Fuel Injected vs. Carbed engine

[LT1fan]

I was just curious what a Fuel Injected engine had over a Carbureted and the other way around. I personally have a Carbed in my 84 and am recently having to have the carburetor rebuilt.

[Chevyracincamaro]

fuel injection runs cleaner and smoother. i feel that you can make more power on a carb setup, plus no god-foresaken computers on carburetted engines

[89IROC&RS]

yeah, the major argument for fuel injection is lower emmisions, better gas milage, smoother operation, and better overall engine controls. carbs can be argued to make more power, but its really all airflow, and fuel metering. i personally think that a properly tuned fuel injectionsystem will make more power than a carb system, but thats just me. the plus for a carb setup is simplicity. fuel injection systems tend to be very complex, so you have to do alot of research, and have specialty tools to work on them, while anyone with a screwdriver a few wrenches and a socket set can work on a carb.

[1992RS]

Well in the early/mid 80's the carb on the camaros and I assume other vehicles where "computer controlled" As far as power, I made more power with my holley 670cfm TBI unit than I did with a 700cfm carb on my 383, so the TBI makes more power per cfm than a carb does. But as for TPI I don't really know how to compair them.

[89IROC&RS]

you cant, TPI is just that much better

[1992RS]

uh huh lol

[89IROC&RS]

lmao, thats an interesting smile icon, how you do it????

[Genopsyde]

1992RS, that holley TBI, is it a simple remove the old and put the new one in its place type install, cuz i'm about to get one once this tax check arrives?

[Hypsi87]

As far as I know. A carb that is properly setup will give you more power than any fuel injection system. A carb will atomize fuel better than any high flowing injector. But a Fuel injection system will give you more consistant power. Fuel injection adjusts for temp Barometric pressures and other stuff. A carb will not.

[caw333]

I have a 82 Z28 with a carb and a 350 and a 95 Z28 and the throttle responce on the 95 just feels so much more crisper and smoother. The 82 runs smooth but dosn't have the instant responce like the fuel injection does. But I would rather work on the 82 any day of the week over the 95.

[89IROC&RS]

yeah, the same difference for the port fuel injection and even TBI as far as throttle responce is crazy. the first time i drove the IROC it scared me.

[boosted331]

Fuel injection will make more power, no question about it. This is especially true on a forced induction setup where EFI gives you a much finer ability to adjust fuel, instead of just swapping jets. Not to say carbs can't make power, I've built some blow-thru carb setups that made a ton of power, but if you have the dough, efi is the way to go.

[new2blazers]

I'm a die hard carb fan so I'm a little biased on the subject, but here are a couple of quotes I found on carcrafts site:

"Steve Johnson, BG Products: EFI makes more power, but our EFI system costs $2,400, compared to $400-450 for our Speed Demon carburetor. You only gain about 10 hp at the peak, so for a lot of guys it isn’t worth the money."

"Warren Johnson: Properly tuned, carburetors make more peak power than EFI in a Pro Stock engine. A carb’s pressure differential atomizes the gas a lot better than spraying fuel through an orifice. But EFI has a broader powerband and superior cylinder-to-cylinder fuel distribution. The 1,100- to 1,300-cfm dual carbs are good only over a narrow range, about 1,500 rpm at most. EFI performs well over 2,000 rpm or more. On average, if optimized, both systems perform about the same as far as how fast you get down the track. However, the EFI system is much easier to tune than a carburetor."

[supervisor1886]

No doubt fuel ingection systems are superior, first of all gives higher fuel pressure and much more air, what means power, just to compare a carbed Camaro can produce 190+ hp, an Iroc-235+ hp, fuel economy is important too and better pesponse provided by those 9 sensors.Of course the carbs are simple and easy to work on, but it is old and should not be used any more. Furthermore, TPI is conciderably old too and by todays standarts simple as well. Also there is a plenty of perfomance parts out there for fuel ingection cars. That is why carbed cars are no longer produced

[89IROC&RS]

yeah, TPI is old by todays standards. but hey, the IROC had two crossed plug wires, a bad O2 sensor, now looks like it had NEVER had an induction sevice in 150,000 miles, and STILL got a best of 26mpg on the way home. 1100 miles. at 70-80mph averaging 23mpg. my 305 TBI RS camaro has done a best of 23mpg and usually gets only 19-20mpg. and the IROC has 0.7L more displacement. so i think that says leaps and bounds about fuel injection progress. and the modern Z06, 405hp, 5.7L and 30+mpg. progress is a good thing