Has anyone considered swapping a late model vortec 350 truck engine in an early Camaro . . either with factory EFI or a carb. I don't know much about the factory efi intake for performance, but most of it seems to be based on lt1 stuff. The reason I'm wondering is that I can get a complete pull-out with wiring harness and computer for about a third of what an lt1 would cost.

Thanks

 

I have done a few vortex swaps. But we never use the fuel injection or wire harness. We slap on a manifold and carb and add a fuel pump and go from there.

 

That should be good. It's supposed to be 265hp stock in a truck. It's got a roller cam. I just can't get fuel injection out of my mind, though. If it would support a larger cam without a problem it would be cool to use the fuel injection. I guess that it would require computer changes, though. Thanks

 

I've always had a hard time adding fuel injection to non factory fuel injected cars. I told myself to stay away from them altogether...

 

You're probably right.

Thanks

 

I agree with the suggestion to use a carb and intake. By the time you spend the coin to get the truck EFI system to work properly, you'd probably be disappointed in its performance compared to the ease of install/tune, cost-effectiveness, and power the carb/intake combo would give you. The other thing I would do in your case is to ditch the stock roller cam, or at least have it reground to performance specs. It is a very conservative cam grind designed specifically for bottom end torque and fuel mileage. The power of that engine (255HP) comes primarily from those fantastic cylinder heads.

It's pretty easy to build a 400HP 350 these days using the Vortec heads and good performance cam.



Dave

 

Yeah, go with carburation. The EFI intake on that engine would be seriously choking it down if you got any kind of decent camshaft in there. If you want mild performance, go with the roller cam from the Ram Jet with some 1.6 roller rockers and a good intake/carb (350 hp), or you can save a little dough and get a hotter cam from comp cams, or even get the ZZ-4 cam (GM roller cams are a lot cheaper than aftermarket cams). Either way, get rid of the FI. It'd be different if you were using an LT-1 or something, but the truck EFI will choke you down, and it's not worth plumbing send/return lines and putting in an electric fuel pump.

 

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if the intake would even supply a 350 - 400 hp engine in the first place. I was doubtful, but wanted other opinions on that.