collecting facts, ideas on 53 build

[davidh]

I am looking at a 48-53 truck. I got this one in mind. I have a 92 chevy caprice that runs great. I am thinking of using the whole tbi/od and using a M2 aftermarket front end or 84 metric front clip.
question. Will the TBI serpentine set up work in one of these trucks?
I will keep the og paint for a while, lowered on steelies and dog dish caps

[Daze57]

good lookin project !

[davidh]

kind of like this. As "Unknown Hinson" says "womerns likes old trucks." with the 305tbi I should get over 20mpg all day

[davidh]

Originally Posted by Daze57

good lookin project !

I'm working on the deal on it now not quite there but close

[meter swinger]

Good luck on the buy. nice patina too.

[fredscarryall]

i have a 1993 caprice classic serpentine system on my 383 stroker in my 1950 suburban.the front end is the same as the truck.it works great. the only down side is the alternator is pretty expensive to replace.the a/c pump is pretty big,the water pump is a reverse flow so make sure you get the fan or run an electric one. you can buy a smog pump and a/c pump delete pulley from summit.the key to the surp system is to get everything pulleys ,nuts, bolts, smog pump,a/c pump, powersteering pump, every bracket ,water pump,etc.as far as the tpi as long as you have eveything including the distrubutor ,computer ,all the wiring harness making sure you keep all the factory clips and connector dont cut any wires, all the senders, all sensors . you will have to change the chip in the computer or send it in depend on what type is. check out ebay under tpi. they offer chips and programing and you will have to either send your harness in or get another aftermarket one.go to google type in installing tpi there is a ton of info out there. there are also a couple books out there to help you.if you use the power steering pump you will have to reduce the pressure because the pressure out of the pump in 1300 and the mustang 2 rack can only handle about 800. so you will have to get a flow control valve from speedway and screw it into the back of the pump. look out for the bolt pattern on the tpi manifold the two center bolts on each side may go straight down and the other are at an angle.so you may have to drill out the center bolts if you are using an older motor.only use about 20 lbs when you are torqing the center bolts down or you will strip them out.

[davidh]

glad it fits then. Its TBI not tpi. TBI motors should have same water flow direction as regular small block. I hope to get a deal done on this truck this wk end. Offered $600 on it. I need to go back and look and see if passenger side rear fender has spare tire indention or not. What would you guys give. floors look pretty good. looks like rust in the kick panel of cab(front of doors)

[fredscarryall]

its up to you.but those factory tbi system arent very good. the throttle bushings go out on them all the time.they are very costly to repair.i dont think there are much aftermaket upgrades if any at all available.most people who are putting in a factory motor with tbi on them are throwing the tbi set up in the garbage and putting on an aftermarket carb,intake and hei distributor.a better way to go it to get an aftermarket tbi like from holley or from tons of other companies out there, if you want tbi.

[fredscarryall]

also as far as the serp belt sytem goes the reason why its reverse flow is the way the belt goes around the water pump.if you are going to be running an hei you will more the likely have to run an electric fan because there isnt much space between the radiator and fan.

[davidh]

I thought LT1 were rev flow. I have a friend used 350 from 89 van, used old brackets instead of serp. He wouldve kept TBI but prev owner jump started it wrong fried computer, another friend with a muffler shop clipped an old dodge with nova frame. He used TBI and harness from car very pleased with results. I've had a few TBI vehicles. All over 100K. All run well start easy. Building it to run daily, long trips not so much a hot rod
Posted via Mobile Device
Posted via Mobile Device
Posted via Mobile Device

[fredscarryall]

that awesome if you can use somthing alot of people would normally discard. thats truck scap rodden.you'll get great gas milage and reliablity just as long as the butterfly shaft doesnt wear out. i used to work at a gm dealer in the 90s and i was taking in 3 to 5 tbi's in a week to get the butterfly shaft drilled out for bushings. just wondering how was the performance on the two engines that used the tbi's and did they have to do anything to the wireharness to get it to work. are you talking about this tbi carb in the picture

[davidh]

I have 2 donor tbi's. I bought both a 88 chevy truck and 92 caprice complete running, driving. The truck could use valve guides it smokes when its started but runs great, no hesitation. The car however can sit 6mos I start it and smooth as can be, no smoke. It looks new under hood even, it was taken care of.

My friend used a tbi, threw on a 2bbl intake, old 2bbl rgc, its high geared and it gets 20mpg on highway all day long in a 50 dodge pu.(see pic) he used the later long water pump.

My mechanic-muffler shop friend used one from a 175K 87 caddy. The car was a dodge 50 wayfar with a nova subframe. He used the harness, trans and all for the car. He's had no problems with those.

I've talked with a few guys who really regretted throwing away the tbi. They said by the time I got a carb, intake, distributor I had more money in it than if I had bought the wiring harness/fuel pump.($500)

[davidh]

I really dig my buddy's dodge it is the exception to my signature. sitting on a dakota frame. We were on our way to the last Hunnert Car Pile up

[mr48chev]

That engine setup should fit pretty well with the serpentine belt setup if you take a look at this one.

That's in what is probably the nicest regularly driven AD truck in this area.

That paint job by the way is close to ten years old.

[davidh]

Do you know if it is clipped or M2 front ?

[mr48chev]

I believe that truck has a MII setup under it but I have never looked that close.
It's from Sunnyside, Wa and it was painted in a friend of mine's shop several years ago. That paint job ran right at 10K then but I don't know how much body work was involved. To this day you walk around it and can't find a flaw in the truck but I see it at almost every event I go to and meet it on the highway quite often when he is out on local cruises with his club.

[youngrodder]

Mine is running a modified g-body frame (84 monte carlo, grand prix). I'm using an 95 LT1 out of a Vette. I went with brackets from Street and Performance. It was costly but moved the alt and AC pump up out of the way. The LT1's are reverse cooled. TBI are not. Any quesitons that you might have let me know.

Good luck

Thanks
Marc

[davidh]

Thanks a lot young rodder. I nabbed a 84 regal frame before it hit the crusher for the "what if". Any noteables you can add for using this frame clip? or are you using the whole frame?

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by davidh

Thanks a lot young rodder. I nabbed a 84 regal frame before it hit the crusher for the "what if". Any noteables you can add for using this frame clip? or are you using the whole frame?

My frame was already set up when I bought mine. It looks like the whole frame was used and just modified in the middle. I'm still running the factory 4 link rear. I did upgrade to boxed trailing arms and went with air bags on all 4 corners. What sold me on the truck initially was that it was the first lowered truck that I rode in that had a nice ride.

My tank is also located in the rear behind the rear axle. I also had to raise the bed floor a couple inches to accomidate the kick up of the rear part of the frame.

Marc