350TBI & 4L60E For $200 Worth Swapping?

[Whitewolf]

Ok, new user, new to Gbody's, and I'm always going in over my head.

So I'll ask you guys before I start anything. (I did some research but I'm still undecided)
I'm sorry if it's been covered a million times man!

I picked up a 1995 GMC Sierra 1500 2WD for $360 (cracked frame)
Ran great, drove it home. Took it apart and sold the bed cap, exhaust, hitch, and rear bumper for $160

Im into this 350TBI and 4L60E for $200 (Still have fenders, grill, interior, front bumper, and bed to sell.)


I know the swirl port heads are trash, I've read all about it 🙁
But is there any light to my naive plan of having a Fuel injected 350 and an overdrive transmission for the low?

I know I'll need:
custom 4l60e crossmember
driveshaft shortened
in-pump gas tank, and pump
Painless harness?


I kept everything related to the motor and transmission, I even pulled the dash for the wiring and speed buffer, fuse boxes, you name it. I kept it all.

The reason I am asking is because most of my searches led me to guys swapping TPI vortec, or going TBI to TBI, or going carb.
I just want to keep the donor drivetrain stock.

The current cold starts and near 4k rpm at 60mph are not favorable.

So, WORTH IT?🙂

 

[Garrett1982]

Since you already have it I would say yeah it is worth putting in. If you thought the truck ran great, image that in a lighter car.

 

[87National]

is there a 200r4 in your car now? you could save yourself the headache of shortening the driveshaft and fabricating/buying a 4l60e crossmember by staying with the transmission you already have.

you will need the sender and baffled tank from a turbo regal or 4.3 tbi monte.

I would not spend big $ on a new wiring harness. I can't imagine that a tbi harness is all that complex. Get wiring diagrams for your car and the donor engine and it should be relatively simple to merge them and remove wires you don't need.

 

[V8 Rumble]

If it does have the 200-4R I would keep that. You can also put a carb intake on the vortec. By not cutting the driveshaft and cross member you're already ahead. You can sell the trans too.

I would do the lowest most efficient cost since you're not doing anything special to the motor.

 

[vanrah]

Greetings White Wolf & all; Check out my for sale post as Ive listed my spare X member for 700 R -4 (modified TH-350 OE unit). I would keep that trans as you may want it in the future. I also have a 48- 7/8 inch Colman Aluminum drive shaft. Take care & good luck, Bob Jr.

 

[Whitewolf]

is there a 200r4 in your car now? you could save yourself the headache of shortening the driveshaft and fabricating/buying a 4l60e crossmember by staying with the transmission you already have.

you will need the sender and baffled tank from a turbo regal or 4.3 tbi monte.

I would not spend big $ on a new wiring harness. I can't imagine that a tbi harness is all that complex. Get wiring diagrams for your car and the donor engine and it should be relatively simple to merge them and remove wires you don't need.

I have a 3 speed 350.

I think I'm gonna go for it, i guess I'll start saving now and at least go through the seals on the block for now.

 

[Whitewolf]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, have a safe and fun new year!

 

[pencero]

If you can find a 92/93 Fleetwood junk you can skip the painless wiring harness, but if you do use the painless wiring harness you can tune for better mpg / performance later on, by buying a chip for the TBI. Consider re-doing head, intake gaskets before putting it in. You can use the 5 speed from early Silverado if you modify the shifter on it. The carb setup is what I wanted to do until I realized I got like 22+mpg highway so I kept this setup stock instead, so I could use cruise control. Expect a problem from VATS if you try to change the ignition. Look it up youtube if you don't already know what VATS is. You can still buy the little diode things to fool the wire impudence result at radioshack / some hardware stores

 

[olds307 and 403]

Stay very conservative if you decide to swap the cam, unless you want to play with the tune. Supposedly those 350's were actually overrated, actually only put out around 185 HP. The heads and cam can be swapped later on, if more power is desired. Either way it is a step up from your 305.

 

[pencero]

Replace the oil pressure sending unit before installing the engine or it might be hard to get at afterwards. It's less than $20 and a failing point that killed my block. Some older guys showed me a way to use electrical tape on one end of it to prevent the oil leaking out at the edges of where it plugs in.