you don't even need a laptop for the self learning TBI setups. they usually come with a little screen that comes with it that you put in the car. you just enter the specs of the cam and a bit more basic info about the engine and it should fire just fire up and it will do the rest of the tuning as you drive it. really simple. i have seen people with them at car shows on big blocks and they have said they really like them. stock magnum heads are pretty prone to cracking

 

The factory magnum heads sucked. Deck casting was much to thin, so they are VERY prone to cracking around the valve seats as well. There are, however, better castings available, with thicker decks. You can find a pair for as little as 600 bucks, complete.

 

Prolly better off going with a set of aftermarket heads then. I'll be lucky to find a good Magnum 360 workout cracked heads.

 

Throttle body injection is just a fancy carb. I was watching one of those automotive shows on during the weekends and they had built motor on the dyno. It had one of the aftermarket FI systems on it during the first few dyno runs. They then put on a carb and with a little tuning it blew away the aftermarket FI system. Cost of aftermarket FI is around a grand vs a carb about $300.

 

it would take more than a few dyno runs to get the self learning system dialed in. they also don't work well with dual plane intakes so it would really be hard to say if the dyno runs were a fair comparison or not. engine masters did a carb vs efi episode a while ago and the TBI setup beat the carb. it didn't beat it by a lot but it was a tiny bit. plus unless you live where it is warm all year round the TBI setup would make the vehicle more driveable. i know i hate waiting the 5 minutes on a cold day before i can drive my truck safely. i have also talked to people at car shows running aftermarket TBI setups on big blocks and they say it is the best upgrade they have done.

 

I love engine masters, you are the header bash episode?? They actually made more power with bashed headers lol. The engine really didn't care the headers were completely bashed, still made the same power, or more lol. Yeah that efi system is expensive. The ones I found were atleast 1,000cfm. Isn't that to much for 360? Even a 408 stroker?? Most 4 barrel carbs are 650, 700. I was looking at the two barrel tbi, they are around 600, 650. I would imagine the self learning tbi would be like clearing codes on the obdII system, you have to run it for so many miles, or warm up cycles before the computer does it's thing. I used to live in commy NY state, car won't pass inspection if you cel is on, after clearing codes you had to drive it atleast 60 miles or more before hooking it up to the computer to pass inspection. If it fails, no sticker, no sticker no car, you can't even renew your registration without a current inspection done, they scan the stickers, and your registration so they are linked to your car. Straight to the DMV.

 

ya i have watched them since the beginning. i originally started watching them because of roadkill. fitech got a bit less expensive setup that is good for up to 600hp which i believe would be should good enough for a 408. i don't know about NY but i don't see why a 91 wouldn't pass with an aftermarket TBI setup on it. usually anything 97 and older get the tail pipe emission test as long as it is running clean. most of the time the dummy lights on these things never come on or stay on unless there is a serious issue

 

I don't live in NY anymore. Moved to South Carolina. No inspections here. If it has an obdII port in NY, it gets hooked up to the computer, no way around it. It reads the computers info, vin number, any stored codes, all that stuff. Pre 96 it just got a safety and emission inspection. No sniffer atleast where I lived anyway. Maybe down by the city they do that, but not upstate. I grew up in farm country, small town. About 5 hours away from the city. Watkins Glen, finger lakes region. I'll do some more research. Anybody ever do a 5.7 swap?? Seems like allot more work. Virtually have to change out the entire drivetrain. Not sure what this stock open diff will hold up to. No big loss if I tear it up lol. Looking to upgrade that to, with a posi lock, and rear disc brakes, that's way in the future though.

 

those aftermarket kits are not obd2. they are self learning so there is no need for it to talk with anything else in the vehicle. i am pretty sure you can hook up a usb cable to get the data logs off them but that is usually totally different. around here they still to tale pipe sniffer on any obd1 vehicles but the specs are so loose that it is hard to fail. a 5.7 swap is possible but not usually cheap unless you are very good with wiring and able to make the new truck harness work in the old truck. you can buy hotwire harness's for about $1200 which simplify a 5.7 swap but it is $1200. you can also choose whether to go with a newer style transmission or not. i am pretty sure they make adapters so you can bolt a 5.7 to a older small block transmission. it is a lot more common of a swap now that they have been around for a while. the stock diffs are not that bad. if you look under most of the new rams you usually see the same old 9.25 axle. i doubt they really changed anything other than maybe adding disk brakes to some of them.

 

Think I'll keep to the Magnum swap, 360. Direct bolt in pretty much. Cam, headers, trans. Motor mounts, be nice to go to a serpentine belt. AC eliminator bracket and pulley. No air on this rig, well not anymore anyways. I'll go with electric fan. May have to wait till tax time, get a little extra cash go with the self learning tbi system. And it'll help if I sell off parts I don't need as I go. Heads and tbi setup are gonna be the big spenders. Do the edelbrock aluminum heads come with bigger than stock valves?? I want it to breath. Was my whole reason for rebuilding my 318, was 360 valves and reusing what I had. But now that I need an engine, might as well go with a 360, and a Magnum swap. Guess it won't be a Magnum without the Magnum heads lol. Time to crunch some numbers and get a rough estimate on parts.