My son just changed out his 89 camaro from a TPI motor to a new crate motor with a Holly 4 Bbl. He pulled out all of the computer crap and about 50 pounds of wiring. The car looks great runs fantastic and didn't take much time to change over. I'm considering doing the same thing to my 87 Vert. Has anyone tried this and what do you think of the conversion?

 

I have not done the conversion, but many here have.
Use the search feature, and you will have days of reading, including part numbers and techniques.

 

Only real issue I see is resale. After you remove the ECM and injection it will limit the resale market. I wont knock you for doing it, but I would never buy a converted car. I actually like the fuel injection and computer controls.

 

yeah my old '86 was a pain in the neck to sell when i switched over to carb, but it ran pretty good

my only issue was a fuel pump, i was never able to get a mechanical to fit so you'll need to run an electric one with a regulator..

i think i used a weiand 7547 intake manifold because it was very low profile

but looking back, if your car runs nice with the TPI i'd leave well enough alone

 

I wouldnt buy a converted one myself, but modern carbs are pretty nice when its all tuned right.

But nothing beats a perfectly tuned EFI setup...

 

I carbed my crossfire years ago and went back to a tpi (SuperRam). Main problem was fuel perculation because of the heat retained under the hood with no breathing.

 

One of the guys sent me this here, have not done one of these swaps myself. Didnt have a lot of luck finding any complete info with searching;

GL
Dave


its actully a pretty straight forward swap i was able to do mine in 4 days start to finish but i had to figure it out on my own without any good write up
you will need the following parts
Carb, if your staying stock 350 a 650cfm carb will be fine, if your modding it i would go with a 700 or a 750

a carb intake manifold, a lowrise intake will just clear the stock hood, i went with a high rise because im building my car for performance i ended up having to cut a hole in the hood until i can get a cowl hood for it

i bought the fuel rail assembly from autozone standard carb fuel rail assembly,

rail mounted fuel pressure guage so you can see what pressure your running (autometer makes a cheap one that goes 0-15psi)

Adjustable fuel pressure regulator setup for a return to your fuel tank (the stock fuel pump puts out more then enough fuel for the engine it actully needs to be dialed back to about 7.5psi

Shorter serp belt i believe i got a 85.5" belt with the intake swapped you can ditch your smog pump assembly and shortbelt it,

you will need a kickdown cable for your trans if its an automatic, and a new throttle cable (i found mine through DETROIT SPEEDSHOPS or LIVERNOIS MOTORSPORTS they are local to me i was able to walk in and get the right parts

Coolant temp sensor for the manifold you will have to rewire the sensor to work with the stock guage cluster no big deal

New distributor you will need vaccum or mechanical advance the stock one wont work one the rest of the fuel system is dissabled
I went with a msd distributor so i had to buy a msd box as well, they have a wire in the box to hook up to your factory tach, this will control your rev limiter as the computer will now be bypassed

you will need some various amounts of rubber fuel line and vaccum line to hook up your brakes, and connect the existing metal fuel likes to your carb

i was able to get my car running without any issues that way

 

I just finished this swap on a 85.. It was easy, Cheap and it runs far better than it did before.. having said that..Mine was borked badly and would have cost a lot of money to get it running due to a P/O with a wiring issue.. If your car runs ok now.. dont do it.. It runs about the same and the hood clearance issue severely limits your choices on manifolds.. (edelbrock performer, idle to 5500 rpm) and 750 edelbrock carb with a low rise air cleaner and I have 3/4 " clearance..the fuel pump issue however is easy and thanks to the forum guys here i found an in tank replacement form airtex that puts out 4-12 psi and another that does 3-6 psi.. I chose the 4-12 psi (its an Airtex E3902 about 40 bucks from autozone) and an inexpensive regulator and it worked nicely.

in a nutshell if you plan on Big cams and wild motors, I would say go for it but to motor around pretty much stock nahhh if yours works leave it be.. oh and the carb linkage is a PITA as the cables are quite long routing is an issue.

 

if it's automatic you'll need some way to control the lockup as well

 

I put a 1988 TPI motor in a 1/2 ton chevy truck about 10 years ago.Got the tpi stuff working but changed over to a new manifold and carb setup.I've seen them on vette's and I don't really like the way it looks under the hood.I would keep the tpi setup.

 

Oxymoron for sure.