[cheavyninja88]

I have an 88 1 ton scottsdale and I'm currently rebuilding the motor, I was wondering if there was any cheavy enthusiast that had some ideas for mild after market performance parts. I do not wish to make some super mucle truck, but make my truck have more "oomf" to it. I have replaced the whoe air intake system and I am replacing the exhaust completly, I also am fabricating a new hood to help my motor run cooler. The motor I have is very nice and do not wish to replace the intake manifold or anything such. SMALL performance ideas...

[American Muscle]

Originally Posted by cheavyninja88

I have an 88 1 ton scottsdale and I'm currently rebuilding the motor, I was wondering if there was any cheavy enthusiast that had some ideas for mild after market performance parts. I do not wish to make some super mucle truck, but make my truck have more "oomf" to it. I have replaced the whoe air intake system and I am replacing the exhaust completly, I also am fabricating a new hood to help my motor run cooler. The motor I have is very nice and do not wish to replace the intake manifold or anything such. SMALL performance ideas...

Vortec heads matching intake . Nuff said

[cobalt327]

If you use the Vortec heads and intake, you'll need a bolt-on adapter to mount the TBI to the intake if you are going to use the existing computer controls. It will be a good improvement over what you have now, especially in the mid to upper RPM range.

The cam (if you change it) must be very carefully chosen to have enough idle vacuum to work w/the C3 computer system.

You could take a look on some of the Chevy sites, like for F-bodies, trucks, etc. that deal specifically w/the TBI systems.

[327NUT]

You said that you don't want to replace the intake or "anything such" which I'll assume means heads, cam etc. So, a 350 in a 1 ton, especially an '88 350 which were WAAAY underpowered to start with is not a good deal. My '87 Chevy class C 23' motorhome was only rated at a "whopping" 145 hp. The smog motor era was not good for performance.

You have started with a couple of good upgrades but other than getting the air in and out more efficiently, long tube headers would help some, but w/o getting inside the engine there's not much left. There may be a computer chip upgrade available (if your's has one) from one of the many vendors, you'll just have to call around but they are usually only good for around 35 hp or so last time I looked.....better than nothing though.

[cobalt327]

Originally Posted by 327NUT

You said that you don't want to replace the intake or "anything such" which I'll assume means heads, cam etc.

Good point- I blew right past that and went straight for the tool box.

But yeah. Hard to get any meaningful improvements w/o altering the hard parts besides the mods already mentioned: cold air intake, dual exhaust w/a connector between the two sides, low restriction mufflers.

You might get away w/a underdriven accessories by using a smaller crank pulley, or larger pulleys on the accessories that you want to slow down individually.

Most chips will cause a change in the ignition timing that can cause you to have to use premium fuel and/or a colder thermostat to prevent detonation.

You might pick up a couple HP by changing the rocker arms to 1.6 ratio w/roller trunnions.

There are tranny controllers as well as shift reprogrammer kits that can give you firmer shifts and altered shift points. A gear ratio change may or may not help acceleration, depending on what you already have.

To tell the final drive ratio, look on the glove box door for a sticker w/all the RPO codes. Rear gear codes usually begin w/"G", like GU5, GN9, etc., some also begin w/an "H" and there are possibly others.