95 G20 conversion van

[erob914]

I have a 95 Chevy conversion van I am looking to improve performance on. I am not looking to make it a fire breathing pavement pounding asphalt melting machine. Just looking to grab the low hanging fruit so to speak.

I use this van to pull a 16 foot travel trailer for vacation travel with the family. Other than being a backup vehicle to get to work that is all this vehicle will do. For the immediate future I am just looking to get a little extra power, fuel economy, drivability, etc. I am a mechanic by trade, so the mechanicals are no problem. I understand what the tuner community does but I do not possess the knowledge or the time to play with it myself. I spend enough time dealing with my current fleet job keeping up with tractor trailer emissions, regen and DEF concerns for Detroit, Cummins and International that I do not have enough time to learn how to tune gas burners.

I have been trolling recently for performance chips for My 95 G20 and nobody seems to carry anything for what I have. I have also noticed that playing around with Pre 96 Gm processors and proms seems to be common past time for a lot of people.

Just today I found a processor with the same part number out of an astro van as a spare at a local pull a part yard.

Is there a performance chip or reprogrammed chip to be had that will do what I am looking to do with stock equipment?

Suggestions for down the road improvments to hardware to take advantage of existing software are welcome.

[donf]

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...5-7-for-Towing is my van. Gone now but got to try a lot and learned. The preburned chips are pathetic, be glad you don't have one of them. Once I got the equipment to read chips, I read a few just to see if I could learn something from them. They were almost a fraud. So little done. I like the 1995 computer. revising the shift point to delay shifting can make a good difference. Especially 4th if you have a 3.50 and lower ratio.

[Fast355]

Headers, dual 2.5" exhaust with high flow cats, a X-pipe and magnaflows, 1.6:1 full roller rockers, edelbrock intake bored to 2" with a 454 TBI unit and 454 van air cleaner/intake duct setup had my 350 TBI at 200 rwhp and 300 rwtq after chip tuning. Roughly 250 hp and 375 tq at the crank. No head or cam swap required. Drove like a stock van with alot more grunt. The best intake GM ever built for a truck was also not used on a truck. I swapped a TPI onto my G20 at one point as well. ALOT more midrange grunt for minimal investment.

My latest G20 swap has a LQ4 6.0L with ported 862 5.3 heads that were cut for 2.00" intake valves and milled .020" with a small cam, headers and trailblazer SS intake. Even with the 3.08 rear gear it runs very strong. Roughly 450 hp and 450 TQ.

[vilefly]

What size engine is in the van? The 8th digit on the vin would helpful as well. If it is a 5.7L, then Fast355 has you covered. You will need some form of scan tool to begin with.

You have room to cheat a little without a chip. Advancing base timing by turning the distributor until your IAC valve reading on the scan tool is about 3-4 counts on a warmed up engine. Advancing timing this way has a price, the idle will destabilize a bit, but not too badly. That is the "EL-CHEAPO" amateur mod. heh. Worked on my truck's v6. Runs like a v8, that was enough for me at the time.

[Fast355]

What size engine is in the van? The 8th digit on the vin would helpful as well. If it is a 5.7L, then Fast355 has you covered. You will need some form of scan tool to begin with.

You have room to cheat a little without a chip. Advancing base timing by turning the distributor until your IAC valve reading on the scan tool is about 3-4 counts on a warmed up engine. Advancing timing this way has a price, the idle will destabilize a bit, but not too badly. That is the "EL-CHEAPO" amateur mod. heh. Worked on my truck's v6. Runs like a v8, that was enough for me at the time.

I assumed it was the one in his signature that shows 5.7.

Another el cheapo mod is an adjstable fuel pressure regulator and a good quality 0-15 psi fuel pressure gauge. I raised the pressure 0.25 psi until I got the best measured track time. My mostly stock 350 ran best at 14.5 psi. Dropped nearly 1/2 second in the 1/8 mile from 11 psi to 14.5. Ran stronger everywhere. I had a TBI Firebird that was running at 9 psi. Absolute slug. Did the same and found it ran best at 13.5 psi. At 9 psi it would not even spin a tire. At 13.5 it would spin through 1st gear. 9 psi is sadly within spec. In my experience a TBI needs 13-14 psi to come even close to running right.

Another cheap mod is a power bowl and open center TBI spacer. Take the cheapest TBI spacer you can find and cut the center out of it. Then take the powerbowl, cut the bottom of the air cleaner off and eliminate the stock spacer ring that chokes the TBI off from breathing.

[Fast355]

These are not my pictures but my setup was similar as the 454 air cleaner has a powerbowl made into it from the factory. This was built out of a stainless mixing bowl.