For someone like myself who knows jack squat about tuning/burning proms, would it be just smarter when building a new motor to just plan on going with a carb rather than fuel injection?

 

Do you know how to tune a carb? I mean really know how to tune a carb, more than just turn the idle screws? Do you really understand how a carb works, and what affects how it runs, and what parts you change to get what results? If so, then maybe. Otherwise, acquire the other skill and learn how to work with what you've got, it will pay off in the long run. And even if you do, all that PROM burning is, is a new language that does the same thing.... feed more fuel under these circumstances, feed less here, I changed this by this much so I need to change that to go with it, the same things you do with a carb.

Go acquire a new skill. Improve yourself. The PROM thing isn't that hard. And, there's a fair amount of help and proven techniques available on the PROM board on this site. I'd recommend giving it a try before hacking up your car.

 

LOL to be honest I don't know much about either. I do know that I don't have the equipment (laptop) to do any prom burning. Are there places that you can pay someone to do it? How much does it cost.

I'm sorry this is leading off into a discussion that should be in the prom burning forum.

 

When you're asking the question, EFI vs carb?
It's nessecary to keep in mind that there's another facet of home tuning besides adjusting the A/F ratio and spark curves, known as troubleshooting.

Presently, my engines (all two of them) are carbed, and I have plans to switch them both over to EFI sometime....
But I have a few things to learn before I'll feel confident about that. Beacuse for my own purposes, I believe it wouldn't be prudent to install a system that I don't have the equipment or the skill to troubleshoot.
You can have all of the most high tech prom burning equipment, but before it's going to be of any use to you, your motor needs to be firing on all 8 cyls.

Browse the boards, and read the posts where guys are saying "Help My Car Won't Run" or "Car Runs Like Crap"
How many of those posts are by EFI users compared to carb?
Now ask yourself, in how many of those cases, would you be prepared to deal with that problem.

I'm not opposed to EFI or anything like that, but with the resources I have right now, I can troubleshoot a carb system with a small assortment of inexpensive hand tools that I can pack with me when I'm on the road.
And when I'm hundreds of miles away from home, I feel good about that.
Since my car's warranty expired 18 yrs ago.

I think that if you're just getting your feet wet in the EFI world, a good question to ask yourself is, how far from home will I be driving?

 

my first camaro was EFI, didnt understand a thing about it. Did some searching on this board 3-4 years ago, said holy #%^&@%# I dont ever want to get into EFI.

So i went to a carb. got another camaro, Carb too. Took me about a year to learn how to REALLY tune a carb, properly. Went through a few books, learned a few things. Did you know holley's have some 122+ Adjustments? Yeah, thats what the book says. I know how to adjust about 12 of them, and THAT was special for me.

About 1 year ago, I got a good deal on an EFI setup. I said what the heck, lets give it a try. Worst comes to worst, i slap a carb back on there right?

Well, here I am a year later, and both my cars are EFI. Both get better fuel economy, make more power, blah blah I can go on but whats the point? yes it was more expensive than a carb, but I dont feel its harder to trouble shoot, then again I have a laptop handy all the time to double check myself. Took about a year to learn EFI, just like carbs too.

The BEST thing about EFI, is on-the-fly tuneability. If i want to add a turbo to my car, I can have it dialed in and tuned in less than a week. Oh wait, that was last week.. and it was 2 turbos not one. If i take my car to a chassis dyno, and use their WideBand O2 sensor, I can dial the fuel curve in PERFECT at WOT, for ALL point on the fuel map. with my carb, I could get CLOSE, but not PERFECT... understand? there are 99999 posts about EFI VS CARB, in the end they both provide fuel to the motor, EFI is more complex, more expensive, and just as much of a pain in the **** to tune as a carb is, in my experience... if you want to get it RIGHT and STAY right. a carb is more screwdriver friendly, though.