A co-worker of mine has offered to give me a great deal on his son's 90 Camaro RS. It has a 305 TBI and 700-R4. I am not crazy about TBI because it seems a lot more complex than the carb systems Im familiar with and it doesn't seem to be real performance oriented. My question is: Could I swap in a 4-barrel intake and use a CC Q-jet if I were to swap the engine harness? Or would the harness not plug directly into the bulkhead because carbs were not used in 1990? It seems to me like it should work because people swap from carb to TPI all the time. Any info is much apppreciated. TIA.

 

I don't have a lot of hands-on TBI experience, but just looking at the wiring and hoses, it's simplier than CC carb.

Either work with the TBI (check with the guys on that board, if you haven't already), or convert to TPI. Some will say "non-CC carb!". Don't listen to them, especially if this is a daily driver.

Don't take a step backward in technology. TBI systems really can be made to run - you just have to learn new stuff (nothing really bad about that).

To answer your question more directly: Yes, you can do it with a complete harness/ECM/carb/distributor/all sensors & controls change. Even though I went from CC carb to CC carb, I still had to modify the pass-through hole to get the ECM harness mounted.

 

I suppose I never reeally looked at an F-body with TBI, its just that when removing the motor from my friend's 90 s10 Blazer, it looked more complicated. Plus, I definitely like the idea of not working on the car, just driving.

 

Between "major" things (valve seals, intake change, the rest of the mods in my sig all at one time), I really have done very little to my CC setup. Changed plugs, cap, rotor and wires after 18 months (only did plugs when the engine was swapped in), oil & filter changes - that's about it.

That's probably the exception. It certainly is compared to the '57.

If you want to "drive the car, not wrenches", stay with TBI.