I just wanna read people opinions. everyone state ur opinion on which is the way to go.

 

What you want to do with the engine? I like FI for everyday driving and carb. for all out power. There are guys that are making real power with FI.

 

For the power levels I was looking for, I found FI was going to be expensive compared to a carb. Things have changed a little in the last 10 years when I made my choice although I believe carburetors are still cheaper.

 

Fuel injection
The bad:
expencive complicated not as easy to mod the motor as carbed many fairly expencive sensors to go bad troubleshooting can be interesting when so much is involved each part effecting everyother part

The Good:
Can be fined tuned to run perfectly in theory great for dialy driving more efficient

Carb
The bad:
Require seasonal tuneing not as efficient as FI like all mechanical things prone to wear and tear

The Good:
Cheap easy to work with and lear the basics modern carberators very reliable very simple system overall trouble shooting is limited to basically the carb itself and fuel system

Im sure someone can add to this but thats what i got off the top of my head after running a TPI 305 trans am, 4 barrel carbed 305 and a dual 4 barrel 350.

 

Go carb... FI = BS. Sensors suck! I like my 350 TPI but it can get complicated sometimes. Computers running cars just sucks to me.

 

I went with a carb. because of cost and tunablity. My engine made 462 hp on the dyno the other day with a holley 3310 I baught off ebay for $25.00. I don't think I could get my tune port to run as well with out spending alot of money.

 

I agree. The only downside I can think of with carbs is when gas is $4+ a gallon (and keep your fingers crossed we don't see it again for a long time) you'll probably wish you had the FI back.

 

I have an LT1 in my '97 Z28 and carb'd 350 in my '83. Both are reliable and make good power if they are maintained properly. Carbs are not necessarily easier to tune than EFI... most people just 'ball park' a carb tuning job and leave it at that. Real fine tuning of a carb can be just as complicated and time consuming as EFI tuning - except a carb can't adapt to changing conditions like EFI can. A carb also can't tell you what its doing and why like EFI can.

EFI is more expensive to tune though...carb requires a few cheap hand tools and some time. EFI requires expensive tuning software and a laptop in many cases. It also requires knowing what certain numbers or graph lines mean. Its complicated, but is quite a bit more precise.

I like both setups... I have a stock OBD2 LT1 on one car, and a 350 with a Holley 4150 in the other. Both are about equally reliable and both are fairly close in fuel economy around town (which is a pretty big deal... 400hp carb'd 350 getting almost the same mileage as a stock 285hp LT1.. around 15mpg).

Its all in the upkeep of whatever you use. One isn't necessarily better than the other for power, mileage, reliability, etc. The only area where EFI has a clear advantage over a carb is with emissions controls, as its a self monitoring and self adjusting system. Thats why all the OEMs use it, really. Its all in your ability to tune it up and maintain the engine properly.