I just picked up a newer TBI sbc. I think it's about a '94 or so out of a 4x4. I want to put a 4 speed behind it, and a 6x2 intake. What flywheel can I use? Will an old intake fit? with minor mods? can one of you chevy guys hep a brudda owt?
I know the intake is slightly different , EDELBROCK makes the intake from tbi to a carb, but that number slips my memory....some people use the outside holes on the older style intake, and the plug the center holes with a little jb weld , but thats a bit to ish for me !!
I think you can use any fly wheel for a sbc, but the 4 bolts on the center of the intake go straight up instead of being angled like all of the rest, thus it may be hard to find a 6 x 2 that will fit!
you can't use just any flywheel....`86 and up engines use a completely different flywheel than earlier ones , you can't mix them up
All you have to do is slightly enlongate the 4 holes in the middle of the intake to make the early intake work. I have pictures and have posted them on here before of this very mod. Flywheels changed when they went to 1 piece rear main seals in 87. There is no shortage of flywheels out there though. Just get one out of a later model standard trans SBC.
But you can use any 262, 305, or 350 Chevy (that's 4.3, 5.0, or 5.7 in metricspeak) late style flywheel, they have the same balance.
the info above is partly right- there ARE differences... If it is a '94 or newer engine it is a VORTEC.It will require a custom[Edelbrock] intake and no factory intake will work at all. It also will take a special flywheel for a manual trans. It will take a flywheel from a 350 truck only IF motor is from a truck. Some pass car manual flywheels from 90's camaro 305's [for example] are not compatable in balance with say the same year pickup truck's flywheels. I know this for a fact.
OK. how do I tell if it is a VORTECH? I ask because... who knows if it was even the original engine. What I do know about it... It was a FI engine but it had a throttle body sitting on top, where a carb would normally sit. it came from a 90's chevy 4x4, I don't know the exact year 'cause the front clip was missing.
On the intake thing, if there are just a few bolts holding the intake on, and they go straight down (instead of angled towards the head like the old days) then it's the one he's talking about as a VORTEC. (as far as I can tell vortec means "truck engine", it doesn't actually tell you what year it is or what kind of engine it is, a 4.3 is a vortec, so is a 5300, and neither of these is the CFI 5.7 he's talking about)
They went to the "Vortec" heads later than 94. Memory tells me it was 96 for the first year Vortec. I know for sure that 94 still used the center bolt heads with 12 intake bolts. I was doing heavy line work at my local GM dealership in the mid 90's. I quit there in 95.
In a similar but different vein, I'm planning to drop an old style (1967) 283 SBC (.030 over) in a 91 S10 frame to put under my 52 chevy 1/2ton. It currently has a 2bbl intake and no clutch or flywheel. I've still got the three speed that I had it paired up with in my 72 longbed, but whether I upgrade to a 4 or 5 speed I'm keeping it "three pedals". Anyone have any suggestions for carb/intake combos? Keep in mind, I'm a cheap SOB with better access to piles of junk than piles of money. I'd thought of upgrading to the TBI off the donor (4.3 V6) but most of all I want to keep this simple and clean.
A follow up... I put in countless engines in brand new trucks in 94 and 95 due to customer complaints of cold start knocks. We'd install brand new crate longblocks if the customer complained enough. Anyway, I got some of the pull out engines. They were practically new, some less than 1k miles. If you put a carb on them, where you had to crank it for a second or two before it started, the oil pressure would build and they'd never knock at all. I wound up putting the pull out engines in all manners of older stuff for side money. Here's some pictures I posted of how I modded the intakes to work with the 4 center bolts being at a different angle. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=114502 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=114503 This applies to any non Vortec SBC out of trucks and vans. These were throttle body engines, not multiport like the Vortecs.
TBI isn't clean and simple compared to a carb. Lotsa wires and sensors and stuff. I'd find a mid 60s 2bbl intake/carb and run that. Unless you happen upon a good working 4bbl setup cheap.
Crap. Now I'm really confussed. If it's a stinkin' VORblECH, how hard to swap the heads with early style? Is it a bolt on? All of the intake bolts are straight up on a vortech or just the center 4? I wish it were here, I'd just go look at it. but it is up at the shop in Phx and I'm in txn til tomorrow night.
Vortec heads have all the intake bolts straight up and down. Pre Vortec heads had the 8 outer intake bolts angled like normal, and the 4 inner intake bolts more vertical. It's that simple. If the engine had an aircleaner on top of the throttle body like an old 4 barrel would have, it's pre-vortec. If it had a large aircleaner housing mounted on the passenger fenderwell with a tube and mass air meter going to the throttle body, it was Vortec.
Sorry-Its more confusing, even than it seemed! The vortec name is used on even passesnger -V6 motors as old as '87. I BELIEVE THAT '94 UP 350 ARE VORTEC AND SOME 305 ARE NOT-[THEY ARE tbi] THE INTAKE BOLTS ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THAN THE EARLIER ENGINES . They are not angled inwards at all-but are straight up- all of them. A 94 and older TBI small block will take the old intakes by modifying the center two holes on intake on each side. The Vortec intake is also about roughly 1/2" wider than any chevy intake as well. Vortec heads will swap to an old block. Valve Pushrod angle and length are different as the Vortec is a Roller cam engine.
Yeh - what he said. It is the quickest and easiest way out of the situation. All machine shops should have a set of SBC heads done and ready to go for a good deal (as in $300) or so. I would not modify a 6x2 early style intake to bolt onto a late model '87-'94 Block. You have to grind or machine the 4 center bolt holes...and as mentioned above that is sort or "....ish" ESPECIALLY if you are going to do it to a 6x2 intake. If you want to do that to an edlebrock performer intake...go for it! Vortec Heads only have 4 Intake bolts on each side - and they go straight up and down. If the motor has a TBI on it...it sounds like a late '86-'94 motor. which would have the 4 center intake holes @ a less degree of angle than the 8 outside holes...therefore requiring intake modification to bolt up (please don't do it to a 6x2 ) Flywheels should fit from '87 - '94 (must be for a 1pc rearmain seal.....the crank flange is smaller and perfectly round) just trade the heads for an earlier set.....or the whole motor for that matter. Lots of guys want that 1pc rear seal block. my $.02
Thank you everybody! I had NO Idea that the innocuous little sbc had so many variations. I will look up the casting numbers this weekend.
hmmm, my 94 k1500 pu ain't no vortec, neither is a certain 95 that works with me. 96 is when they started with the vortecs... you'll know a vortec by the 8 intake bolts that go straight up and down rather than by the 12 that go in at an angle
I have a 96 chevy pickup with a vortec 350. I believe this was the first year for the vortec. When I bought the truck it was a year old and I bought it over a 95 because of the Vortec motor. It has only 8 bolts holding the intake daown and they are only on the corners of the intake and go in straigt up and down. I also have a 88 chevy TBI block in my hotrod. it has 12 bolts in the intake, with the center 4 going pretty straight in. I did not want to modify my Offy 3x2 intake so I swapped the heads, this also kept me from having to buy adapters to run decent valve covers. Change your heads and be done with it. TT
I was able to put one together based on this information. I started with a 305 put together that didn't run, and got a TCI type 305 that ran, but I interchanged the carb/manifold and had to switch from torque plate to flywheel, and no parts counter could help me. It all worked, and although it's not on the road yet the real real cheap father son project got put together. Another reason I converted to carb was the electrical harness was cut when the TCI was pulled, and it had many many wires in it. Now I just need Battery Plus to the HEI. The old HEI dropped right in, and started up. I have yet to confirm timing/advance features or tune the carb. We run the engine every several days, and run it till it blows heat inside the truck. I saved the box from the clutch kit if anyone wants the numbers....
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