FINALLY Got the TPI 383 Running Today!!!!!

[Russell]

Yeah, Its basically an over-glorified TH350 right now anyways. She won't go into overdrive at highway speeds. When I first put it in, the thing didn't want to shift at all, so I wound up pulling it's valve body and replacing it, so now it has four gears, but the TV cable is all messed up (I think it is stretched) so I ordered a new one for tommorow, and we'll see if that fixes things up. If not, I'm just gonna park the truck, and sell it at a total loss, cause I'm sick of it not working, lol All I want is for the tranny to be good after the TV cable, so I can put the truck in the trader, and get rid of it.

[Russell]

Hey guys

Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but do any of you guys have a set of known good bosch style injectors sitting around? I'm still trying to get my TPI working properly, and I've about narrowed it down to either the injectors, or the ECM's attempts at figuring out the timing.

Before I go and spend a bunch of money on new injectors, I wanna try a known good 22 lb/hr set, and see if thats the ticket to make my truck run.

Basically, I'd paypal you some money as collateral, pay the shipping up here, try them, and figure out if it is timing or injectors that are causing the problems. Then ship them back, get my collateral back, and either buy a new set of injectors, or a new dizzy if needed be.

And Darren, 89 is sitting in the shop again, lol

The thing had an exhaust leak on the driver's side manifold. Didn't really think much of it, until my truck started knocking like crazy. Winds up that it was directly over top of the 02 sensor, so the sensor showed as being extremely lean, causing the ECM to run pretty much full enrichment, which caused a bunch of fuel blowby into the crankcase, which made the oil corrosive to the old pan gasket that was on there, which made a small amount of seepage into a rather large leak, which drained out enough oil to make the truck start knocking DOH

It doesn't look like I damaged any of the bearings on the engine, but its out of comission until the new pan gasket gets here, and I can try running the truck again without the exhaust leak, lol

Also fixed my tranny too. Put a new valve body in, and a new TV cable, and suddenly it works real good. The thing still has a low speed missfire, but I'm thinking its bad plug wires. Also shifts real lazy at WOT, but I am told all stock 700r4s do that.

[classicchev]

I have a extra set of injectors, no idea what they are. As the were part of the package I bought really not sure, is there a way to tell?

[Russell]

There is a part number along the top of the injector, if you can get me one, I can find out if they are 305 or 350 injectors

[classicchev]

took them out of the box for a closer look, and they are crap and not a full set. Good thing the seller gave me a new set. Sorry.

[jasonrmorrow]

I'll jump in on a few for Corie here, he ran an auxillary little 6 circuit fuse panel from the local parts store. Since he needed 4 switched/keyed 12 volt sources he grabbed a 12 volt switched/keyed wire and ran it to the main power in on the panel. When the truck was off, there was 11.7 volts at that main power in(low batt voltage from cranking and not starting), but once we got the truck running (feather the pedal a TON) the voltage dropped to 10.5 volts, so to eliminate a few variables we ran a wire straight from the alternator with a manual switch to that panel. Didn't touch the pedal, turned the key and it fired right up and idled. So now Corie has to run a heavy wire either from the ignition switch main wire or another 12gauge or better source.

So basically, if you are using the Painless wiring kit, (you should, truely is worth every penny), it has one labeled pink wire ( i'm pretty sure its pink) that says "Ignition 12volts" on it. Wherever you ran that wire to a power source check at that connection with the engine running, if it doesnt run check it while cranking.

And don't just use a test light to see if there is keyed voltage at the point you want to take the voltage from, there are resistor wires in these trucks that drop the 12volts to 5volts and the truck won't even start. So use the multimeter.

Computer controlled vehicles need to see a good strong voltage signal and really good grounds to run properly. Run heavy ground straps from the battery to the body and the engine to the frame. Clean all areas before attatching the terminals.

As far as comparison to a carb, i ran an Edelbrock Performer Intake and 1406 (600CFM Electric Choke) Carb before the TPI and throttle response, ease of starting, warm up time, SMELL, MPG (went from 12.7@3.8l/gallon to 16.3@3.8l/gallon), and coolness factor have all increased tenfold.

There was quite a gap in the time i drove with the carb and the TPI but the reason i went to TPI wasn't to make power, the TPI is a great torque producing EFI system, it doens't make much power beyond 4500 RPM, the reason i went with it was for throttle response, convenience and fuel economy.

If you want high performance you aren't going to get it (easily) from the stock gm computer without some deep knowledge of prom burning bin editing and the like.(It is possible though).

The carb never ran well for me in Calgary, elevation changes, temperature changes yadda yadda, not to mention sitting in the truck at -25*C holding the throttle down so the truck would stay running, versus jump in turn the key and run back to the house or be on your merry way, ORRRRRR push the command start button from the house and amaze your friends that your rusty grey primer 60's truck will start itself.(Like mine will when i put it in for a grand total of $20).