1987 Trans-Am carb swap?

[CreepingDeath94]

I have a 1987 Trans-Am with the stock electric computer controlled carb. I was wondering if it would cause any problems to slap a Edelbrock 600 cfm carb and aftermarket intake on taking into consideration all the computer controlled mess involved with the stock carb. In other words, can I just leave all those connectors disconnected or will it cause computer problems. Right now, the electrical on the car is a mess from the previous owner and the stock carb is half disconnected electrically as it is and after long drives of over 125 miles, it starts running like crap and cutting out. I initially thought fuel pump or filter, but when I was driving it last and this happened, it smelled like it was running very rich...like on the newer Trans-Ams if the computer thinks its -40 degrees outside rich. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Thumprkils]

normally, I just cut spare and retape the entire harness, to assure no problems, leaving only the nesscary ones to complete what is need for the plain carb,gauges,ac etc

[CreepingDeath94]

I also had another question to add to this. If I do swap out the Q-jet with an Edelbrock, what is everyones recommendation? Q-jet by Edelbrock, Performer...if Performer, what cfm? I don't have a money tree so I'm on a budget. Thanks again.

[tacoma man.]

my brother has a 750 cfm edelbrock on his 86 trans am, he is ready to pitch it into the creek, everytime he runs it he has to mess with the air and fuel mixture. he is going to put the factory q-jet back on. if your going with something for a street car, go with a holley 700 cfm carb, i have had good luck out of holley, i dont know whats up with the edelbrock carbs, but i was told that they were for the race track. from my experiance i guess they were right. his always runs really rich and he can mess with it all day and never get it set right.

[CreepingDeath94]

I've recently come to a revelation with this car and have decided to just get it running right again and sell it soon so I can buy a better base for a project. After reading the above problem, do you think I can just get another carb off the same year Firebird/Camaro or do you think it would be better to take it into the shop and have someone try and fix the carb that is on it. As I said, 2 of the connectors(the one that hooks to something having to do with the float, and some other connection that looks to be emissions related) are already disconnected and have been that way since I bought it. It ran fine til about 2 weeks ago when I drove it 250 miles home from college. It had previously done that kind of mileage and had zero problems. Or do you think that it is something in the computer and that is why those connections were disconnected in the first place. Anyone who has had a similar problem or knows of some good advice would be appreciated. Thanks again.

[CreepingDeath94]

Oh, almost forgot, when I noticed that the connectors were disconnected, I reconnected them and the car would not run smoothly at idle until I disconnected that float related connection again. While connected, it made this clicking sound like it was trying to bottom out or something. I have no experience with carbs as I grew up in the fuel injected age and carbs are Greek to me. As soon as it was disconnected, it stopped clicking and idled smoothly again...until the long drive home when it cut out and nearly killed me with fumes. Hope this description helps a little.

[tacoma man.]

did you run the car without the carb controller harness connected? maybe with another carb on it? if so try disconecting your battery for 30 seconds and reconnect it, that way it resets the trouble codes and will run right.

[hotrod_chevyz]

You have to put a vaccum operated HEI distributor to replace the TPS controlled Distributor,if your going to upgrade carbs,to a non tps model .or you might possibly lose performance making the switch
I would rebuild what carb you have because until you get into the high performance heads and custom intakes and exaust,a bigger carb is just going to make your as bill go up.It can also possibly damage the motor because the distributor adjusts the timing using a feedback signal coming from a sensor located in the carb.no carb sensor=bad timing advance,unless you change the distributor to a vaccum advance style dist.

[CreepingDeath94]

Yea, that is precicely why I decided not to change anything out. I was initially going to replace the intake, distributor, and carb. but have since decided this car is not worth the money. I would rather invest it in a better base project. I will probably just fix the carb I have or find a used working one and sell this car. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.