small block chevy vortec heads and intake

[jacob54904]

i have made some threads about building a small block cheby in the past and i finally decided what i want to do. i want to put a cam, vortec heads and intake on my motor. but i need to know it my stock tbi will fit on the vortec intake or should i leave my stock intake on there and shave it to fit the vortec heads? i am not going to carb my truck or replace the throttle body due to money and i rather keep it any way. is there any one with expierience in this area that could tell me if my tbi will bolt up along with everything else.

[jacob54904]

all the head combos i look at require a carbarator. can i still use my tbi on it and ignore the carb or do i have to switch to carb if i am going to do an intake?

[jveik]

well, i believe that edelbrock probably makes tbi manifolds for vortec bolt pattern heads.

as for shaving a manifold, i dont think how it sits is any different, just the bolt pattern, though i may be wrong.

one thing to do is email manifold manufacturers and just ask them if they make intakes for what you need.

[fuzzypuppy]

Hello Jacob, I have a 91 gmc w/a 5.7, I have researched the same thing your considering for myself.
I have talked to both Edelbrock and Holly techs, as well as going through old articles from hotrod mags concerning adapting manifolds for use on vortec heads before the newer vortec manifolds were so available.
The basics are this, with alot of work the stock TBI manifold can be made to work but it's just not worth it, aside from bolt hole and alignment issues there will be a gap at the front and rear under the manifold into the lifter valley to be dealt with, to top that off there is a large difference in runner dimentions so that even though you have this great flowing set of heads your not going to be feeding them properly.
Both Edelbrock and Holly make an adaptor to go from vortec carb manifold to TBI "though I like the Holly adaptor better".
Install the vortec carb manifold of your like'ing install the adaptor then the TBI, "though I think you need to specifie a spreadbore manifold because thats what the adaptors fit" (I would double check this when ordering your adaptor) and your good to go.
GM sells a rather expensive " In my opinion" manifold exactly for this setup as well, "vortec to TBI" they run almost $ 400.00. ouch!
Where as the adaptor setup will run a little more than half that amount.
I have the heads for mine but have had to shelve the rest for awhile.
A couple of thing's you might consider that I have found in my research are, cam and headers if you haven't considered this already.
I went with the Edelbrock 2102 cam kit as opposed to others I was considering from producers like comp cams because though the spec's were exactly the same Edelbrocks prices were cheaper and will become a tuned set with the manifold I will be getting in the future, the cam kit itself was right at $100.00.
There are more modifications and tricks I have found in my research but this is a long post as it is
hope this helps, if not shoot me a message and I'll do what I can.
good luck with your truck.