1989 C4 Functional Restoration

[mountie]

It is hard to believe I haven't updated this in a few months, though I haven't done much work on the car in that time I have done a little. I have been driving it and enjoying it.

I am still doing heat management after the header install. None of it has been mandatory, nothing has burned and it has mostly been just to prevent any potential issues and to make me feel better.

Clutch line, O2 wire and others in the area covered.

View attachment 491764


View attachment 491765

Starter wires and i think the knock sensor wire covered.

View attachment 491766

I made a small shield to be between the header and the A/C box, it is a little close in this area and I didn't want to scorch the box over time. The shield has about 1/4" minimum on all sides (more in most places) between the heat and the box. It does rest on the box in the folded are which is well away from the heat. It should work just fine.

View attachment 491767


View attachment 491768


View attachment 491769

The wife and I took the car to a local "Cruise In" at a small hamburger place that has this very small event every month. I met a few nice like minded people who also are restoring their cars.

View attachment 491770

The security cam caught us coming back from the Cruise-In. The wife was able to get into and out of the car, that is a big deal, she has issues from all the work done on her legs, so getting out of the car was difficult but she can do it. The A/C was pumping out 40 degree air on a 100 degree day, I can live with that. View attachment 491771 The car was already dusty from the road, life in the country.

When we bought this property we had wanted a pool, after discovering the shelf rock that is about a foot under the soil we decided against it, the excavation cost and the need to blast rock made it not economically reasonable. In late June I decided a cheap above ground pool would be acceptable. The only real issue is the property isn't level so I would have to make a pad that was. I am still recovering from my latest heart episode so it took a while to get the pad built, the initial leveling was easy, I used the tractor to do it, the fine tuning was harder, I shoveled two 8' pickup loads of sand for the final leveling, that was fun. The other issue with an above ground pool is my wife has a couple of hardware stores worth of metal in her ankles and knees, climbing over a ladder to get in and out of the pool wasn't going to happen. I had plenty of old 6x6 cedar posts and grabbed some treated lumber and went to work to make a platform and stairs for her. I still need to do the hand rail, outdoor carpet and build a bench but it is functional. The pool is 18' and 48" tall or about 5,000 gallons of water.

I placed this between two large Oaks to keep the water from turning into a warm bath. It does mean I have to clean the leaves out daily but that is ok, the water was 80 degrees when I checked this morning. That feels good on 105 degree days.

View attachment 491772


View attachment 491773

The last bit of fun was almost stepping on a rattlesnake. I grew up out here, I have seen many of these fun little creatures and developed the habit of always looking down when outside. It was about 8 in the morning, I was still groggy, not wearing my glasses and didn't see him until I was about 2' away, one more step and I would have probably been bit. This is the third one I have seen on the property and the second one I have killed, the one I didn't kill was no where close to the house or animals so I left him be. He never rattled and I shot him with my .410 Judge with #4 bird shot. My shot placement was terrible, I had to finish him off with a shovel and a hammer. You may notice he doesn't have any rattles, the birdshot removed them. Always look where you are stepping!

View attachment 491774

When not otherwise occupied I have been researching replacing my heads and adding a small cam to go along with the upcoming port job on the intake, something I have been gathering intel on and studying as much as I can. I picked up a semi-decent electric die-grinder and some good Aluma-Cut burrs to go along with the cheap ones I already have. Porting the lower will be a fun challenge, it is easy to make a mistake and I don't want to make a mistake. View attachment 491775 There are some tremendous resources out there for working on these cars and after numerous conversations, I have a plan and a back up plan. I'll go into the plan and backup plan at a later date, I am still in discussion on the better way to go without throwing a bunch of money away.

I had planned on a base line dyno run but my local dyno shop lost it's lease and is looking for another building. I hope he gets it figured out before I actually start changing things on the engine.

Re: Pool below trees……. Run a mesh “Sail” above the pool to reduce all the leaves.

Rattle snakes : Years ago I ‘hunted’ for rattlers, near hiking trails and relocated them away from human activity….( my friend is a reptile-rescue expert )…. If you suddenly see a snake, raise your foot above the snake’s head. It can’t injure you if your shoe is above.

Pool : We considered a pool…. but didn’t want such a huge project, digging far below the ground…. We considered a fountain-like- pool…. 3 feet below, 3 feet above. ( 8’ x 14’ )….. Would look like an Italian looking fountain.

 

[SirReal63]

Re: Pool below trees……. Run a mesh “Sail” above the pool to reduce all the leaves.

Rattle snakes : Years ago I ‘hunted’ for rattlers, near hiking trails and relocated them away from human activity….( my friend is a reptile-rescue expert )…. If you suddenly see a snake, raise your foot above the snake’s head. It can’t injure you if your shoe is above.

Pool : We considered a pool…. but didn’t want such a huge project, digging far below the ground…. We considered a fountain-like- pool…. 3 feet below, 3 feet above. ( 8’ x 14’ )….. Would look like an Italian looking fountain.

We already decided on a screen for over the pool, I just haven't found one that looks good enough and is big enough. About 12 years ago we bought a roll of it from Costco to block the afternoon Sun from the deck on the Casita, it has held up to daily Sun exposure but I can't find the brand. Ideally I would want one at least as good and I would need to build a frame to hold it. It is a next year or two plan as is a much better pump.

We have been lucky with rattlesnakes, we rarely ever see them though our neighbor kills at least one a year around his house. Unless it is near where we live we let them live. We have a large population of rat snakes, that helps keep the mice/rat issue low which in turn keeps most other snakes out. We also keep water tubs around the property to help keep them away, if they have readily available water they won't go looking for it.

I typically don't like above ground pools, but in this case it was the solution and it was cheap and easily replaced. I could have got a smaller one and it would have been fine, the concern was how hot the water will get, more volume, less temp swings.

 

[mountie]

We already decided on a screen for over the pool, I just haven't found one that looks good enough and is big enough. About 12 years ago we bought a roll of it from Costco to block the afternoon Sun from the deck on the Casita, it has held up to daily Sun exposure but I can't find the brand. Ideally I would want one at least as good and I would need to build a frame to hold it. It is a next year or two plan as is a much better pump.

We have been lucky with rattlesnakes, we rarely ever see them though our neighbor kills at least one a year around his house. Unless it is near where we live we let them live. We have a large population of rat snakes, that helps keep the mice/rat issue low which in turn keeps most other snakes out. We also keep water tubs around the property to help keep them away, if they have readily available water they won't go looking for it.

I typically don't like above ground pools, but in this case it was the solution and it was cheap and easily replaced. I could have got a smaller one and it would have been fine, the concern was how hot the water will get, more volume, less temp swings.

If you see one rattlesnake, there are many more somewhere nearby. My friend in Northern California runs a Reptile Rescue service. It was not unusual to find the one snake in a property……. Then inspects under the home and rescues 20 more !!

 

[PG01]

It is hard to believe I haven't updated this in a few months, though I haven't done much work on the car in that time I have done a little. I have been driving it and enjoying it.

I am still doing heat management after the header install. None of it has been mandatory, nothing has burned and it has mostly been just to prevent any potential issues and to make me feel better.

Clutch line, O2 wire and others in the area covered.

View attachment 491764


View attachment 491765

Starter wires and i think the knock sensor wire covered.

View attachment 491766

I made a small shield to be between the header and the A/C box, it is a little close in this area and I didn't want to scorch the box over time. The shield has about 1/4" minimum on all sides (more in most places) between the heat and the box. It does rest on the box in the folded are which is well away from the heat. It should work just fine.

View attachment 491767


View attachment 491768


View attachment 491769

The wife and I took the car to a local "Cruise In" at a small hamburger place that has this very small event every month. I met a few nice like minded people who also are restoring their cars.

View attachment 491770

The security cam caught us coming back from the Cruise-In. The wife was able to get into and out of the car, that is a big deal, she has issues from all the work done on her legs, so getting out of the car was difficult but she can do it. The A/C was pumping out 40 degree air on a 100 degree day, I can live with that. View attachment 491771 The car was already dusty from the road, life in the country.

When we bought this property we had wanted a pool, after discovering the shelf rock that is about a foot under the soil we decided against it, the excavation cost and the need to blast rock made it not economically reasonable. In late June I decided a cheap above ground pool would be acceptable. The only real issue is the property isn't level so I would have to make a pad that was. I am still recovering from my latest heart episode so it took a while to get the pad built, the initial leveling was easy, I used the tractor to do it, the fine tuning was harder, I shoveled two 8' pickup loads of sand for the final leveling, that was fun. The other issue with an above ground pool is my wife has a couple of hardware stores worth of metal in her ankles and knees, climbing over a ladder to get in and out of the pool wasn't going to happen. I had plenty of old 6x6 cedar posts and grabbed some treated lumber and went to work to make a platform and stairs for her. I still need to do the hand rail, outdoor carpet and build a bench but it is functional. The pool is 18' and 48" tall or about 5,000 gallons of water.

I placed this between two large Oaks to keep the water from turning into a warm bath. It does mean I have to clean the leaves out daily but that is ok, the water was 80 degrees when I checked this morning. That feels good on 105 degree days.

View attachment 491772


View attachment 491773

The last bit of fun was almost stepping on a rattlesnake. I grew up out here, I have seen many of these fun little creatures and developed the habit of always looking down when outside. It was about 8 in the morning, I was still groggy, not wearing my glasses and didn't see him until I was about 2' away, one more step and I would have probably been bit. This is the third one I have seen on the property and the second one I have killed, the one I didn't kill was no where close to the house or animals so I left him be. He never rattled and I shot him with my .410 Judge with #4 bird shot. My shot placement was terrible, I had to finish him off with a shovel and a hammer. You may notice he doesn't have any rattles, the birdshot removed them. Always look where you are stepping!

View attachment 491774

When not otherwise occupied I have been researching replacing my heads and adding a small cam to go along with the upcoming port job on the intake, something I have been gathering intel on and studying as much as I can. I picked up a semi-decent electric die-grinder and some good Aluma-Cut burrs to go along with the cheap ones I already have. Porting the lower will be a fun challenge, it is easy to make a mistake and I don't want to make a mistake. View attachment 491775 There are some tremendous resources out there for working on these cars and after numerous conversations, I have a plan and a back up plan. I'll go into the plan and backup plan at a later date, I am still in discussion on the better way to go without throwing a bunch of money away.

I had planned on a base line dyno run but my local dyno shop lost it's lease and is looking for another building. I hope he gets it figured out before I actually start changing things on the engine.

Me too and im mad about it…. Lol. Pete needs weekly updates….


P.S. im pete …..

 

[SirReal63]

If you see one rattlesnake, there are many more somewhere nearby. My friend in Northern California runs a Reptile Rescue service. It was not unusual to find the one snake in a property……. Then inspects under the home and rescues 20 more !!

We are surrounded by woods on three sides with a 20+ acre field on the other side, there is no shortage of them around us. I am surprised we haven't seen more, the neighbor that kills about one a year has the field and that field holds the bulk of the mice. If they want to leave us alone I am ok with it.

 

[SirReal63]

Me too and im mad about it…. Lol. Pete needs weekly updates….


P.S. im pete …..

I am running out things to do to the car. lol It is a good and a bad thing.

 

[SirReal63]

I have done a little work to the car. The Borla's do have a little drone right at 1800 rpm, it isn't bad and I have been shifting gears to keep it out of that range. One area I did not address with sound deadening was the area over the top of the deck, it rings like a drum and I can make it a little better.

There are a total of four of these indented areas to treat across the back of the deck.

The indent in the middle got a layer of 80mil KilMat.

Then the area over the middle indent got another 80mil layer making it 160mil.

After the KilMat I put 1/2" medium density foam over it.

This really made more of an impact on the drone than I expected. Sadly I cannot do the same treatment to the deck lid, there is an outer and inner layer that appear to be bonded together but with hollow areas that will ring. I could give it the same treatment but it would be ineffective at quelling the ring as the outer layer is what rings, putting a dampener on the inner would only slightly muffle it, not enough to make a difference. I may order up some more foam and at least insulate it but that can wait.

While I had all of this apart I decided to foam the back wall that separates the fuel tank from the cabin. It already has a layer of KilMat and Frost King on it, a little more insulation cannot hurt so add another 1/2" of foam to the thickness. I also added a layer of foam over the rear floor so it also has a layer of KilMat, Frost King and 1/2" of foam. Now the back compartment is all the same thickness. I cannot do the wheel wells the same, the carpet won't fit but they have the KilMat and two layers of Frost King on them.

The floor foam, I had to add in a small strip in the middle.

Since I was already in there, with the sub out I decided to change the sub layout, going from one ported sub to two sealed subs. The ported layout had one flaw, it gave up some volume at certain frequencies and was louder at others. Not what I had expected but it did. I had already purchased another 8" Solo-Baric I had intended on putting in the Yukon as the old 12" JL finally died. Instead I did the math and discovered The total volume would be adequate for two subs in a sealed enclosure. Simple enough to make another baffle and add a second sub.

Medium density particle board that I fully glassed. Somehow the pics of the process of glass the baffle got lost.

Figuring out the series/parallel wiring with a little KilMat across the middle.

I found some appropriate Kicker grills to cover the subs with. When I looked for these grills initially I could not find them, I am glad I did this time, they look better than my home made ones. I had some SEM Cognac dye/paint left over and covered the metal grills with it. If I would have had more I would have done the grill surround as well but I don't think it looks bad as is. When Mid-America gets back up and running I will order a couple more cans of the Cognac to have on hand.

No flash, this is how it actually looks to the eye.

I have been going back and forth over ordering new heads when I port the lower intake. I do have all of the porting stuff now to do it, just not the time, it was planned as the Winter project. The 113 heads have a 58cc chamber and most of the after market heads are 64cc, that will drop my compression about .6 points, I don't really want to do that. I can have the new heads milled down to about 60-61cc without causing any gasket issues, that coupled with a much thinner head gasket will get the compression back to where it is. My issue is I do not really know where it is now, the block is a Vortec 880 which appeared to be stock, but appearances are not always accurate. My first step was to see what my compression is, I warmed the engine up, disconnected the fuel pump and checked cylinder 3 because it is the most accessible, I got 180 psi, much more than I expected and it made me happy, this block may be healthy but is it really stock? A while back I got an endoscope to replace my old crappy one, this one had the flexible head and is a stand alone unit, much better than the Android based one I hooked up to my phone.

The piston, a stock L31 style dished piston. When they swapped the stock C4 block to this one they did not change pistons. I was surprised by how clean it is and it is in keeping with way this block change was done, they just put all of the old stuff back onto the new (junkyard) engine.

The other surprise is how clean the bore is, and how much crosshatch is there. I suspect they did a dingle ball rebuild of this block and little more. I expect to find a stock L31 cam in it. I think a Summit SUM-8800 will be called for.

I used a feeler gauge to check the current head gasket compressed thickness on the edges of the head, at least where I could get to, and got .034-.035 on both banks. Not completely accurate but close enough. If I did my math right, my static compression should be about 9.7:1 with an 059 quench. The stats as close as I can find with internet info. This engine doesn't really like 89-89 octane gas, it runs so much better with 91-93, now it makes sense as to why.

Bore = 4"
Stroke = 3.48
Cylinder head volume = 58cc's
Piston Dish = 12cc
Head gasket = .034
Head gasket bore = 4.06 (a WAG but from a Summit search of SBC head gaskets, it should be close.)
Deck Clearance .025 (Some forums show .02 and others showed an actual measured .025 so I went with .025.

I am strongly considering just doing a pocket/light port (bowl and chamber cleanup, straightening the pinch lightly and an 80 grit finish) on my stock 113 heads with new springs and valve seals and a check of the lifter rollers. SuperRitchie managed to make almost 400hp with a set of stock 113's and a dual plane and decent cam. With the ported TPI I have no expectations of even getting close to 400hp, I would be happy with anything around 250 whp if coupled with a Summit 8800 cam. It is difficult to justify the expense of new heads with an induction setup that won't be able to take much advantage of them and I am not really going for the max I can extract out of this engine, I just want a little more than it has. I will have a much better idea of what is really here once I get the heads and cam out, but I am not expecting any surprises this time.

I would welcome recommendations, criticisms, a math check, specs check, etc. I have tried to cover all of the bases but I am sure I am missing something to be discovered later.

 

[SirReal63]

I have done some actual work to the car tis week. When I got the 1990 wheels one did have some damage and I have been casually looking for a replacement since I got these. I found one for a price delivered I was happy with. It is in great physical condition but terrible cosmetic condition. I can fix that.

What I started with.

The clear was badly stained and faded. I stripped it all off and as expected the aluminum beneath it was also stained with a few minor scratches and dings. I knew that if I sanded out the stains and scratches the finish would no longer be correct. It would be more work than simply stripping the clear and re-applying. My goal and hope was to make the "new" wheel match in color and texture to the existing ones, if I did not then then I would be doing all of them to make them the same. I went ahead and sanded and polished out the stains and most of the scratch depth, which of course left me shiny wheels that need to be matte. I did a test with matte clear over the shiny and it was not matte enough to be a close match to the original. There are really 3 textures here, first, the rough insets where it looks to be painted or just rough aluminum, the color is darker either way. Second the matte face and third the more shiny exterior ring.

I played around with grey spray paint to approximate the color of the existing wheels inset parts. I got really close with a light dusting of high heat aluminum paint. I masked off the ring and face and sprayed the insets. After it dried I heated it up slowly numerous times, hotter each time to help it finish curing. I masked off the insets for the next step.
I had tried to get the matte texture on the face with sanding and buffing, nothing got it close enough, I needed a different plan. I got a cheap Inokraft hand held sand blaster and 10 pounds of #12 glass beads. This was a messy task, but it gave me the matte texture I was looking for and was fairly consistent. The glass beads are definitely the way to clean up the aluminum.

I lightly polished the outer ring to give it the shiny appearance. Now I am left with the task of clear coat. I used the Spraymax gloss first, mainly for the shiny ring but it should help protect the matte portions as well. I knew I would either need to wet sand the shine off the matte portion or go over it with a matte clear after the gloss cured enough. The wet sanding worked but not well enough, it had consistency issues. It let it cure enough, masked off the outer ring and went over it with matte clear. It got pretty close to what I was hoping for.

Before the clear coats.

I did not work very ******* the inside of the wheel, maybe I should have but it is never seen and will just get filthy again quickly. I did remove most of the brake dust and the remnants of the weight adhesive. It is stained and ugly but otherwise smooth and clean.

I am sure I will need to do the other three wheels in the future if I decide to stay with these wheels. I do still have 5 of the 1989 wheels but I actually like the looks of the 1990 wheels better. It did keep me busy for about 10 days.

I haven't decided on replacing the center caps or trying to refinish them. They are plastic and still available but I always am concerned with the quality of non-oem parts. I know in the future the 17" tires will be going away just like the 16" have. I will probably roll with these until the 17" is no longer viable or too expensive to justify. I will probably be dead before that happens, so we will see.

 

[kbuskill]

I have done a little work to the car. The Borla's do have a little drone right at 1800 rpm, it isn't bad and I have been shifting gears to keep it out of that range. One area I did not address with sound deadening was the area over the top of the deck, it rings like a drum and I can make it a little better.

There are a total of four of these indented areas to treat across the back of the deck.

View attachment 492829

The indent in the middle got a layer of 80mil KilMat.

View attachment 492830

Then the area over the middle indent got another 80mil layer making it 160mil.

View attachment 492831

After the KilMat I put 1/2" medium density foam over it.

View attachment 492832

This really made more of an impact on the drone than I expected. Sadly I cannot do the same treatment to the deck lid, there is an outer and inner layer that appear to be bonded together but with hollow areas that will ring. I could give it the same treatment but it would be ineffective at quelling the ring as the outer layer is what rings, putting a dampener on the inner would only slightly muffle it, not enough to make a difference. I may order up some more foam and at least insulate it but that can wait.

While I had all of this apart I decided to foam the back wall that separates the fuel tank from the cabin. It already has a layer of KilMat and Frost King on it, a little more insulation cannot hurt so add another 1/2" of foam to the thickness. I also added a layer of foam over the rear floor so it also has a layer of KilMat, Frost King and 1/2" of foam. Now the back compartment is all the same thickness. I cannot do the wheel wells the same, the carpet won't fit but they have the KilMat and two layers of Frost King on them.

The floor foam, I had to add in a small strip in the middle.

View attachment 492833

Since I was already in there, with the sub out I decided to change the sub layout, going from one ported sub to two sealed subs. The ported layout had one flaw, it gave up some volume at certain frequencies and was louder at others. Not what I had expected but it did. I had already purchased another 8" Solo-Baric I had intended on putting in the Yukon as the old 12" JL finally died. Instead I did the math and discovered The total volume would be adequate for two subs in a sealed enclosure. Simple enough to make another baffle and add a second sub.

Medium density particle board that I fully glassed. Somehow the pics of the process of glass the baffle got lost.

View attachment 492834

Figuring out the series/parallel wiring with a little KilMat across the middle.

View attachment 492835

I found some appropriate Kicker grills to cover the subs with. When I looked for these grills initially I could not find them, I am glad I did this time, they look better than my home made ones. I had some SEM Cognac dye/paint left over and covered the metal grills with it. If I would have had more I would have done the grill surround as well but I don't think it looks bad as is. When Mid-America gets back up and running I will order a couple more cans of the Cognac to have on hand.

View attachment 492836


View attachment 492837

No flash, this is how it actually looks to the eye.

View attachment 492838

I have been going back and forth over ordering new heads when I port the lower intake. I do have all of the porting stuff now to do it, just not the time, it was planned as the Winter project. The 113 heads have a 58cc chamber and most of the after market heads are 64cc, that will drop my compression about .6 points, I don't really want to do that. I can have the new heads milled down to about 60-61cc without causing any gasket issues, that coupled with a much thinner head gasket will get the compression back to where it is. My issue is I do not really know where it is now, the block is a Vortec 880 which appeared to be stock, but appearances are not always accurate. My first step was to see what my compression is, I warmed the engine up, disconnected the fuel pump and checked cylinder 3 because it is the most accessible, I got 180 psi, much more than I expected and it made me happy, this block may be healthy but is it really stock? A while back I got an endoscope to replace my old crappy one, this one had the flexible head and is a stand alone unit, much better than the Android based one I hooked up to my phone.

The piston, a stock L31 style dished piston. When they swapped the stock C4 block to this one they did not change pistons. I was surprised by how clean it is and it is in keeping with way this block change was done, they just put all of the old stuff back onto the new (junkyard) engine.

View attachment 492839

The other surprise is how clean the bore is, and how much crosshatch is there. I suspect they did a dingle ball rebuild of this block and little more. I expect to find a stock L31 cam in it. I think a Summit SUM-8800 will be called for.

View attachment 492840


View attachment 492841


I used a feeler gauge to check the current head gasket compressed thickness on the edges of the head, at least where I could get to, and got .034-.035 on both banks. Not completely accurate but close enough. If I did my math right, my static compression should be about 9.7:1 with an 059 quench. The stats as close as I can find with internet info. This engine doesn't really like 89-89 octane gas, it runs so much better with 91-93, now it makes sense as to why.

Bore = 4"
Stroke = 3.48
Cylinder head volume = 58cc's
Piston Dish = 12cc
Head gasket = .034
Head gasket bore = 4.06 (a WAG but from a Summit search of SBC head gaskets, it should be close.)
Deck Clearance .025 (Some forums show .02 and others showed an actual measured .025 so I went with .025.

I am strongly considering just doing a pocket/light port (bowl and chamber cleanup, straightening the pinch lightly and an 80 grit finish) on my stock 113 heads with new springs and valve seals and a check of the lifter rollers. SuperRitchie managed to make almost 400hp with a set of stock 113's and a dual plane and decent cam. With the ported TPI I have no expectations of even getting close to 400hp, I would be happy with anything around 250 whp if coupled with a Summit 8800 cam. It is difficult to justify the expense of new heads with an induction setup that won't be able to take much advantage of them and I am not really going for the max I can extract out of this engine, I just want a little more than it has. I will have a much better idea of what is really here once I get the heads and cam out, but I am not expecting any surprises this time.

I would welcome recommendations, criticisms, a math check, specs check, etc. I have tried to cover all of the bases but I am sure I am missing something to be discovered later.

I have been following your build here, I love TPI engines.

We installed one in my son's 1991 2 door S-10 Blazer, as it is a period correct swap and we love torque... lol

If you are looking for budget friendly ideas for heads you can put a set of '96+ Vortec heads on it for about a 40-50hp increase without any port work. Of course this will require a Scoggins Dickey lower intake to match up to the heads, so that may negate the cost effectiveness.

 

[SirReal63]

I have been following your build here, I love TPI engines.

We installed one in my son's 1991 2 door S-10 Blazer, as it is a period correct swap and we love torque... lol

If you are looking for budget friendly ideas for heads you can put a set of '96+ Vortec heads on it for about a 40-50hp increase without any port work. Of course this will require a Scoggins Dickey lower intake to match up to the heads, so that may negate the cost effectiveness.

It was an early consideration but after some research I decided the extra 50 pounds over the front spring wasn't a good idea, finding a set in good condition (not cracked) is becoming difficult and the SD lower intake flows worse than the OEM one. It would solve some problems but open up other ones. I typically see them in my area for $2-300 and then they need to be checked and rebuilt with no promises they are good when you get them. They will add that much power with many intakes but not the TPI because it is rpm limited. It would probably still be better than the stock 113's if you got a good set, and ignore the overall cost.

Sadly, you can get a Chinese copy of the Brodix IK or AFR 195 bare for $175 each delivered. Of course it would still need to be milled, checked and loaded. They flow about 25-40 cfm more than a stock 113 at .50 lift. It is still a lot of money for very little actual gain, mainly because the TPI can't take advantage of the extra flow at rpm unless the runners and base are significantly larger than stock.

I liked the idea at first to use the Vortec head until I researched it.

I bet that S-10 Blazer was a stoplight ripper!

 

[kbuskill]

I bet that S-10 Blazer was a stoplight ripper!

It is still a work in progress. Hopefully going to the dyno soon to get it tuned.

We did the 24X swap so it is running on the LS ECU and harness with coil packs instead of a distributor. The distributor is only there to provide the cam signal at this point.

The engine is a .020 over 350 with a siamese ported Scoggins Dickey lower, Arizona Speed & Marine big mouth runners and a fully ported plenum with a 52mm TB and port matched Vortec heads. We installed a 4l80E behind it.

Still need to have a driveshaft built and get the exhaust built then it is going to the dyno to get dialed in.

We built the preliminary tune with HP Tuners and it fired right up first try so we were stoked about that.

 

[SirReal63]

Nice work! I am jealous of AS&M runners, I think he is either retired now or just not wanting to do it any more. I couldn't even order gaskets from his website.

What effect will the Siamese lower intake have, won't it change the power curve away from low end torque towards upper RPM power? If so that may be a blessing, the Blazer might end up being traction limited.

 

[kbuskill]

Nice work! I am jealous of AS&M runners, I think he is either retired now or just not wanting to do it any more. I couldn't even order gaskets from his website.

What effect will the Siamese lower intake have, won't it change the power curve away from low end torque towards upper RPM power? If so that may be a blessing, the Blazer might end up being traction limited.

I bought this engine many many moons ago and the guy had a lot of money tied up in it. Life happened and it sat in my shed for a looong time.

Fast forward to my oldest son being of the age to appreciate it and we decided to stick it in his truck.

The gaskets are hard to source, I can't remember who we ended up getting them from off the top of my head.

Siamesing the lower is supposed to allow each cylinder to draw air from 2 tubes at once. And yes it effectively shortens the runner length to a certain extent thereby giving you more top end at the expense of some torque down low which the TPI has plenty to spare.

In reality, we won't actually know how well it worked until it hits the dyno.

The good thing is, if I screwed up royally by Siamesing the lower, my son found a brand knew in the box First brand intake for the Vortec heads, complete from lower all the way to the new single butterfly TB, on FB marketplace locally for $600 which is a steal so he bought it.

The intake we are currently using has already been powder coated obviously and if it makes good numbers he will probably just keep the First intake for later if he ever decides to do something crazy like boost or something.

 

[SirReal63]

I bought this engine many many moons ago and the guy had a lot of money tied up in it. Life happened and it sat in my shed for a looong time.

Fast forward to my oldest son being of the age to appreciate it and we decided to stick it in his truck.

The gaskets are hard to source, I can't remember who we ended up getting them from off the top of my head.

Siamesing the lower is supposed to allow each cylinder to draw air from 2 tubes at once. And yes it effectively shortens the runner length to a certain extent thereby giving you more top end at the expense of some torque down low which the TPI has plenty to spare.

In reality, we won't actually know how well it worked until it hits the dyno.

The good thing is, if I screwed up royally by Siamesing the lower, my son found a brand knew in the box First brand intake for the Vortec heads, complete from lower all the way to the new single butterfly TB, on FB marketplace locally for $600 which is a steal so he bought it.

The intake we are currently using has already been powder coated obviously and if it makes good numbers he will probably just keep the First intake for later if he ever decides to do something crazy like boost or something.

I remember reading about doing that a few years ago but forgot the details, I found them again. The guy on thirdgen .org that started that trend ended up blowing up 2 engines with fueling issues and another had a lean issue burning up a piston. It makes sense as the flow can be interrupted and the "pull" from one cylinder to another can be different, especially if two adjacent cylinders are not the same with respect to air/fuel draw, one is extra rich and the other lean. I suppose the difference can be in how far into the lower the porting goes. If everything works out I would want a different cam, if it is still the stock TPI cam.

Nice score the First! If I ever get serious about power that is the intake I would go with, it was on the list (still is) but when I realized I didn't need to make that much power I shelved the idea.

 

[kbuskill]

I remember reading about doing that a few years ago but forgot the details, I found them again. The guy on thirdgen .org that started that trend ended up blowing up 2 engines with fueling issues and another had a lean issue burning up a piston. It makes sense as the flow can be interrupted and the "pull" from one cylinder to another can be different, especially if two adjacent cylinders are not the same with respect to air/fuel draw, one is extra rich and the other lean. I suppose the difference can be in how far into the lower the porting goes. If everything works out I would want a different cam, if it is still the stock TPI cam.

Nice score the First! If I ever get serious about power that is the intake I would go with, it was on the list (still is) but when I realized I didn't need to make that much power I shelved the idea.

The porting only goes about 1.5-2" into the lower. This engine has a ZZ4 cam in it, which is similar to the "LT4 hot cam".

I also believe having the 24X swap done, so the engine can be tuned just like an LS by plugging in a laptop and using HP Tuners, will be a big benefit. That is one of the problems with the original ECU is having to burn chips to make changes.

The 0411 ECU should be leaps and bounds ahead of the original.