Carborated vs Fuel injected.

[MissPontiac]

Which do you prefer and why?

Currently my 85 t-type regal is carborated. The shake, smell, and noise is currently making me sick and makes my whole body vibrate after I'm done driving it and it's different then my GTO that also vibrates people lol. Granted the muffler is right under the drivers seat waiting to be ripped out and re-done. So i'm stuck between keeping it carborated or if I end up dropping a 350 in it, switching to fuel injected.

Opinions?

 

[custom442]

Why do you want fuel injection over a carb? Is it only for the shaking/noise? What type of efi are you looking at, something like a megasquirt with efi manifold or one of the aftermarket bolt-on tbi kits?

A well tuned new or rebuilt carb isn't going to shake an engine more than fuel injection, its likely from the idle quality of the cam, engine/transmission mounts, body mounts etc (use rubber not polyurethane or solid mounts for less vibration). Welding in the mufflers after the rear axle will also help in-cab noise & vibration

I'll bet the smell is because its running too rich.

 

[87montecarlomrc]

X2 what he said, is it the gas smell or the smell from the exhaust u don't like? I'm in the same boat because I'm getting tired of the smell to but if I got it tuned right then I won't smell it at all but I'm lazy lol

 

[kornball426]

I personally like the smell of exhaust but if I had the choice I'd put EFI on my car. I'd get the Edlebrock Victor EFI manifold and throttle body system but it's too expensive for me right now but it's something I really want to do in the future. More power, better driveability, better gas mileage, plus most of these systems can run an electronic overdrive transmission too. I'd love to have EFI and overdrive.

I hear the systems by Fast EFI are some of the best... But I don't know anyone that has one.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I agree, there are other factors in play here. Your GTO runs great with a carb, so there's no reason the T-type shouldn't. Post your total motor specs for evaluation. Changing to a 350 over an alleged carb issue is kind of excessive. But if you do, there are several late model motors with factory FI that will make tons of power and run perfect if you keep the factory computer.

 

[gk666]

easy argument.... would you rather be in control of your car or let it control you... your smelling likely because your carb is either leaking or flooding, fixed are a rebuild or a rebuild.... it could also need a little lovin.... carbs are better throttle response, better sound, better looking, better everything

im a big fan of telling my car what i want it to do, not having it decide for me because no amount of technological advances are going to replace someones ability to drive unless there is a lack there of

 

[dan2286]

easy argument.... would you rather be in control of your car or let it control you... your smelling likely because your carb is either leaking or flooding, fixed are a rebuild or a rebuild.... it could also need a little lovin.... carbs are better throttle response, better sound, better looking, better everything

im a big fan of telling my car what i want it to do, not having it decide for me because no amount of technological advances are going to replace someones ability to drive unless there is a lack there of

Do you know what you are talking about??? :? :? First, you can have a lot more control with efi compared to a carb. You just can't do it with screw drivers like you can with a carb. Aftermarket EFI systems give you the ability to tune the car through a lap top or handheld programmer. Of course what you can adjust will depend on what type of system you go with.

Carbs do not have better throttle response. Sound and looks is all just a personal opinion. EFI gets better fuel economy, easier starting, no routine adjustments or rebuilds necessary, and better emissions. Newer cars that are coming out are making crazy amounts of power and can still get great gas mileage, try that with a carb.

Putting EFI on an older engine may or may not be worth it. It really depends on what you want out of the car. The main benefit is going to be less tuning and better driveability. For most people, carbs will be just fine but some people feel EFI is worth it. It's expensive and the fuel economy gains and possible power gains will probably not be worth it. It all just depends on what you want.

 

[kornball426]

easy argument.... would you rather be in control of your car or let it control you... your smelling likely because your carb is either leaking or flooding, fixed are a rebuild or a rebuild.... it could also need a little lovin.... carbs are better throttle response, better sound, better looking, better everything

im a big fan of telling my car what i want it to do, not having it decide for me because no amount of technological advances are going to replace someones ability to drive unless there is a lack there of

Do you know what you are talking about??? :? :? First, you can have a lot more control with efi compared to a carb. You just can't do it with screw drivers like you can with a carb. Aftermarket EFI systems give you the ability to tune the car through a lap top or handheld programmer. Of course what you can adjust will depend on what type of system you go with.

Carbs do not have better throttle response. Sound and looks is all just a personal opinion. EFI gets better fuel economy, easier starting, no routine adjustments or rebuilds necessary, and better emissions. Newer cars that are coming out are making crazy amounts of power and can still get great gas mileage, try that with a carb.

Putting EFI on an older engine may or may not be worth it. It really depends on what you want out of the car. The main benefit is going to be less tuning and better driveability. For most people, carbs will be just fine but some people feel EFI is worth it. It's expensive and the fuel economy gains and possible power gains will probably not be worth it. It all just depends on what you want.

In my opinion it's definitely worth it even the guys that sell EFI systems say you won't make any more power than you would with a perfectly tuned carb, but the EFI will stay tuned and adjust for air density and temperature so it will always make close to optimum performance. Not that it's really that big of a loss with a carburetor but guys who race will make jetting and tuning adjustments from day to day or run to run based on just a few degree's of temperature and crap like that. Street cars should be tuned for every season if you care about performance and mileage. You never have to really do that with EFI once it's set up it's gonna make necessary adjustments for that without you having to do that, plus elevation changes won't affect it as much. There's definitely no circumstance were a carburetor is better... Carbs can be adequate and work very well but EFI is superior. The only reason anyone still uses a carb is because its cheaper and simpler or if rules mandate it. A good carb is a couple hundred up to maybe what 750 bucks? Not counting Dominators and stuff like that. But EFI costs minimum 1500 up to several thousand dollars and that's before installation if you can't do it yourself then tuning. So it prices most people out of the EFI game... Which is why I want to do it but probably won't it's too expensive and even though I know megasquirt has been around for a long time, I don't want to risk an expensive motor with a DIY fuel injection.

Carbs do enhance the sound of a modified vehicle though (in my opinion), you don't get the same quality of idle lope from EFI it smooths it out and makes it not sound as good.

 

[crucial118]

Plus, with efi you can get a remote start. Try doing that with a carb. 😀

 

[custom442]

kornball - the type of tbi efi that comes in the kits and adjusts to stoich afr most likely won't give more power than a carb true, but to say efi on the whole can't is sort of naive which is why dan got on that real quick. Anything that can be done with a carb can be done better with efi.

There are a few exceptions, but extreme ones. some off the top of my head are its harder to preheat a high pressure fuel, its very hard to tune idle quality with huge injectors on some systems, and in extreme cold electronics have a hard time working...then again its hard to start a carbureted engine at those temps. Of course its more expensive, but I doubt anyone who really wants to convert to fuel injection cares much about the price