I was looking at a site about converting TBI -> TPI. The shopping list was insane. ECM, Harness, MAF, etc etc. I don't think I have the time or money to do this swap. So that got me thinking of just going carb for a year or two. Then, when I have a beater car, do the FI swap. My reason for not staying with TBI is I've read it won't do too well with even a 350. Is that true? Ok, now my questions for all you carb guys:

-Will I be able to pass emissions?
-Have you ever been stranded?
-How is cold starting?
-Long Road Trips (200-600 miles) a bad idea?
-Idling in traffic
-If anyone went TBI -> Carb how much MPG did you lose?
-What kind of gas mileage do you get?
-Year round reliability

Remember, this is my daily driver. The only car I've got. Overall, would this be a wise decision?

Thanks!

-Rippin

NOTE: It'd be on a mild 350

 

Ive been stranded numerous times with my car TPI, and never with it carbed ALthough I drove it alot more back then

But anyway, they can be reliable if you get a good carb and have it tuned right. Same with emmisions. If you get like an 800 DP your not gonna pass emissions. but you should be fine with a Holley Street Avenger. And I hear those carbs are a pleasure to work with s far as tuning.

As far as long road trips, think about the Hot Rod power tour. Alot of people went the whole way and almost all of their car were carbed. Gas milage may suffer depending on carb, Ive even seen it improve with a good carb, and proper tuning. If you get one with electric shoke it shouldnt give you a problem cold starting.

 

exactly what darth said

i had a holley 4160 on my car and learned how to tune it myself. You should learn at least something about tuning a carb if you're gonna have one. Things like adjusting the float levels and setting the idle mixture..... cause when the weather changes its usually a good idea to readjust if the car feels sluggish or anything like that

Holleys are cake to tune and I have also heard good things about the street avengers

 

So Holly Street Avenger + Proper Tuning = Happy motoring? Sounds good, how hard are these things to tune? I know very little about tuning carbs.

-Rippin

 

cold starting has been ok so far
idling in traffic is fine
I took the car for a 300 mile round trip all within a day, no problems
carb is way better for a racing set up, I would think TPI would be a better daily driver though. hope some of this helped somehow. Good luck Rippin

 

That is the part I hate about carbs. It is great for drag racing because it is easier to adjust than to reburn an EPROM. However, drag racers will tune the carb for that run based on environmental factors and may change it for the next or whatever. EFI has a lookup table and does not need recalibration like that everythime the temp drops or rises. Since I drive my car year round, I have no real desire to retune my carb every now and then even if I learnt and was practiced at it.

 

yeah it does suck to have to do that stuff, but in a way it was good because i would have to be under the hood and so I could give everything a visual to make sure nothing was leaking or anything
just giving it a "check up"

 

-Will I be able to pass emissions?
-Have you ever been stranded?
-How is cold starting?
-Long Road Trips (200-600 miles) a bad idea?
-Idling in traffic
-If anyone went TBI -> Carb how much MPG did you lose?
-What kind of gas mileage do you get?
-Year round reliability

I always thought that non computer controlled carbs werent emissions legal on an emissions car.

Been stranded more times by my old LT1 than my LG4

My car always fires right up no problems.

Ive driven 250 miles in my car with no problems.

When i have it tuned right it idles fine.

Milage, I think my lockup converter is fubar so highway isnt too good, I actually get decent city milage though.

Its been a good car in the heat and in the cold.

 

Stranded by TPI: 3 times
Stranded by Carb: NEVER
Mileage: 16.5 with carb (with 2 1/4 mile passes on 150 shot of nitrous and 3 more all motor and a lot of toying around on the street) So maybe 20+ is possible?

TPI mileage: Not a noticible amount better.
Cold Starting: Carb(elec choke) AWESOME. Same for TPI.
Reliability: Like I said, my carb was flawless for 1 year, then I had a float get stuck once and it ran rich enough to bog the engine but I still made it home, cleaned it and got another year out of it flawlessly, no hiccups, backfired, etc..'
Driveability: throttle responce with the carb was much better

Get your lockup to work with a manual switch at least. It can be done using the stock wiring and a switch. It's helping me a LOT around town and a little on the highway.(highway sees 300RPM drop when it's locked and believe me...2700RPM at 80 MPH is a LOT better than 3000RPM. Why? Because my 2 chamber flowmaster DRONES right at 3000...hehe Around with, my 4200 Stall converter can drive me around without ever passing 2000RPM when it's locked up Sounds like a manual trans car when it shifts also which is wierd.

OH YEAH! Locling the switch in 3rd gear at the track on a 150 shot of juice showed a gain of 6.5MPH Goes to show you that the converter flashes WAY past the engines torque peak.

 

I have never got stranded because of a carb or a TPI. It is usually something else. Either way, they are about a horse apiece.

 

hey do you think you could tell me exactly how ya did that? it just sucks that I have to go 65 to get decent milage and to keep the RPMS down on the highway :/