Hi everyone, new to the site and forums in general, looking for some advice.. I've worked with tbi conversions in the past but never tuning.
I've recently found myself with a 1990 shortbox chevy 1500 4x4 which is old and tired and gutless... I've been given a decent 1993 ish engine, which I was hoping to put vortec heads on and keep the tbi, I've done this swap before with a complete vortec engine to carb, so I know whats involved, but carbs absolutely suck...
I am not looking for huge power gains, something that gets near a 98 chevy would be adequate, but I'm planning on this being a one off change (but you never know), So my question is how cheaply can I burn a chip for this, I know I need a chip burner, but is there an existing file for this set up I can just burn to a chip , do I really need tuner pro software etc.
Basically if this runs into hundreds of dollars I would prefer to put that money towards a sniper efi or similar, as despite best intensions I seem to find myself with chevy smallblocks a lot.
My plan here is a stock 350 engine, vortec heads, dual plane intake with tbi adapter plate, headers, dual exhaust, vortec fuel pump with some regulator fiddling.
transmission is 700r4. How cheaply can I make it work?
Given that the goal here is just to make this thing decently driveable, am I better off rebuilding the original engine and tuning that rather than spending money on intake manifolds for vortec heads?
Thanks in advance guys