Noob with a 1989 Chevrolet R3500 454 with performance upgrades

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CluckDynasty

Junior Member
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Jun 8, 2021
Posts
6
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31
Location
Texas
First Name
Ryan
Truck Year
1989
Truck Model
r3500
Engine Size
454
Beautiful truck , great shape , keep it stock keep it reliable.


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That's the plan! I have a buddy of mine that owns a boat shop coming out to go over the engine and teach me a few things. Hopefully that will happen in the next few days so I can hear it running!
 

CluckDynasty

Junior Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2021
Posts
6
Reaction score
31
Location
Texas
First Name
Ryan
Truck Year
1989
Truck Model
r3500
Engine Size
454
Beautiful truck , great shape , keep it stock keep it reliable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

By the way, fantastic job on your dually! I have much respect for your abilities! Can not wait to see more on the green machine!
 

Bextreme04

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May 13, 2019
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Location
Oregon
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
K25
Engine Size
350-4bbl
Welcome and nice looking truck!

Sure would be nice to know cam specs, what pistons did he use, were the heads ported, did he up the pressure on the tbi, has the throttle body been modified, is the fuel pump stock or modified, has it been rechipped???????

It didn't perform in what way? No power, idle issues, starting issues, backfire,.........need some clues man

My hopes would be that he built a badass bottom end, crank, rods, piston, cam, blueprited, balanced, etc. If that was the case I'd simply shitcan the heads and tbi system and swap it to a carb setup with an 850 holley carb, vortec heads, jet it appropriately, throw in an HEI distributor, and probably get the extra 150 ponies that he didn't get with his **** tbi heads and throttle body.

It's been sitting for 5 years so at a minimum I'd drop the fuel tank, clean it out, put in a new fuel pump! Sure you may have got the truck to start however without addressing those issues your results are going to be mediocre at best!

If possible to give a lot more information on this it will help tremendously with the community trying to offer advice.

Final option would be to just sell it to someone on square body forum since its going to be a nightmare getting the issues sorted without detailed info

So you think he should just rip the whole top end off the motor and swap it with inferior parts without knowing the specs of the motor currently or even having it running right yet? L29 Vortec heads have a significantly smaller combustion chamber and just slapping them on without knowing what was done to motor mechanically is a good way to have major issues. Also, he would lose the heat crossover, and make cold weather starting and driving terrible with those heads combined with a carb that is WAY too big for that setup. The peanut ports aren't great power makers, but they are damn good at making low end torque and should be fine for a daily driver and occasional towing.

My guess would be that the original owner might not have done all the initial adjustments to the TBI once everything was rebuilt and changed out. You should look into getting an ALDL reader and do the idle set procedure at a minimum.
 

RecklessWOT

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Location
New Hampshire
First Name
Kevin
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
V10 Suburban Silverado
Engine Size
350 TBI
Welcome from the land of rust!

That's a lot of truck. Good looking rig, welcome to the forum
 

bucket

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Location
Usually not in Ohio
First Name
Andy
Truck Year
'77, '78, '79, '84, '88
Truck Model
K5 thru K30
Engine Size
350-454
Great looking rig!

From the pictures, there's a least a set of headers, an Edelbrock intake and also an injector pod spacer.
 

louu

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Joined
Sep 19, 2020
Posts
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308
Location
South NJ
First Name
Lou
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
C3500
Engine Size
454 for now working on LS
Awesome truck! Welcome
 

Elton Youngblood

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2021
Posts
9
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7
Location
Mo
First Name
Elton
Truck Year
1978
Truck Model
C20
Engine Size
350
Nice truck. I’ll be following along as im doing a 454 build for my truck as well
 

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