Is swapping a carb for TPI on a V8 a hard job and what all has to go?
If you have any info I could use the knowledge, THANKS!!!

 

...it takes alot longer than you plan and you spend alot more $ than you probably want to . but all worth it in the end!

 

so your taking the carb off and swapping your car to TPI?

well first wrong section lol.......and second good luck. Im going tpi, and i am learning personally its taking a $$$$ of money to do this. Im even starting with a 92 trans am thats a tpi car lol.

carb is awesome for cheap racing......but with proper setup the Fuel injection should be more enjoyable and fun

 

I'm almost finished with a swap right now...if I had to do it over??? I really don't think I would...this has taken allot of time and money.

I think I'd just buy an after market EFI system (edelbrock or holley)or even an entire crate engine

 

If I only had the money to buy an engine when I wanted TPI...but all the same, thanks for the info. AND I'm in this section because I figure if you now allot about a carb you would know how to take one off..

 

okay so your wanting to take your carb off...is it a quadrajet or holley

but anyways, its four bolts, a brake booster metal line(if quadrajet) and a few vacuum lines

its not hard at all to remove the carb wether what model it is. In fact tpi intakes can be a nightmare to take off and put back on if your new to them

 

I did this on a second gen camaro. Totally worth it. As long as you are willing to burn your own chips, it's the best mod you could do to a carbureted car. I used a Holley Stealth Ram and a MAF type TPI setup, with a Painless harness. Pretty plug and play. Just get a fuel tank for an EFI third gen with the stock TPI in tank pump already and you don't have to worry about a fuel system like I did with the second gen.

 

You still have to wire it, relay, switches, etc.

 

I know this sounds weird but what if I just used a stock 350 V8 TPI system from any 85-92... tell me what you think....

 

the street rodders have been doing this for years
depending on the year of car it is going in,you did not specify. you can use a stand alone harness,if you are building an F-body get a tank from an EFI car
you will need relays
ecm,i prefer the 730 speed density style
electric fuel pump (EFI 190-255lph)
it would be a benefit to have a custom chip done
of course a complete TPI unit will be nice
my guess would be 1100.00 - 1500.00 to convert to TPI,it will be rewarding opposed to carb.much more power over-all

 

That's what i was thinking. why not get a complete motor with tpi computer,wiring harness,relays,sencor,ect...and put it in.
i have a 305 that is low mileage and has all the above..very complete set up...even the radiator fan the go's with the system. i only want 650.00 that's with new oil pan,oil pump w/welded pick up,double roller timing chain,rear main seal,vavle cover gaskets,balnacer,flex plate w/bolts. i have over 150.00 in the new parts. and if you wanted a 350 it seams to me it would still be less money starting out this way.

 

bite your tounge on the tpi making more power thing. I was searching on COMP cams computer selection program for cams and a carb made close to 76 more HP than the stock tpi intake

also, ive got a 300 dollar computer program to basically desktop dyno motors and its saying the same huge difference.

so its looks like to get same performance as a carb its a HSR/lt1 inake or custom single plane efi intake setup

 

take programs like that with a grain of salt, especially the one on Comp's website. TPI is not a restriction on a STOCK motor. It is on a modified one. I'm sure if you take TPI off a stock 350 and put a carb on you will not gain 40hp. Look at the '86 and up TPI 305s with automatic transmissions. The LB9 and the LG4 had the same cam and compression and heads, only difference really was the TPI intake. LG4 = 140hp LB9 = 190hp.

 

Carb = short-runner intake, TPI = long-runner intake. Long runners are going to give you more torque for the street at the expense of horsepower above 4500 rpms. As Toyota h8r said, to match the horsepower and RPM of a carb you will need a short-runner intake such as a Holley Stealth Ram. Stock TPI and aftermarket long-tube runner setups are made for street cars who want torque. That's the limiting factor of a TPI intake, the length of the runners, as we found out in the sticky in the TPI board, "Our quest for a higher flowing TPI."

There is no such thing as getting a complete wire harness out of a later model TPI thirdgen and plugging it into your car. For one, the harness plugs into the firewall on the driver's side and that plug is hard-wired. It is very difficult to re-pin it to match your car. A better idea is to get an aftermarket wire harness. Switching to fuel injection is more expensive, but the benefits are worth it in my opinion, for a street car.

 

If you need to know how to take a carb system off, you're way over your head converting to TPI.

But, this isn't a carb topic, so off to the TPI forum with ya. . .

 

NEVER will i bite my tongue(LOL)
carbs belong with the rest of the dinosours!
step into to the new era.i should have been more clear about power EFI makes more TQ than carb at the same RPM level any day and gets better fuel economy as well......i know,i know there are a bunch of carb gurus out there i grew up with them(39) but that is not what this post is about......TQ is king

 

did i say to go carb over tpi? NO!

carb is worthless......its for cheap-skates that cant deal with FI...


i know because i used to be that person and now i am learning from my mistakes and starting with a stock tpi setup. I have a lt1 intake to be converted and then im getting a better tune lol. The stock tpi is a complete joke unless your rocking a bone stock 305tpi/m5 car. Anything modified with suffer greatly, i know this due to talking to highly built tpi owners. Just switching from a tpi to HSR on a 383 resulted in nearly 100hp! Im trying to find the magazine article that discussed the massive amt of lost potential horsepower due to the restrictive tpi intake assembly.

but yah...stock tpi cars are 10000x better than a carb car.

i know due to owning 2 carb's 3rd gens.......then one day i got to drive a lt1 forth gen......muahhahahaha im hooked now

 

my 4th gen runs runs a little faster up here at 2400'than my 3rd gen did at sea level but i miss my 3rd gen hopefully i will find another clean one to enjoy again..3rd gens are just plain sexy!

 

Hi yall i figured that i would just tack on to this thread vs making a completely new thread, but the questions is still the same kinda. I understand that going to fuel injection is gonna be expensive but on craigslist in the seattle area there is a guy selling a TPI conversion kit for $250 and this is what it comes with "Includes the Intake Manifold, the Intake, Injectors, CPU, and wiring harness". there also so happends to be a free 305 that needs rebuilding that came out of a 83 camaro (thats beside the point i think). i just wanted to know if this was something that can get me started? i do realize that ill need new fuel lines and pump, but is there anything i should be aware before buying this, so i didnt throw $250 down the tube? its going into a 84 firebird that used to have a carbed v6 and has an automatic tranny (th350) in it so i dont know if the CPU has any control over the transmission if that means anything to anybody. once again thanks for the help in advanced, everybody here has been super helpful

 

What year is the tpi off of. If it is from a 1985, you will probably want to get a newer ecm, since 1985 was the first attempt and is a one year only ecm that was considerably upgraded in 1986. If it came out of a 1990 or newer, you may need to modify the firewall to fit the bulkhead connector for the harness. Third Gen automatic cars after 1982, I think, had 700r4 trans with lock up torque converters. I think the ecm was programmed to lock up the converter. Not sure if it will work without burning a new chip if it came out of an automatic car. Not sure what might be in there to create problems if it came out of a stick shift car, other than a shift light.

 

Ill have to ask the guy what it came off of, but im gonna assume its an 1985. Im trying to get rid of the th350 to get an 700r4... so if anybody wants a trade or wants a th350 for free(just pay shipping) lol pm. but any mods like to the firewall im not to worried about since i bought the car for $350. but if i did need to burn a new chip any recommendations for where i can get that done?