efi or carb

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rbkt65

rbkt65

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i have 11 days before retiring and have 4 magnum swaps that i want to work on. 2 are trucks and 2 a bodies. i will probably be keeping 1 truck and 1 car (car for grand daughter if she helps like she states haha). i have complete engines and several o/d trans. don't really want to redo tunnel in cars at this time. but back to orig post. what are the pitfalls of either? all comments appreciated. intake cost for carb swap, i searched "search tempest" 750 miles from home and only found 1 carb intake for magnum. i have all wiring for all engines and they are complete. if you were to purchase a magnum swap vehicle, what would you want,carb or fi? there is a thread on here that the guy makes a lot of sense when he says trying to buy a part on the road for a tbi/fi unit might be tough to find. thanks for looking and commenting.
 
rbkt65 said:
i have 11 days before retiring and have 4 magnum swaps that i want to work on. 2 are trucks and 2 a bodies. i will probably be keeping 1 truck and 1 car (car for grand daughter if she helps like she states haha). i have complete engines and several o/d trans. don't really want to redo tunnel in cars at this time. but back to orig post. what are the pitfalls of either? all comments appreciated. intake cost for carb swap, i searched "search tempest" 750 miles from home and only found 1 carb intake for magnum. i have all wiring for all engines and they are complete. if you were to purchase a magnum swap vehicle, what would you want,carb or fi? there is a thread on here that the guy makes a lot of sense when he says trying to buy a part on the road for a tbi/fi unit might be tough to find. thanks for looking and commenting.
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FI if everything is in working order..... Carburetors still exist and have their place but look at the mass of vehicles on the road now and other motorsports for that matter. Opinions will vary on the subject but when I am done with understanding about tuning my Sniper and all is settled in with it there will be a fire sale of all my carburetor related items and I will leave that world behind. Or so I hope lol....

JW
 
I wish I had used an aftermarket EFI on my LA smallblock build. I was committed to carburation by the time the EFI products became affordable to me.
 
I'm just starting my magnum to a body. I'm going efi. I figure not a whole lot of diff any more money wise. New carbs are not cheap and you have to change timing cover or add elect fuel pump. Personal choice but efi for me.
 
My buddy just had the RB unit fitted on his '69 440 Coronet. It's been absolutely flawless from the install, and transformed the start-up, warm up and daily driving manners of the car.

I would look into the Holley retrofit stuff first, but the 5.9 Magnums come with all the sensors in place, which makes it a lot easier. If your not afraid of a little wiring, you can have a very nice state of the art system.

EFI and overdrive are the two best add-ons you can do to our old cars.
 
thanks to everyone so far. was thinking about using the oem fi. the aftermarket stuff like holley and the rest appear to use gm/ford type sensors,which are readily avail usually on a daily basis if not in stock. some of the mopar sensors are like trying to find a 50cc holley accelerator pump in a one horse town.
 
I would try and get a complete factory setup from a donor car... cheap and you known reliable. Aftermarket FI is $$$ and seems ??? New carbs are OK but getting
up there in price, and then you need an intake, if you purchased carb/intake new
maybe $700! You could get a complete 5.2 or 5.9 with everything for lot less.
 
Holley Sniper user here it’s a bit more expensive if you replace the tank with pump ,sender new lines but night and day difference. Just love it !. Just hope it’s as reliable as a carburettor . Lol touching wood.
 
We are putting a 360 magnum in my sons 67 Coronet, we are looking to start the project with a carb setup so he can learn to tune them then transition to a Megasquirt efi setup so he learns that part. I like the EFI for everyday use and lack of vapor lock for my neck of the woods.
 
rbkt65 said:
thanks to everyone so far. was thinking about using the oem fi. the aftermarket stuff like holley and the rest appear to use gm/ford type sensors,which are readily avail usually on a daily basis if not in stock. some of the mopar sensors are like trying to find a 50cc holley accelerator pump in a one horse town.
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I have the OEM JTEK computer(ECM) and a HotWire Auto hotrod harness on my '68 Barracuda with a 408 Magnum in it. I had a guy that Hughes Engines uses reflash the computer for the various iterations the motor build went through. It works great, and I had the A/F ratios verified on a local dyno. The harness hooked up with 4 wires and was as plug and play as I've heard about.

I would like to experiment with the advanced tunability the Holley ECMs afford to play with an NO2 shot, but the NO2 is hard to find around here.
 
Enjoy retirement!!
Stock magnum EFI will be the way go unless your gonna be doing mods. Then the price of a reflash gets costly. You can make your own harness out of the factory one and save the $900 that Hotwire charges, sounds like you have plenty of time. Personally am gonna do megasquirt/microsquirt next time around.
 
ed1946 said:
I'm just starting my magnum to a body. I'm going efi. I figure not a whole lot of diff any more money wise. New carbs are not cheap and you have to change timing cover or add elect fuel pump. Personal choice but efi for me.
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Also you need a regular electronic ignition distributor and then an external voltage reg for the alternator if you go carb. The nickel and dime stuff is what’s gets everyone.
 
dusted said:
Also you need a regular electronic ignition distributor and then an external voltage reg for the alternator if you go carb. The nickel and dime stuff is what’s gets everyone.
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Depends if the car already has it. Many already do from birth though adding one, just one more thing to add up, is cheap. So is the external outage regulator u less you just simply run a GM style 1 wire Alt.

I stayed with a carb in the old car. For you, since most things I had on hand, The cost was an intake, a AFB carb, air cleaner, electronic distributor and box and a Edelbrock electric fuel pump designed for a carb.
Gaskets and throttle arm adapter.

I myself just needed the intake & fuel pump. The rest I had already. For me it was cheap. Way before the cost of intakes nearly doubled.
 
dusted said:
I saw one at Carlise and it was a crosswinds or speed master. It’s was the dual plane multi fit one. Fit LA or magnum. The guy wanted $150 and wasn’t budging on price.
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Well, LOL, I should have said “Before the Edelbrock intakes nearly doubles in price.....”
 
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