So I recently picked up an 86 camaro with a 305 and it's got an old carb that needs to be changed. I used to have an 89 Rs that also had a 305 but that had a TBI instead. Should I try to convert or stick with the system I have? Please let me know, any advice helps!

 

What are you looking to do with the car?

 

Well the car is my everyday car and I want it to be powerful and able to start clean in all weather/seasons. I have no idea if a conversion to tbi will make the car more reliable in the extremes or if it makes any difference at all. I also have no idea if it is expensive. Again, any info you have about this would help!

 

In the extremes the TBI will be your best friend compared to the carb. How cold does Jersey get in the winter?

 

But i wanted to switch over to carb after a while. The TBI can start to suck if you are running open loop by any chance.

 

Well last winter it was like 8 degrees for a week so that definitely answers that question, but how much would a conversion cost? And forgive me for asking but what exactly is open loop? I'm new to understanding my car and don't really know where to start.

 

fuel injection is ideal for cold start and all. if you are looking for that and fuel efficiency then TBI is the way to go. especially if the engine is stock, if you are looking for performance i'd either go carb or maybe even an aftermarket fuel injection with the self tuning capabilities.

 

OP, do you have emissions testing? If it doesn't need testing I'd go with a carb. I'd go with the street demon, I priced one out through advance auto (w/ the promo number) for $270. In the summer I'd run an open element air cleaner & use a stock air cleaner in the colder months.

 

When operating correctly, with all adjustments done properly, a carbed engine running on winter-blended fuel will start reliably at -20F. There's no difference between fuel injection and a properly-adjusted carburetor for cold-weather starting except the fuel injected engine may need less fast-idle, and may produce fewer tailpipe emissions. In the early years of fuel injection, the properly-adjusted carbed cars were MORE reliable than the injected ones when the temps went below zero.

For all practical purposes, there will be no difference that makes a difference. (see paragraph above)

Almost certainly more expensive than just fixing or adjusting the carb you already have.

 

If it never came with tbi then it will require you to purchase from the intake manifold up, as well as a bunch of tbi specific sensors, wiring harness, computer, and I'm not sure if you can use the same throttle and trans cables or not. The most sense making thing to do would be to purchase a fuel injection conversion setup, like the Fast EFI system that bolts to the carb manifold and comes with a self tuning computer after you answer a few questions.

 

If it originally had a carb, I would keep it carb.

TBI can support some decent power and will cost a lot less then the self learning EFI set-ups, though you will need to do some of the tuning yourself.

Here is an example of a TBI set-up on a mild engine
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tbi/...imple-fun.html