Any 383 kits available for our trucks?

[PlayingWithTBI]

Will they work with TBI or will I have to buy different heads.

i don't see why not. Are the AFR heads drilled for TBI (probably not)? You'll have to go with a 4 BBL manifold and adapter to make it work.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Stock TBI manifold can be slotted and tapered shim spacer installed so that the bolt flange seats correctly. Have done that on a couple of TBI systems over the years including the first one I setup in my 1983 G20 van using the stock 305 with the older bolt pattern 53cc 601 heads on it.

 

[Road Trip]

I noticed while I was running it the Proflow4 has very touchy response to the point it will be difficult not to smoke the vans right rear tire off a traffic light. The radius it is currently on wants to yank those 500 cfm worth of front primary barrels open quickly with a light amount of pressure on the accelerator.

L31MaxExpress,

If you can't have perfection, the next best thing would be an almost too-touchy response
to the acceleration pedal. (As opposed to a lethargic/laggy throttle response.)

Even so, a really touchy gas pedal is not a big deal driving driving solo...but the
resulting head toss can take some of the fun out of road trip for the passenger(s).
You actually find yourself tensed up, focused on trying to feather the gas as opposed
to just relaxing & enjoying the top down motoring. :-(

Thinking about this a little more, in the land of carburetion I think that because of the
combo of the tiny primaries & giant secondaries, driving a Quadrajet on a torquey big block
was both carefree & luxurious. (The primary throttles were so small that it was almost like
having a 2-speed throttle linkage. Haven't driven a Q-Jet in years, but still remember how *right*
it felt.)

Later on, when I read about the superb throttle response afforded by the tiny primary/large secondary
throttle body setup on the late '80s 32-valve Corvette ZR-1, it seems to reaffirm my thoughts on all this.

****

Given all of the above, I've often thought about upgrading the throttle linkage to a cable that would be
pulling on a variable radius cam, bigger/slower when the throttle is closed, and smaller/faster the closer
you get to WOT. (Got this idea one day while working out on an actual Nautilus machine and admiring how
the weight came on from zero to max so much more smoothly than the standard weight machines?)

Once the engine is tuned to perfection, I think that this would be a fun experiement. Why not go
for the gold and do a full-on shell-shaped Fibonacci sequence from idle to WOT: (Fibonacci series)

I would bet that this would work. Maybe with some fine-tuning you get a really good match
in the man/machine interface, make a good thing just that much better? And in my humble
opinion, this would be way cooler than the newer throttle-by-wire setups where the computer
decides how far/how fast the throttles are opened instead of your right foot?

Sometimes implementing the ideal throttle linkage using old-school cam shapes made of metal
is still superior to having some computer sifting through tables of hexadecimal in order to cook
up a decent response.

The bottom line? I prefer my torque served up with immediacy. Just not so touchy that it sets
me up for PIO. (Pilot Induced Oscillation.)

I'm so glad we're not neighbors. I haven't had any points on my license for a good long while...
but I think this would change if I was trying to keep up with that beast of a van you have managed
to concoct. What can I say -- old habits die hard.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

L31MaxExpress,

If you can't have perfection, the next best thing would be an almost too-touchy response
to the acceleration pedal. (As opposed to a lethargic/laggy throttle response.)

Even so, a really touchy gas pedal is not a big deal driving driving solo...but the
resulting head toss can take some of the fun out of road trip for the passenger(s).
You actually find yourself focused on trying to feather the gas as opposed to enjoying
the top down motoring. :-(

Thinking about this a little more, in the land of carburetion I think that because of the
combo of the tiny primaries & giant secondaries, driving a Quadrajet on a torquey big block
was both carefree & luxurious. (The primary throttles were so small that it was almost like
having a 2-speed throttle linkage. Haven't driven a Q-Jet in years, but still remember how *right*
it felt.)

Later on, when I read about the superb throttle response afforded by the tiny primary/large secondary
throttle body setup on the late '80s 32-valve Corvette ZR-1, it seems to reaffirm my thoughts on all this.

****

Given all of the above, I've often thought about upgrading the throttle linkage to a cable that would be
pulling on a variable radius cam, bigger/slower when the throttle is closed, and smaller/faster the closer
you get to WOT. (Got this idea one day while working out on an actual Nautilus machine and admiring how
the weight came on from zero to max so much more smoothly than the standard weight machines?)

Once the engine is tuned to perfection, I think that this would be a fun experiement. Why not go
for the gold and do a full-on shell-shaped Fibonacci sequence from idle to WOT: (Fibonacci series)

I would bet that this would work. Maybe with some fine-tuning you get a really good match
in the man/machine interface, make a good thing just that much better? And in my humble
opinion, this would be way cooler than the newer throttle-by-wire setups where the computer
decides how far/how fast the throttles are opened?

Sometimes implementing the ideal throttle linkage using old-school cam shapes made of metal
is still superior to having some computer sifting through tables of hexadecimal in order to cook
up a decent response.

The bottom line? I prefer my torque served up with immediacy. Just not so touchy that it sets
me up for PIO. (Pilot Induced Oscillation.)

I'm so glad we're not neighbors. I haven't had any points on my license for a good long while...
but I think this would change if I was trying to keep up with that beast of a van you have managed
to concoct. What can I say -- old habits die hard.

Lol, I know what you mean on the Q-Jet linkages. Owned and driven more than a few of them. By far the worst OEM GM linkage as far as aggressive throttle opening has to be the early TPI systems that still used the carburetor style linkage. Around 90-91 GM went to a throttle eccentric cam and really tamed the feel. My 83 G20 had that early 85 style throttle linkage on it. Felt like I was driving a big block off-idle, then the 100% stock TPI system was crushing dissapointment as it reved out.

The bad part is, I feel like the weight difference betweem this 87 and my 97 will make this van a rocket compared to the 97. 97 is no slouch, but I think 87 would have no problem leaving the 97 in its dust. Something like 2,000 lbs less weight to get rolling.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

This was how the 87s linkage is currently set up. The cruise itself can yank the throttle open close to 60%.

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[Road Trip]

The bad part is, I feel like the weight difference betweem this 87 and my 97 will make this van a rocket compared to the 97. 97 is no slouch, but I think 87 would have no problem leaving the 97 in its dust. Something like 2,000 lbs less weight to get rolling.

*Yes*. Less weight = mo' betta! A ton less weight should make '87 feel more like Farm Truck** kinda good:

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Looking forward to some overachieving videos once you get that van back together. Good stuff!



**Farm Truck is my RCLB hero. Old chore truck stealth -- daring your opponent to judge your book by it's cover. :0)

 

[Chefman43223]

This was how the 87s linkage is currently set up. The cruise itself can yank the throttle open close to 60%.

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Snappy response for sure the way this is set up.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Definitely the case. I might have snapped it into the secondary butterflies on the last little snap. Sure sounded like it. It still has some learning to do and I have not touched the accelerator pump shot settings yet. I did add about 5% crank fuel after the 1st start. 2nd start it fired on the first crank.

To get it up and running that is actually a used L31 plug wire for a coil wire. The MSD coil that Edelbrock recomeends has an old Delco points style end and the distributor has HEI style terminals. Should have searched through the other compatible options for one that possibly had a HEI style terminal. I have a MSD coil wire end and boot to install on the Accel coil wire, but it is lost somewhere in the shop at the moment.

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