Zerocyde

I'm gonna have a 383 built and dropped in in a few months. I always just assumed that going carb would be the natural thing to do. But after reading some posts here I'm getting kind of nervous. How tough is the transition? Is there any viable alternative to carb on a 383\t56 combo built solely to daily drive and smoke r!cers at red lights?

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

not sure unless you go to a bigger fuel injection system. why afraid of the carb swap. just have to learn how to tune it. there is plenty of info on the web and on here to get you through it all.

travis401

iTrader: (1)

Carb is cheap, going FI isnt. The stock TPI can barely feed a stock 350, so feeding a 383 is pretty much a long shot. Switching to carb isnt hard. All youll need to do is either remove your intank pump and run an inline electric one. Or reuse the stock pump, and purchase a return style regulator. The wiring is usually the hard part, but theres a thread on here that covers that in detail. and if you dont wanna do it the guy who wrote it builds wiring harnesses and can build you one thats plug and play.

Thread here

camaronewbie

Just don't hack the stock wiring, and if for whatever reason it doesn't go well or suit you, then you can go back. Everyone wants to hack up the harnesses, when they all tuck away nicely in the fenderwell undisturbed. If all goes well, and a year from now you're still happy, then you have an almost unlimited supply of cabin-to-engine bay wires to use for fan switches, underhood lighting, all kinds of stuff.

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

wiring it is easy. tuning the carb is going to be the hardest part. but it isnt hard if you are willing to read, study and search on this forumn.

J.Prock

I wish I never did my carb swap. TPI was so much nicer. If I were you I would just wait save up some money and build a beast TPI motor with all the rocket torque and reliablitly that comes with it cause it sounds like it is going to be a street car and not live on the track. Plus whats better then at a light with some little honda rapped up bouncing off the rev limiter and you with all that torque launching smoking your tires pulling away while he tries to get his RPMs up to catch up to you.

pancherj

You can make that 383 run with a miniram and the correct tuning. Or, you can go carb. I have had both. For a daily driver, I would chose the fuel injection. For a racer/cruiser, I'd go carb. But first you have to ask "How do I get it inspected?"

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

You have TBI now, correct? Getting it to run correctly on top of a 383 will involve a better intake manifold, larger TB and injectors, and computer tuning. Possible.

I suppose an aftermarket 4 bbl TBI would be possible, although I'm not sure you can do that with a stock ECM (not enough "umph" to drive 4 injectors, I understand).

elano

iTrader: (2)

Working the bugs out is the hardest part, including tuning, but once you get it right, it will be a great driver!

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

i am carbed and it drives great with no problems. the one part that is the hardest is the tuning. once that is done it works great. i think the question you are asking is going to come down to money. if you have a good amount of dough and dont want to trial and error to get the tuning right on a carb then go fuel injection. if you dont have a good amount of dough and dont mind a few headaches then go carb.

The Devastator

I gotta agree with 57 kid. TBI is the easier setup to put an engine under. There are plenty of people who will burn you chips. Call one of those guys and discuss it with him. All you should need is an intake, injectors, and a chip. There are TBI adaptors for standard intakes so the TBI is more flexible and has more HP potential than a TPI setup. Its also MUCH easier to work on.

The positives of the TPI and miniram is improved fuel mileage and with TPI MUCH better torque.

Once you get serious with EFI its big $$. TBI is probably the cheapest efi solution.

Carbs are super cheap but they do not adapt to conditions or have the mileage and throttle response of EFI. They do have just as much power potential as any EFI setup. However usually a maximum effort carb setup is horrible to drive on the street.

In my 92 I've had a TBI 305, TBI 327, same 327 with TPI (This should have been in camaros instead of 350's and 305's with TPI), TPI 383, carb'd 454, and now a DFI 454.

I would strongly advocate modifying your TBI setup for your 383. It'll be really good all around and simple to hook up.

What kind of rpm power band, HP goal, and money are we talking with your project?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

The simple truth is anytime you modify an engine, you will have tuning challenges ahead of you. The hardware for carb may not be as expensive, but to properly tune the carb, you first need to start with the right one (and its name doesn't start with "E"). Then you either need to invest in a good wideband O2 system (which will be in the $300 range, plus a laptop) and attempt to tune it yourself, or spend the bucks for a dyno tune (and assume the shop knows what they're doing). A "proper" and "thorough" carb tune will include jets, power valve, air bleeds, idle restrictors, emulsion bleeds, PV restrictors, accelerator pumps, and a lot of trial & error - not for the faint of heart.

EFI can often be tuned by a chip programmer that never sees the car. Of course, a dyno tune is still the better option, but again you're at the mercy of the operator.

Bottom line - do what you're comfortable doing.

philip052374

iTrader: (2)

i have a holley commander tbi efi for my 383. iirc it was around 1600 for the whole thing.

i also have a holley 750dp that i also tried to use. with all the extra stuff to tune and everything it was probably around 900, and that is without a wideband.

the aftermarket tbi efi is super easy to use and tune. were i to do it again, i would skip the carb part.