jp2002ls1

OK, I have had a few camaros and other muscle cars and I am familar with the swap in a third gen from TPI to carb but what about a vette? I now have a 1985 corvette with the 350 TPI and I am thinking of swapping to a carb setup, I have never seen a vette with this. I know I have to do the intake, carb and distributor, but will my speedometer still work with the digital dash that vettes have? Do they need the computer controls? Also does anyone know if the overdrive will work with the 4+3 overdrive tranny?
I want a low 12 second vette but TPI mods are way too expensive. Thanks for any advice.

Kevin91Z

Sure, sell the Corvette and buy one from 1981 or older. Instant carb.

I sure wouldnt hack up a Corvette like that.

jp2002ls1

A C3 vette can't handle like a C4. It just needs some more power. Nothing will be hacked up, all the original parts will be kept, its just a matter of swapping the intake, carb and distributor, as long as everything else works.

87camracer

well lets see. unless you have parts already, the intake will be roughly 300, anohter 500 for the carb, and say another 150 for the dist. thats 950 in parts right there. then ou still need special pieces to keep things like the dash and tranny working right. plus as i hve heard those 4+3's dont really like much power. so you are looking at a CONSERVATIVE estimate of 1100 before labor if you wont do it yourself.

now a cheap Holley Stealth Ram will set you back about 900 or so after shipping and tax and is a direct swap. leaving atleast 200 for other mods. your dash will still work, your tranny will still work etc.

the only downfall to the HSR is the height. i dont think it will fit under a vette hood. rumor is they are making a shorter version but no word on release date.

another alternative and cheaper to boot, is the lt1 intake conversion by John Millican. check out thirdgen.org for his site.

TheGreatJ

Dude I don't know where you get your pricing information but it's WAY off. You can get an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and an Edelbrock 750cfm mechanical secondary carb BOTH BRAND NEW for less than $400 delivered to your door. $150 is about right for an aftermarket vacuum advance HEI distributor. The HSR will cost around $400 MORE by the time you make your fuel rails fit and such.


JP - I don't know about the 4+3 but if you leave the computer in the car and powered then the gauges should work just fine.

87camracer

actually i was pulling numbers out that me and a guy were using last week. i didnt realize how far off they were. lol

AutoRoc

EFI rules and all but a TPI Vette would seriously benefit from a carb/intake setup that can rev to 6000 RPM opposed to the TPI setup which is out of breath at 5000. Especially since it is a manual trans car also which would keep the RPMs higher up in the powerband. I did this on my 305 TPI Camaro and it pulls a lot better up top. My friend Joe got my new ProForm distributor to work properly and he wires the fuel pump to stay on with the ignition. Along with the Edelbrock intake, Holley 600 carb, Mallory 3 port fuel regulator, fuel line modifications, and modified TBI air cleaner setup...It was under $700 I'm pretty sure...Coupled with my exsisting LT1 Wet Nitrous Express setup(Converted to a carb Stage 6 plate and proper jetting)..It's instant 12 second 305 Camaro All of my guages still work also! One thing we didn't do yet is make a manual switch for my converter lockup but that's not a big deal really. Goodluck on your decision!!

DarthIROC

5000? You give it that much credit

irocz8957

is there any reason you going from fuel injection to carb or are you just doing it for hell of it?

Jim85IROC

Those cost numbers above may be off, but you can still go to a Stealth Ram for around the same money as a carb swap, and you don't have to screw with fuel delivery changes. Somebody on the corvetteforum makes plenums for the Stealth Ram that will fit under the Corvette hood. Getting an air cleaner assembly (even with a drop base) to fit under the hood with a Performer intake manifold might be tricky. The stealth ram will provide all of the benefits that a carb would (i.e. can support airflow necessary for high horsepower) without all of the bullsh*t issues that go along with a carb. Plus, on a stock iron-head 350, you're not going to gain any significant power by swapping to a carb. The stealth ram is proven to show sizable horsepower gains on iron headed 350s (60hp at around 5,200 rpm on a 92 Z28).

AutoRoc

Well.... Shifting it at 5000 in a 700R4 car gets a better ET because it puts the car into the powerband better in second gear instead of bogging the engine Of course it's out of steam at 4500 but I didn't want to make it sound completely terrible