 325 to 400 HP range. I'm not
really worried about fuel mileage, as this truck will just
be my toy (or mid-life crisis project)

From what I've figured out, I would be better off getting rid
of the computer and TBI completely and going with a
carberator setup.

I'm looking at the GM Crate motor 350 HO base. Adding an
edelbrock intake and a Holly carb.

Am I heading in the right direction? Or do you guys have a
better sugestion for my application?

 

Well, you can go a lot of directions with this. I have a 1990 as well. If your only looking into that much power, I would look into a GM crate engine like the zz4 or 350 HO. Great price and just do a carb conversion on it. You can keep the TBI system on it but it won't make quite the power the carb could unless you popped in bigger injectors, fuel pressure regulator(which you will have to get one for the carb conversion and set it to 5-7 psi), a custom computer chip, etc.

If money really isn't a concern, then I would pop for the 383 HT engine.....340 hp and 435 ft lbs of torque.

Of course, anything you do, I would get headers and exhaust. And of course, you probably have 3.08 gears in the rear end. With either engine, step it up to a set of 3.73s.

 

I have a 88 also bought brand new and I m going to be doing the same as you, re-doing it. If you re on a budget, you can get a crate motor, short block for around a $1000 and then buy the "fast burn heads". I think bare they are like $400 a pair and like $700 complete. This will get you close to the power youre wanting and at a decent price.

But if money isnt a concern,do like he said and get the ZZ4 crate motor and be happy.

I dont know if I m going to ditch the TBI or just get a bigger one to go on it. My only concern is the computer part of it. It wasnt as involved as it is now but finding someone who can do it is the problem for me.

 

Well assume you get a short block....1000 bucks then heads-$700, but with a short block means it doesn't have a cam, timing chain, oil pan, oil pump, lifters, pushrods, rockers, etc. Now depending if you go roller cam and full roller rockers, you can spend up a little more than $1000 in that. Which brings the total to 2700 and that doesn't include carb, intake which is another 500-600 bucks and gaskets and stuff like that. Or, you can buy the 350HO with 330 hp for $3600 or step up to the zz4 with 355hp for $3800 roughly. The 350HO price, includes, carb, distributor, intake manifold, oil filter, water pump......basically everything you will need to turn the key on it. Now, can you build a engine cheaper than this....yes only if you do it yourself. If a shop does it for you, you certainly won't.

What is your worry on the computer part exactly? If you go carb, you will need to keep the computer to control the lockup feature on the tranny plus all of the gauges. If you keep the TBI, you must get a custom chip and can't go to wild with the cam becuase it will be a pain in the butt to tune for. It will take several tries to get right. Your limit will be a 214/220 in a 350 or so.

 

One word "stroker"

You will need to keep your computer to run a few things. I did a 383 swap on my 1991 (yenko was a big help listen to him) and I have a carb and could not be happier. I am currently using a widband that has a hand held controler to help me tune it and it has been a great help.

 

Thanks guys,

I decided on the 350 HO turn-key. Surpose to pick it up
tommorrow morning. i think it will be plenty of HP for what
I'm wanting. I went ahead a got the turn-key package since
I would prefer to have everything new when I finish.

Looks like the only problem, and it's not major, is my truck
currently has the internal fuel pump in the tank, and this
engine has the external fuel pump on the enginge. Can i
leave the internal fuel pump as it is and just add a regulator?

Swapping over to this engine, if I'm understanding correctly, I
just use the wiring that I need and leave the engine computer
intact, and don't have to reprogram the chip?

Also, any recommendations for headers for the 350 HO engine?

Thanks again for your input.

Below are a few pics of the truck I'm working on.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/MVC-004F.jpg

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/MVC-003F.jpg

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/MVC-001F.jpg

 

You will need to pull the external pump and buy a fuel pump block off plate. I would go get a return style regulator because your fuel pump uses the return fuel to cool it off. To get all of your gains for swaps like headers and better induction you will need to get a chip burned for it. Untill you get your tune you want get the max gains your motor is capable of. I would look over on fullsizechevy.com they have lots of guys doing chip work over there. As far as headers I dont know but I would recomend spending the extra $$ on a set of ceramic coated headers. They last longer and keep the trmps down under the hood. They also look better

 

Oh, Ok, That sounds better than what I was thinking of doing as
far as the fuel supply.

I still don't understand why I would need a chip burnt when the computer
will no longer work anything on the engine, or am I mistaken on that also?

 

There are still certain other things in the truck that will use the computer. Like the TC lockup, and your guages.

 

I am sorry I misunderstood. If you are going with a carb you will not have to flash the computer. There are some things you will need to do though.

There is a good write up here about the swap.

http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forums/...carb-swap.html