so what i am gathering from everyone is to setup a standalone or convert it to either a newer style intake/ecu or carburated? I wanted more low end power, but nothin too crazy. i ended up buying a second motor out of forstoria ohio today for $250. now i have two tbi 318's. how would i go about converting it to a mpi/mfi? just swap out the intake and get a new ecu, wire it all up, and replace the fuel system? in the long run i want to make it quicker, like hella fast, when i get a better job of course

 

The mpfi magnum motor is almost completely different. Your best bet is to buy a whole magnum motor, or build one of the two TBI motors into a carburated motor with a more traditional ignition system.

 

my advise is just stick the old cam bad in and put the truck back together. none of the thing your are talking about are cheap. the only cheap option it stick the cam back in it. to go multi port it would require you to get a magnum engine or LA intake that you would have to get customized so that injectors could be installed but then you would still require a special stand alone fuel injection system to control it all. you are not going to make a fast truck on your type of budget. SPEED COSTS MONEY; how fast do you want to go?

 

Yeah, in actual fact, the TBI trucks don't respond well to major changes.

Your cheapest option would be to throw away the TBI system and swap a carb on it.

 

swapping to carb is not that cheap. you are looking at about $300 in electrical parts to make the engine run plus what it would cost for new intake and carb.

 

As my dad used to tell me "Son you have champagne taste and a generic beer budget".

If I was looking for cheap performance gains I would start with an older truck that already has a carbed engine. That will give you a base that is more cheaply upgraded to more power than an injected/computerized platform. A cam, new intake, and headers/less restrictive exhaust is a great cheap start.

I know this will not be appreciated here but a Mopar has never been the best platform for cheap power although they are more durable.

 

I have had my share of hotrods but I always find it hard to understand why anyone wants to make a heavy work/utility vehicle perform like a race car. Why not start with a light car with a V8 and then cut as much weight as possible and make it less restrictive on air intake and exhaust. Cheap recipe for a speed demon.

I started my truck with the premise of dependability and a daily driver. It has lived up to that with the TBI and basically stock motor. I say basically since I removed the air injection system and put an open element air filter on. I also made the exhaust less restrictive. I have taken trips in it and driven to events with no issues and that means the world to me. Gotta ask yourself what you want to do with your truck. But remember it is a truck. I think if you try to mix match systems that you will encounter a lot of down time and fabrication which means money and no ride IMHO.

 

i guess i'll put the new motor in it, sell the original one, and go from there. I once had a good job and a bmw that was eating cobras, but then i moved to lima for school and was forced into selling it...put $10k in it in a year and sold it for $3500 about a month or two ago... :'(

 

Wow.... so basically the tbi engine in the trucks between my 85 and 93 are unmodifiable boat anchors, due to the tbi and the computer that controls it....


Sixgun I think sometimes it just depends what ya want more power to do, I am seriously debating putting a cam in my 360 just to give it a little more bottom end power to help when I have my camper on it and it wouldn't affect the everyday reliability of my truck at all. By the same token some of the fastest ride's I've ever been in are bigger cars or trucks, and some guys like fast trucks.

Nature dude Don't let all these guys get ya down everything ya need to make your engine carburated is sitting on an older dodge truck in a wrecking yard near you
pull the carb the intake the whole ignition system and whatever cables and wires go with it all, find the right wrecking yard and it'll all b cheap

 

trucks were only TBI from 88-92 and then in 92 they started using the multi port fuel injected magnum engines. can't really do anything to the computers in the trucks made between 88-95.

heck you can get anything cheap if you look hard enough. i found a complete running and driving dodge ram van to pull engine, trans and under the hood wiring harness out of for $300. the thing was in pretty good shape other than the leaf springs trying to push there way through the floor.