I have a 88 k5 with a tbi 350 and im going to rebuild the engine. and some of my biggest questions are... Keep the tbi or go carbed? obviously im going with a set of vortecs.. but should i bore it or keep it stock? my goal is around 400hp/400tq if i have to spend more then i will to make goal. but i want some input and everybodys different build ups from carb to pan. I have bee searching the net for a while and theres 1000s of options and my brain is just all boggled now so whats the best route to take here?!?! thanks all
-Josh

 

there is no 'best' option.

what are your intentions with the motor?

do you want your power band to be in the high rpm or mid range?

will you be using this for a street/strip type of idea, a lifted 4x4 turning big tires, crawler, bogger, etc etc.

do you have emissions? care if it idles good? etc etc

 

stroke it to a 383
chip it(jet chips are cheap)
leave the tbi fuel economy will be better than carb

 

As far as the build plan for the rest of the truck goes. yes it will be a mudder im going to be putting probably a corp 14 and a dana 60 in it with 35s and about a 6" lift (hopefully some ARBs) but lets just keep that in the wishful thinking section :P as far as the gearing goes i dont know what to use for 35s maby 4:11s still kicking that around.. but yeah lost of mud, sand, general toyin around with what ever the woods have to throw at me lol... so i will want plenty of low end torque but equal power.. oh and on the deq thing yeah i do have that.. but (and this is a must for me dont ask why lol) i want a real healthy loping cam.. but not too radical. i just like it

 

I vote also for the 383 or 400 rotating assembly. Choose a lumpy cam. Use a 454 TBI. A tame-ish Nitrous injection for the wow factor and to get you up to that 400 mark if you came in a little shy and also for adding more altitude on the 4 wheel rooster tails in the muck.

Look on the local buy sells for the stuff, keep and eye out for weeks - get addicted to watching it. I am, Ive seen guys selling the stuff you'll want, and money talks so show them the cash and you almost always get what you want for what you wanna pay. I cleaned house gobbling up stereo gear for my build and felt like I robbed a couple guys The one guy even called me back with another part I might be interested in and he let me rape him on that too.

Send your current block and heads to the machine shop, unless you can find heads in the buy sell but they usually arent cheap. Find a bargain rotating assembly, find a bargain intake and headers, just look around. You can get all that done for 2G. I let a guy have the Edel performer intake and carb off my S10 that got scrapped for $200 cause he was putting it on something cool - another V8 dime...

Feel free to add your LOCATION onto your user profile so people who are near you might have leads and such... Just sayin'

 

take your 350 get block and heads checked

go to enginekits.com and order the 383 kit

get the 454 tbi, will do you better so you don't starve the engine when you mud hard, like you might with a carb

there you will have over 400 horses and close to 450 torque

just my two cents

 

I'm partial to carburetors. You can dial in the fueling to a tee based on whatever mods you have done to your motor - something that's a bit more involved/expensive with later FI systems ... or altogether impossible with TBI. They're tried and true, with over 100 years of history.

While the TBI is very reliable & proven over the years, it's not quirk free. Carbs (at least Edelbrocks) don't break, or blow fuses, they are simple to tune & cheap to fix in the rare instance you need to, and can be fixed on the side of the road with basic hand tools in 5 minutes.

About the only downside is with elevation changes - a carb will run rich as hell at high elevation (5k feet and above) & get crappy mileage, while FI cuts fuel & GAINS mileage. Where I live this is a non-issue, as I'd have to drive 2 days straight to find a town & roads above 5,000 feet. I've been to Mt. Washington (6,288') twice in my life ... and you can't consider the 10 mile-an-hour, 8 mile trek to the top "driving". Nothing like Flagstaff .. or Denver.

You'll also get variations with temperature & humidity levels with a carb, but you'll never notice them - so long as you do all your tuning in the spring or early summer when the temps are around 50° - 60°. That way your right in the middle depending on where you live (that's a perfect range for MA - any temp extreme will be handled fine from that point). If you lived in Phoenix you'd tune at 80° - 90°. You spend some time dialing it in once, & your done.

As for flooding while off roading, Edelbrock makes a spring-loaded needle & seat for the float, for rock-crawling/racing/off roading to prevent this problem.

 

Youmentioned 4.11 gears....dont do it...to low of a gear for 35's if you want to mud. You will need at least 4.56 or 4.88's if not lower. That will let you take off with no issue. Dropping the gears that low will amaze you with how much torque you generate off the line. Now motor wise, get rid of the fan and go with dual electric fans. Takes a lot of stress off the motor and provides extra cooling for those high rpms you will be using while running around especially in mud. Exhaust system all throughout if you have not already. Open it up and get some good headers with a high flow cat. All this wont get your hp/tq ratings to where you want but you will be amazed by the power difference. Much cheaper than buying all these motor kits. Pick up a 454TBI at a local pick n pull like the other said as well. you can get all this for cheaper and it would be more reliable. If you went with the 383 stroker you would need to change the gears too. Getting a cam will only help with all this too but is not required if you changed what i said above. I say keep the 350 where it is...this is my 3cents

 

oops i mistyped on the first sentence lol..**Youmentioned 4.11 gears....dont do it...to low of a gear for 35's if you want to mud**i meant 4.11's are to high

 

hmm i never realy thought of going with a 454... i gues since its a toy it wount be a DD.. so gas wount matter too much ... any year sugestions on the 454 i should pick up if i go that route? and as for the 4:11s ty didnt know that either i always thought of 4:56s to be insane lol.. as far as the 700r4 i have behind the 350 how would that hold up to a 454? any sugestions there? thanks for all the input guys!