People dropping FI setups like hot potatoes

What would you choose if you had the money

  • Fi setup

    Votes: 29 35.4%
  • Carburetor

    Votes: 47 57.3%
  • Who cares, i ride donkeys

    Votes: 4 4.9%
  • I like polls

    Votes: 2 2.4%

  • Total voters
    82
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I just installed a Holley Sniper on my buddies 1980 Z-28 & it runs better than it ever did with a carburetor. It's all in the installation.
 
I had my F.I. on for 2 years before the ECU in it quit. Car ran good, 472 Hemi with 2 throttle bodies. I got stuck at a gas station and had to have car flat bedded home. It wouldn't start when hot. Started ok cold. I would recommend carrying a carb for when the FI quits on you. The ECU was replaced under warranty, but I no longer have confidence in it.
 
I've run a Howell tbi set up on my Jeep for over 20 years. Only failure was a fuel pump. If I were to do EFI on my barracuda it would be one their kits. All gm and parts readily available anywhere.
 
EFI must be like the good looking girlfriend that is fantastic when she is faithful but a real pain in the *** when she cheats on you.
 
EFI must be like the good looking girlfriend that is fantastic when she is faithful but a real pain in the *** when she cheats on you.

LOLOL that is FUNNY

And so, what? The carb is the ugly drunk gal at the bar, but "she's always there?" LOL

But I've had my share of carb problelms, too. Original 440-6 carbs were a PITA because metering plates. I've had my share of leaking Holleys. I hated the 70's--80's smog carbs, and have never figured out some of the Jap stuff. I had two DP Holley spread bores on my 340 and over time both had same problem. The secondaries got sticky and would stick a bit open and act like a REAL fast idle cam. Really disturbing. I used to rebuild Holleys "moonlight" in the Navy. Have had at least 4 the power valves were bad out of the box, and ended up sticking the old one back in, ran fine.
 
I have no experience with it and at one time thought it would be a great upgrade for my Dart. I'm aware that many use it and swear by it. I've since changed my mind due to a combination of things, and will stick with my carb. The nail in the coffin for me was a buddy who took his Camaro on Drag week 2019. He had an issue on the road, the car died and would not run at all. Thankfully he was at the track and not stuck on the road! He had to have a control box overnighted to him for a total of $900.00. The car was as reliable as an anvil otherwise. I'm pretty sure if my carb acts up I can probably pull a couple small inexpensive parts from my tool box and get where I need to be. Who's gonna carry a spare control box? My opinion. Not intended to fire up the happy EFI users!
MOPAR / CHRYSLER Legacy Complete TBI Kit – Affordable Fuel Injection
 
Sounds cool. Over 1K for the slant six kit when all the needed options are added. I like carburetors.
i get 695 bucks for stock /6 with a straight gear...idk where you gettin over a grand! you must be looking at the optimum series not the legacy, optimum is port injection the legacy is the TBI!
 
Glad you have a pile of them. Not everybody does. That's not the only option. Lots of others to make it turn key.

I still like carburetors.
lots of options,..can lock out the advance on regular dizzy, pay them to,.. buy theirs and probably few other aftermarket options to! i like this system cause its put out buy the engineers that designed the GM TBI's to start with and use OME parts that can be bought at any parts store and your hand held OBD code scanner can do diagnostics on it! i run carbs my self, only injection in my drive way is a BC3 cummins in a peterbilt, but it dam sure dont got no computer controls ether!!
 
The Fitech, Sniper/Atomic and FAST efi are what I call a 'bridge EFI' conversion. you still got a wet manifold and all the carb related issues: cold intake, hot intake, cylinder biasing, etc. If your going to spend a K on an EFI, Look into MP injection: Edel Pro-flow 2 or higher ,Holley HP series, Accel DFI thruster...something that gets you multiport EFI. And follow the install directions to a T.
 
I have a Fitech on My Mustang, does pretty well. One of the problems I have seen is it's not as plug and play as their made out to be, that's been a put off for a lot of people, trying to adjust multiple AFRs vs a couple of air mixture screws is totally different, just like the Holley vs Edlebrock debate, there will be a carb vs EFI debate, one thing for sure is with failure there is more to chase with electronics
 
every body want put turbos on now! computer tunability with efi is where its at now days! even the no2 guys got computers to manage there mills too! n/a guys ant got much to gain from it all other than easy cold starts...
 
I have yet to make my choice as which I'm going with, but have been leaning towards EFI. It's been a while since I have worked on a carb, so I have a learning curve either way. To me, who you buy it from is sometimes as important as what you buy. Places like Howell and Affordable EFI build their own systems, and have techs that know how it is suppose to work. Even if I go with a Holley, EFI System Pro has their own techs, and two years of free support if you buy the system from them. The same thing could be said for a carb. There are still places that will build a custom unit to your needs.
 
Matt loves EFI. He's done a lot of LS builds with EFI. I just got done with one on the 51 Chevy truck on the 95 S10 chassis I built. I must admit, it runs pretty darn good out of the box with no tune yet. It will be about the best I've seen or read about.

I've not seen anyone on here or any other site talking about how good their EFI conversion runs. Every EFI conversion I've seen or read about seems to have "some" issues.
Rusty I run the Holley Sniper TBI , has been great with excellent throttle response ,idle , no vapour lock on 35 degree days Cannot fault it at this stage. Have had it on this new engine 408 since feb last year, have put around 6000km . I think as been stated is taking your time to read the instructions and limiting the EFI issues and routing the loom away to avoid the rfi . Yes there’s been issues due to faulty parts but the amount of these systems sold out there out weighs the bad from good. And my fuel consumption has improved not heaps but better than I expected on a long run providing you don’t get your right foot into it.
 
This has been an interesting read. I run a dual 4 throttle body Fitech setup on top of a 6-71 GM blower. That is a lot more complicated than your typical setup. The install was done by me after a lot of reading. Especially reading the posts from guys that had problems with their units. I am happy to say that I have had zero problems with mine and it is a much more pleasurable experience to drive my Demon now compared to when it had carbs. It even starts and idles real nice when it is -15 outside. hehe
I see guys arguing that when their carb goes bad out on the road they can fix it themselves and be on their way. I am glad for you that you can do this. I can as well. But the vast majority of drivers out there whether they are driving our old cars, or new ones have no idea how to work on carbs or efi so they are done for either way. And there are lots of problems with the manufacture of carbs and EFI kits so that is a wash in my eyes.
Is EFI for everyone, no, for sure. But it is a real nice upgrade if you can afford it and it is installed correctly.

Jack
 
I agree with quite a few assessments here. I have a ProFlo3 and ProFlo4 and also helped install and tune a ProFlo3 on a friend’s Maverick. All run good and replaced carbs that worked good. What I like is the ability to start cold and not have to play with the throttle for 5 minutes for it to sit and idle.
I think one of the big reasons many have problems besides what was stated prior is the lack of knowledge and lack of instructions for fine tuning. Nothing to date is going to be installed and run perfectly without some tweeking unless it was designed and tuned for the specific engine that it’s running.
 
I can see this one both ways.

On the one hand, if delivering a consistent AFR is your goal, FI IS BETTER. There are some complexities that introduce failure points. Wiring problems. radio interference, heat, etc. These are problems that are solvable by engineering. When they are working right, EFI saves a ton of gas, saves wear on the engine, makes way less pollution, and can make just as much power as a perfectly tuned carb.

On the other hand, if we were strictly looking for the most efficient, easiest way to get around, or the easiest way to accelerate rapidly, we would all be in Teslas. *wretch*

The fact is that "better" isn't always better. For a transportation appliance that is easy on the wallet and easy on the environment...sure, I'd consider an electric. As a car that I will actually love and want in my life forever, no way.

IMO, the soul of a hotrod comes from all of the mechanical stuff that works together, needs care and feeding, has some slop sometimes, makes a lot of noise and waste heat. I don't want it to be sterile and perfect. I don't want it to just run the same all the time.

I have been tossing around the idea of EFI for a few years now...every time I get close to pulling the trigger, I find something else that demands that ~$1000 and I put it off another year. I guess I'm happy with the carburetor despite and because of the shortcomings.
 
Hot start/ fuel evaporation issues would be great to get rid of with injection. A electric pump wired with a momentary switch could take care of that issue though.
 
The Fitech, Sniper/Atomic and FAST efi are what I call a 'bridge EFI' conversion. you still got a wet manifold and all the carb related issues: cold intake, hot intake, cylinder biasing, etc. If your going to spend a K on an EFI, Look into MP injection: Edel Pro-flow 2 or higher ,Holley HP series, Accel DFI thruster...something that gets you multiport EFI. And follow the install directions to a T.

You are over-reaching on the similarites somewhat. There are few problems with a wet EFI manifold. You don't have the same fuel pooling problems with EFI as you do carb, and I've had ZERO of the cold start symptoms with TBI as I had with a carb. The engine is not balky and rough running in cold wx. When I had the Dart running, HP with a TBI TB, I ran that on some sunny winter days down into the TWENTIES

There is zero chance, with new products and new prices, that you will come up with a MP system for near the same low price as a Holley Sniper or FItech. I'm not defending these systems, just saying "this is so." I did, however, buy a "like new" Holley Hp computer --just the computer--for 600. The guy had it for a spare, had run it briefly, and told me he'd guarantee it.
 
EFI must be like the good looking girlfriend that is fantastic when she is faithful but a real pain in the *** when she cheats on you.
...if no one else wanted your woman you wouldn't want her either
 
The Fitech I have on my '79 Trans Am has been flawless. There should be an IQ test before people can buy one of these kits. I think 90% of the problems people have with them are sloppy installs and really stupid post-install tinkering.


Should be an IQ test before you are allowed to open a carb.
 
I like carbs too.
I don't have any problems with them. My Barracuda runs 750DP that was already old when I got it in about 78.
She has also seen a 750Vsec, a 600, and a TQ. I like the 750DP cuz it plays nice with the manual trans. When modulating the throttle in mid-turn whilst sliding; the power is linear.
All those carbs are ancient and none gave me problems.
But my secret weapon is the dash-mounted, dial-back, electronic timing control, and modest initial timing, with a glorious 22/24 degrees in the Vcan.
The only carb that ever gave me a hard time was a Holley 2bbl in an late70s/early80s 360 van (2210?) . From the factory, that thing was a POS, and the older the van got, the worse the carb ran. I finally figured it out but that was a tough nut to crack. Had it been for a customer, I wouldda dropped an anvil on it.
IMO a lotta problems that are blamed on the carb, are not totally carb problems.
my 750 does everything I ask it to, including idle at 550 in gear and chuging along at 4mph on flat level hard ground with a 230/237/110 cam.
A very long time ago, EFI was on the wish list; like 20 years ago. Now I would be just real happy
to turn back the clock once or twice a week...
 
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