Braved the cold for a few minutes and pulled the valve cover on one side and checked the casting numbers on the head. They are the 081 heads from the TPI and the block numbers indicate it is a manual trans TPI engine so the cam might be right. I am looking a an inexpensive set of 1.6 rockers to replace the stock 1.5s. This should give me a bit more mid range without the expense of a new cam.
daytonaer wrote: When I had a 350 tpi I remember reading the intake was designed for a 305 and adapted to the 350: thus the claims of no high rpm power are mostly based on stock 350 setups. I'm pretty sure valve float was my high rpm limiter, not the intake.... I'm sure you will love the tpi intake. Also, those grey Delco injectors tend to die. I replaced them with Ford (Bosch) 4.6 injectors, I forget what color but had similar flow rates when the Ford pressures were changed for GM pressures.
With upgraded valve springs ported upper intake and port matched lower manifold my 305 would spin to 7k without float, but it really did fall on it's face after 4500 rpm and the fun was pretty much over by 5700. BUT you could run it out to hold a gear. The stock runners have next to nil extra metal on them to port them, upgraded runners are available though. I'm planning on a TPI 383 build for my next truck. 3.08 gears, TPI 383 and the right cam should make a nice cruiser with enough torque to roll the tires just about anywhere.
I realized that I had some of the TPI parts in the basement and it was warm down there. I went to the local home improvement store and bought a dremel clone for a bout $20.00 and also got a few sanding drum bands and started cleaning up the upper plenum ports.
First side before.
and after.
The other side did not need as much work, and it is pretty hard to see in the pictures. No I did not take out much stock, most of the ports lined up well. I also worked on the throttle body ports just to smooth things out and reduce turbulence. I realized I will need a carbide burr to smooth out where the runner tubes attach to the flanges. not much there either but should reduce turbulence. I will also look at polishing the inside of the runners I might have to take them to work and do them on my lunch. I am going to try to mount the air dams tomorrow. I pulled the right one to use as a template to make the left one but I got lucky and someone listed one on ebay so I snatched it up. If I get really ambitious I may remove the lower intake for work on it.
It got nice out so I got a lot done. I now have an air dam that goes all the way across.( sorry no pics my garage is a total mess and there is no room for a decent pic)
After that I removed the lower intake. No gaskets, I suppose the PO just mounted it to paint. Good thing I checked here is a photo of the valley.
Still early and being relatively warm(for WI) I forged ahead and removed both heads. The heads are clean and I will get pics when I check the seal on the valves. Here are pics of the 2 cylinders that concern me.
I am not overly concerned as there is not any pitting but I will need to hone the cylinders. I turned the block over and the rods are marked so maybe the bottom end is usable as is without new bearings.
More work on the engine. Tried to do some rough measurements and calculations to figure out the cam but came out way short on lift and long on duration. I will have to get a dial indicator to check it out. Next I removed the harmonic balancer and cam cover and discovered a double row roller timing chain set with no play in it. I figure brand new. I want to get a tray made to keep track of the lifters and will then pull them and try to pull the cam to measure lobe lift. I checked the cylinder diameter at 3.737 book says 3.735-3.7385 so I am probably good there with stock pistons. On flipping the engine over I discovered the remote filter adapter is actually an oil cooler adapter so I will find an oil cooler and line to hook this up, as 3rd gens run hot anyway. On another front I finally got my desktop CNC sold and funds available so I ordered some parts, gasket set, water pump, and a set of stainless headers off ebay for $125.00. I did some checking first and the description stated for a 3rd gen f body and the pictures matched the the style of other manufacturers. I also ordered a set of fuel injectors from ebay. This week I will try to get some plasti gage and a glaze breaker type hone and finish the tear down get the cylinders cleaned up and start re-assembly. Well I might not get that far but it is nice to dream.
All the parts I ordered showed up. the headers look like they will fit. I tried to check the cam with a dial calipers and failed miserably. Since I took off the balancer I needed a way to turn the motor so I made this bushing to turn it.
I slipped it on and can turn the crank with a 1-1/2" wrench. I also brought home my dial indicator and used the calipers to measure the piston position instead of a degree wheel. Being a little cheap I did not want to buy one just for this one engine. So a little trig and I got numbers close to what the cam is supposed to be, so if the ring gaps and oil clearances are good I can start to re-assemble the motor. I still need to do a lot more work on the intake but with the current difficulties here it may be awhile before I get to it. I will keep you informed as I work on it.
Tried out a new carbide burr over the weekend and did 3 sets of ports on the runner instead of the hour it took to the first one. I will do a little work on the runner side of the manifold but leave the head side alone and then work on the heads a little. There is a rather large amount of mismatch on the heads. I will probable make a template instead of using a gasket because the gasket is quite a bit larger than the ports on the manifold and I am only looking to match the manifold.
I did not get far last weekend, other life projects getting in the way. I did mess with the brakes a little as they still did not feel right even though they would lock up when stomped hard. After doing some checking I believe I found the problem. I will let you know when parts show up. On the engine front I have been trying to sort out the wiring harness I got with the engine. It looks like whoever pulled it out grabbed everything to do with the engine and did not mark everything. So it is going to be a lot of work sorting that out. The $125.00 headers showed up the other day they look good and will probably fit in the car and I shouldn't have to remove them to change plugs. They have a nice 3/8" thick flange and the metal appears to be a 300 series stainless. They might turn blue but shouldn't rust.
Really interested to see what you are able to do with the ports. Keep us posted!
It is kinda hard to explain, where the runner tubes connect to the flanges I smoothed out the tubes to match the flanges. I removed between .03" and .05" of stock. on the manifold it self I need to find a way to smooth out the runners as they are sand cast and rough as hell. The heads really need work as the mismatch to the intake is considerable, .05" to.10" off. I will try to get some pictures but I usually only get a short amount of time to work and don't always think to snap a few. On the plenum you can see what I did on the pictures above. I am not looking to get huge gains here just improve the flow a little.
Here is a few photos of the ports. First a pic of the runner ports.
This is a pic of the manifold side where the runners connect.
I did not do much here. I would need a different grinder to do much. Here is what I have left to do. This one is of the manifold to head port.
This is the head. Notice the ports taper. I need to make them more rectangular to match the manifold.
I am also trying to make a nice looking throttle body cover. I will get a photo of it when done.
Here is the throttle body cover I made.
Please let me know what you think.
Love IT!
Pretty freakin' cool. 
zordak wrote: Here is the throttle body cover I made.
Thats awesome. Would be great as a belt buckle!
Looks fantastic! How did you do it?
I found a picture of the decal on ebay, copied it to my computer, found an online converter from jpg to dxf, once in dxf I cleaned it up a bit in a CAD program then I borrowed some cnc macine time from a friend.
Also Thank you all for your kind comments
Here is another of my creations.
100 worthless points to the first one to identify it and a bonus 10 as to why.
My best guess is distributor block off thingy..... because opti-spark??
In reply to Doc Brown: No it is not a LT1.
Ok, I think I got it this time.... Cold start delete....... because....Megasquirt?
In reply to Doc Brown:
100 points for the correct part. There are 2 flavors of TPI, early ones had the 9th injector for cold start because they did not have a way to richen the mixture when cold. Later versions they reprogrammed the computer to richen the mixture when cold and the 9th injector was not needed. In my case I believe the manifold is from an early TPI and the rest of the engine and computer and harness are from a later TPI.
I finally got around to doing the port match on the heads, pictures to come. I also took the car out for a nice drive with the tops off. (still has a good running TBI motor) I also got around to pulling the lifters and found more than 1/2 of them had collapsed and are stuck. I am just going to get new roller lifters. Besides the bad lifters the guide plate hold down spider screws were only finger tight. Well while waiting on lifters I will get the pistons removed and the cylinders cleaned up.
Here is a picture of a set of head ports.
Again I am not trying to increase the port size just removing anything that might generate turbulence.
I also checked the bearing clearances with plastigage and found them in tolerance. I removed the pistons and the rings are brand new and the rust in the cylinder turned into a discoloration, I think I will just leave the cylinders alone and re-install the pistons. I will order new lifters after payday and start on reassembly this weekend.
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