if i switch my 305 tbi to a 550 or 600 carb and an add intake WILL i lose HP or gain?

 

pretty much the same. your still restricted by pisspoor cylinder heads, a small camshaft, and a cruddy exhaust system. But one thing you'll deffinately gain is higher gas bills.

 

Done right, the GM TBI can support all the HP your likely to make.

I sure wouldn't swap TBI for a carb at your power level.

JMHO

 

i went from tbi to carb. once tuned correctly it ran great on the freeway and around town. but kept having to tune it. getting the timing just right and the carb just right was a biatch. but i did have a little more power on the freeway but not much. i then went back to tbi. stock gm intake. ultimate tbi mods and a custom tbichips chip. the driveability again on tbi is awsome. man did i miss it. now with the tune i dont think i gained nothing but headaches.

a properly tuned well modded tbi will beat a carb on a stock engine anyday. and i spent a lot of time and money on the carb set up. now that i have my properly tuned and modded tbi system i will never go back again no matter what people say. trust me i have had both.



now


dont do it.

 

what u mean by cruddy exhaust system

 

Everything from the exhaust manifolds back are better off used as a boat anchor.

 

prolly forgot to mention i have no egr(tuned out) and no cat. also shortie headers (hooker and ypipe ) and a 3" magnaflow catback.

 

so what? i might as well replace the stock exhaust system?

 

yes!!!!!!!!!!

 

yes exhaust upgrades, header, high flow cat, and cat back exhaust is highly recomended as one of the first mods

 

The very marginal (if any) performance gains you might get from a carb do not justify the expense at all on a fairly stock motor. You need an intake ($200+), carb ($250+), distributor ($125+), TCC lockup kit ($100+), return-style fuel pressure regulator ($100+),TV cable corrector ($20), and at least another $100 in misc to put it all together.

So, you're looking at almost $1000 (new parts prices) to swap, and you'll never really notice anything performance wise, but you will notice an empty wallet from feeding the carb gas (mpg cut in half).

Now - keep in mind this is coming from a guy that did swap to carb! But, I swapped from TBI to carb, and also swapped from 305 to 350, all at the same time, and all for the same $1000 (I bought a used, ready to drop 350 carbed motor for $650) - included was the carb, intake, distributor ... a complete motor. Now that was worth it!

The advise of the day - don't spend any money on the 305 on anything that cannot later be swapped to a 350 (ie silly to get a 500cfm carb now when your 350 would be happier with a 600-700cfm carb).

Spend your money on exhaust, suspension, brakes, rear gears, etc. (stuff that a 350 will also use) until the day comes when you can swap out that 305 (if hp is what your looking for).

And of course I say 350 - but you might have your sights set on a LSx swap etc. - same difference - spend money now that will "swap" to your future powerplant plans.

 

YES....I made 181 RWHP/268 RWTQ (stock 350 TPI numbers) with a stock 305 TBI, Tri-Y headers, dual 2 1/2" exhaust, 1" open center spacer, and a good custom tune.

 

well i love the carb set up i have on my 350 iv'e beat'en every tbi set up ive come across at the track i'm putting out about 360 hp and doing well

 

Apples and oranges as pertaining to this conversation.

 

Anybody else notice that newby pulls up a post that is nearly 1 year old to talk smack about how great his imaginary car is.

I have two crew cab/quad cab trucks that would probably wipe the floor with his camaro.