Hey, I am currently rebuilding my camaro. I bought a new 350 4-bolt main and bored it to a 358, as well as milled the heads, and putting a bigger camshaft into it. What I'm Wondering is whether to stay with the TPI setup, or slam a Carburator on it? Which one would i have better performance with? Let me hear what ya'll have to say

 

It is my opinion that the fuel injection is quicker at the hit of the throttle. Also, your gas mileage should be better with TPI!!!!!

 

Agreed, and you also have the option of going with Holley's Stealth Ram, Accel's Super Ram or TPiS MiniRam systems. Any of these would be a major improvement over the stock TPI but definitely go with fuel injection. Have fun!!!

 

if the choice is between stock tpi and carb.....list the tpi on ebay and put the carb on. the tpi KILLS hp. when i asked i was told the carb was good for 30+hp over tpi.

did i mention ALL the headaches with fuel injection? there are reasons to stay with fuel injection but it will cost you more......a lot more.

if you stick with fuel injection fer shure get a stealth ram etc. at least you can make hp then.

 

The TPI doesnt kill HP, especially if set up with the right system. If you run a stock TPI, with the size block you have, you will see a very nice amount of HP, and it would all be there at the touch of the pedal, no lagging or sticking like carbs. Also, while people make fuel injection out to be a big pain, its really very simple, especially when you take into account that there are more than 120 adjustments that can be made on a carb, and with the throttle body there are about 3 or 4. And the money you saved on that carb you will spend on fine tunning it. Also, there are many small things you can do to up the power on a stock TPI system that are either free or extremely inexpensive.

 

by the way what is your cam spec. too large of a cam could hender a tpi setup.but anything that will make power from 5 to 5800 will be ok.

 

Also, if you're running an MAF system on a TPI, then you can go pretty far performance-parts-wise until you have to start changing the computer, and works similar to a carb, where the fuel is determined by airflow. With the Speed Density(MAP) the computer will start throwing trouble codes at you left and right at the slightest touch, though if tuned correctly, can be better for the daily driven.

 

The TPI Vs Carb debate usually comes down to a few specific questions:
1. Is 16 city and 20 mpg highway OK with you?
2. Do you have emissions checking in your area?
3. Are you willing to spend the money and learn how to tune a fuel injection ecm?
4. How much money do you have? aftermarket EFI parts are much more expensive than aftermarket carb parts. You can buy a good, new, top of the line, aftermarket, name brand intake system for a carb'd car for under $1,000. That is the minimum for an EFI car.

 

everyone, and i mean everyone, i talked with tells me the same thing. tpi kills hp. the bottom line is the tpi is done at about 4800rpm.

there are, of course, other considerations and we all have to make our own choices. that means we also have to live with the consequences. here's an example.....

2 summers ago my car went NUTS. i mean nuts. when it got warmed up it would backfire and only run about 30mph. anything over 30 and it would just die. of course the extremely loud backfire was kind of fun. the people in passing cars and in their yards would duck and cover.

after posting on this board reading material for hours. i replaces the injectors, the fuel pump twice, the afpr twice, the temp sensor, the tps, the egr valve, and some other pieces it's just to damn painful to remember. i ended up spending weeks and numerous hours and oh ya, a purdee fer chunk a change.

did i mention how much fun it all was?

after weeks and several hundred dollars and a few gallons of sweat and not having my car to enjoy the entire time i took it to the chevy place and they found out it had a bad ignition control module. LOL, yes i can laugh now. a little anyway.

ya, a carb is not perfect but like i said you have to live with the choice you make. and just for the record, Brian at scroogin dickie told me a carb was good for about 30 hp on my engine over the tpi with high flo runners.

if i was going to do it over again.........there'd be a carb on my car right now.


he's right.......$1000 is a start on efi.

 

But there are also many improvements to be made on the top end half of the TPI system. Take, for example, the MiniRam system. A bolt-on of 95 horses on a mild 350!!! Taking into account that yours is pretty heavily stroked, its good for 125+ hp!!! Granted its a little bit more costly(around $1500 MAX!!!). This will dominate any carbureted system. Period. Also, with FI, you'll have the driveability factor without the gas-guzzler price. IMO the money saved on your carbed setup will all go to tuning and gas. By no means am I saying that TPI's are perfect, because frankly they are far from it, but I do beleive it gives you a very solid platform to build from and make improvements as time and money allows. But again, with the choices we make, we must live with the consequences.

 

If your not sure, leave the tpi harness intact, and tie it back for the swap. Try carb for awhile and see if it's what you want. That way you can go back if you want. No BIG deal.

You guys are making it sound like he's getting a sex change or something.

 

you don't see ls1 guys asking if a carb is better.

throw a miniram on it go through the headache of tunning it and be done with it.

I've tuned quit a few different cars...carb is a waste of money and time UNLESS the car is going to be track only then carb has a few advantages.

 

sex change????????????!!!!!!!!! LMAO!! and ouch too.

if you go with mini ram that ain't tpi. i just bought a stealth ram and am getting ready to sell a super ram (won't work on vortec heads without much work). agian, my point is/was that efi is quite a bite more money and can present many other issues a carb doesn't have. no carbs aren't perfect.

now to quote forrest....that's all i have to say about that.