Thanks for the link. That Looks Really Nice.

 

On an 81 truck, get a tank for an 87 (TBI injected) and swap the pump. LWB are harder to find than SWB for some reason. That tank was used on all gas 87s and Duallys 88-90. GM has discontinued the tank and maybe the sender by now. I ruined my sender hooking it up and it was like $250 without a pump.

 

Here's my old motor.

 

If a map system doesn't lend itself to modified engines,couldn't you make up for that shortfall with a custom chip made specifically for the motor you want to build up and modify?

 

Yes, but it is a pain. You have to remove the chip and hopefully the person burning it will understand the information you give him over the phone. It took me 4 chips before mine would even idle and I had a small cam.

 

Just burn your own: www.diy-efi.org/gmecm

 

I too took a while to get my chip right sending it back and forth,but the latest time worked great,if you can do it yourself do it.

 

Prominator

www.speedtronics.net

 

I wish to appologize to all of you. I was i think mis-informed. I saw the donor camaro yesterday for the first time. I ran the vin numbers, and the vin code reads that it is an '84 not a '91 as I had orginally posted.

Something is not right though. It has centerbolt valve covers (i think should be '87, and newer) and the small distributer,mass air sensor, no vats, but it has the '84 style belts. I'm confused and I will have to do more reserch.

It was an auction car that was given to me buy a guy I do work for. He got it at the local dealers auction for pocket change It had been sitting on the auction lot for 5 years.

The 10th vin digit is a (E)
The 8th vin digit is a (G)
The engine trim code says it is a (L69) TPI

DR. Jay

 

I'm trying to wrap up my TPI conversion.

I have a 76 L-48, and put a 86 'Vette TPI on it.

I'm using a custom EFI controller: www.megasquirt.info

Getting all the parts and getting it installed was the hard part (or so I thought). The rough part for me has been learning how all the sensor readings come together to control how the engine runs.

In short, there are two ways to do this. Or three.

1. Stock computer and chip. This is the easiest, as once it's installed, it should just work, right? Well yes and no. Odds are, the settings on the chip are meant for the engine that you pulled it off of. So it won't be exact. Some folks have got it to run great, and I've also heard alot of "forget the TPI, it doesn't work, run carbs, they make power..." which is probably from others trying the stock chip.

2. Stock computer, modified chip. This has a fair chance of running really good, but you are going to have to do your homework about how it all works. It's kinda harder than #3 because you are actually tied down to the way the OEM did the controller, they all have their own little nuances and I doubt you can change it much.

3. Custom controller. This is the path I took. My car runs, I drive it everyday. I still haven't seen a gas milage improvement yet, but it is all about me learning how to tune the car. Basically, it's very similar to the stock computer/modified chip that I described above, however, the controller is general enough that you are learning what all the numbers do as you go along. If it doesn't run well, it's not EFI, not TPI, and not the controller, it's your tuning skills (I mean mine) that suck.

What I would have to boil this down to is, if you want to convert over to fuel injection, you can either learn alot about how it works or try to pay someone else to do it all for you.

As for your initial questions about fuel, I am running a Holley pump (really a Walbro) on top of the pass. side rail beside the gas tank. Works great.

As for problems past 1/4 tank, well, you really shouldn't run under 1/4 tank as the pump is cooled by the fuel it is pumping. If you only have a 1/4 tank, that fuel will be hotter than it would be at a 1/2 tank, and thus, the pump will run hotter and possibly fail earlier. Just a thought.

Post if you need any other info.

 

dr jay even though the belts are the older style it might be a 86-87 setup,my 87 trans am setup came with v belts and a small serpentine flat belt on the alternator,they didnt go to 1 serpentine belt till 88 i believe in the camaros and t/a's.

 

Yeah, you have to do your homework...but everything is on the chip. Displacement, fuel curves, fuel mixture, you name it, it's there. You can change it to do whatever you want. It's like the human body - little brain tells the rest what to do.

 

I just checked out the "Mega Squirt" web site. Lots of reading to do their. It appears to be a great DIY set up for fuel injection. It has great tuning capabilities, but it seems to eliminate many of the stock sensors, and Ecu functions (including the invasive emissions junk. )

I still have to do more research on the donor car though. I have only seen it at night, with a cheap flashlite. It all appears to be there, and some of the things that don't appear to be right can easily be explained, like the center bolt valve covers (engine swap with late model engine). I may get lucky and have a good running motor. The oil is really clean (for sitting for 5yrs), and the coolant is up.
I'll keep posting updates as I go along.

Thanks again.
DR. Jay

 

Those stock sensors are there for a reason - and you can turn off any of the emissions stuff you want during the recoding.

 

You need most of the sensors to make it work right. You can eliminate VATS, canister purge (although I would keep it), and EGR but that's about it. You need the rest including VSS to make it work best.