My wife has an '85 TA that we are rebuilding. Right now the car has nothing in it except a steering wheel and shifter because we have to re-do ALL the wiring and either repair or replace the interior panels. The carpet is gone as well. Other than that, the car has a tired old carb'd 305 in it (used to have a 350, long story). The only thing left in the engine bay right now is the block bolted to the K-member. The 305 had an Eldebrock Performer RPM intake and a Holley (I think 750) carb that needs to be rebuilt. I can pick up a TPI 350 from a '91 Caprice police cruiser (9c1) for $350 and I can even crank it and listen to it run before I buy it. How comparable is this to an F-body engine and should I keep the TPI or ditch it and use the Edelbrock intake? The wife wants at least 300rwhp out of whatever motor we put in there. Will this block be able to make that with a good set of heads and cam? The car will only be driven on weekends, but it will look BRAND NEW when we are done this summer. I have a '98 Z that runs 12's and she wants to be as fast as I am! Thanks guys, I am new to carb'd motors but they seem pretty simple to work on so far....

 

Didn't they get TBI 350 motors for the police packages? I wasn't aware that you could get a TPI motor in anything other than a Vette or a F-body.

 

You may be right. I talked to the guy on a cell phone and he very well might have said TBI. I forget sometimes that there are so many versions of fuel delivery on the older motors! I am going to look at it and crank it next week and I'll know more. It's in a S-10 truck right now and am running the block casting numbers to make sure it is what he says it is (been burned before). So a straight carb is preferable to the TBI correct? Still learning these 3rd gens!

 

Geez, you're a lucky man...

 

If not for the year of Caprice, I'd say its even possible to get a LT1 in them. I think some of the later year Caprices had LT1 powerplants in them.

 

I "think" it was the '94 models though..... I assume a block-is-a-block-is-ablock though, right? Are the pistons different or anything?

Yes I am! She wants to run the same as the Z because she doesn't want me to out-run her at the track!

 

Also, little history of the car:

-Wife shared it with her ex-husband
-1985 Trans Am (originally 305 TBI)
-350 crossfire inected engine from a vette' was swapped in
-Broke a connecting rod in the 350
-Took it to get a REBUILD
-She gets the car back and notices it has no power
-Wife gets into HUGE divorce fight with ex, car sits in field with grass growing throught the motor
-Meets me
-I fall in love with the woman AND the car
-Do a LOT of work to the car
-Find out that whoever did the work on it were idiots (even used big-block bolts to attatch the flywheel, bellhousing only had 3 bolts tightened down, and about 12,000 other things wrong)
-Decide to do this right and tear the car down to the bare body and replace ALL the suspension and interior
-Start taking the motor out to see why it has no power
-Run the block casting numbers and find out that it's a 305 and not the 350 block they had before
-Find out the mechanic they used stole their block and put in a 305 instead of rebuilding the original motor
-Owner gets sued, but we have no paperwork proof of what was in there
-That's why I'm looking for a motor now!

 

That sounds like what happened with my motor. The 350 TPI in my car had a cracked block. Coolant was pouring into the oil galley. Didn't have the time or knowledge to swap a motor at that time so my dad paid for the labor charge, but I bought the new motor. Mechanic quoted 600 to 700 for a swap. I go to pick up the car and the bill is $1200!!! They never even called me on this stuff! I refused to pay the $1200, I gave them a check for $700. One month paper I get a call from a debt collector, told them to screw off and If not I'll take them to court. I never even had to go to court, the State Attourney ruled what they did as unfair business practice and I only had to pay the high-end of the intial quote on paper. They had to hand me my car, and take a loss for all of the parts they bought for it.

2 months later turns out the mechanic shop dropped in a 350TBI long block instead of a 350TPI long block. Went to the track and couldn't turn better than a 15.3 @ 87mph all day long. I knew something was wrong. I just wish I had verified that they were putting in a "TPI 350" motor. Stupid swirl port heads, and a cam with about 190/194 duration @ .050", and less thean .400" lift overall. It ran like CRAP!! Poor gas mileage, poor performance.