I cant make up my damn mind. Ive read so much on here and other places my head hurts. Finally going to put an LQ4 in my 95 s10 with a TH400 behind it. My goals are simple. I want around 500 hp at crank with most likely heads, cam, and carb but not sure what I will all need if I stay the EFI route. I imagine an intake will be needed as well as heads and cam. I plan on having Pat G or someone spec me a cam as soon as I figure out what heads I will use. Was going with L92's but now read up on 243's milled or even 317's milled. I have no damn idea now.

Thoughts from users would be nice.

MODS - If this is wrong section my bad. Please move if so.

 

If you already know about carburetors and are comfortable with tuning them, then go carb. If not and you don't want to spend the hours learning, you could go fuel injection.

 

I went carbed with mines because I 1 didn't have a harness, 2 had the truck intake, 3 planed on upgrading my engine in stages over time and didn't want to keep paying for a new tune. Now sometime in the distant future when I'm done making changes I may go injection.

 

I went carb'd cause it's what I know and can tune myself

 

If you are doing all the work, go the route that you best know and are comfortable with from 2 prospectives:

1: what you can make work

2: what meets you goals with your budget

Carbs work for me in older cars that weren't LS platforms. If something has LS efi, I won't change it.

 

Well thats the problem. Im not efficient in either. I like carb for the power results Ive seen and not having to tune all the time along with the initial costs of getting to 500 hp with EFI. Can you get there without changing intake and injectors? Plus I really like the wow factor of it. I go to car shows alot and that would be a good talking point for sure.

Seems a harness for EFI is around $700-$800 plus intake and injectors and TB that adds up alot more than carb components. Im too **** I guess.

 

You can get deals on a factory computer and harness for a lot less than 7 to 800. If you are going to just tune your combo and be done with it, factory EFI can be very cost effective. But, if you are going to play with your combo a lot, paying an EFI tuner can add up real quick.

 

Ive been down both roads....I have a carb now...

 

I seriously considered the self tuning EFI system but they are expensive. Carbs are really not that hard to learn and a wideband O2 lets you put the air/fuel ratio right where you want. If you tune a carb and EFI system to the same Air/Fuel ratio then you are going to have extremely similar results in efficiency and power. I love the idea of completely rebuilding a carb for under $50-ish while an EFI can cost you ???. Plus, you can carry a complete carb rebuild kit in your glovebox. I think you are more self sufficient with a carb if you put the same amount of time into learning both. And, most people would consider a carb as the "underdog". I love people who underestimate their opponent and then end up seeing my tail lights.

 

If your looking to get up and going quickly with simplicity, go carb imo. And it will make power with ease of your goal. EFi if you have the extra initial money and want the extra cool factor of it. The stock intake, injectors, and pcm will handle 500 crank hp easily too, btw.

 

Appreciate the thoughts guys. Thanks!

 

So with my goals in mind can I mill stock 317 heads to bump compression and get a spec cam and carb and be within my limits? Was going the L92 heads route but if I can save and still keep more low end tq Id be happy. What about 243's milled?

 

For low end torque I went with the Texas Speed PRC Stage 1 (243) heads and a Pat G cam (spec). That will put you in the 500+ hp range, easily. If I recall correctly the jumbo valves in the L92 tend to get shrouded in anything less than a 6.2. This has the potential to cost you some power. Plus, larger valves are generally for higher RPM power.

 

My thoughs are....

If it is always going to be be naturally aspirated, and will be drag mostly with some street driving, go with the carb.

If you want to keep the benifits of fuel injection such as easier starting, better fuel economy, driveability, I would stick with the EFI.

I recently went through the process of tuning a blow-thru carb setup on a turbo car, man I hate that thing now. Go drive, come back to the shop and pull the carb back apart, above a hot engine, repeat about 100x. Got old really fast. While with EFI, probably still would have taken me 100 tries to get the tune right, I wouldn't have been spilling gas each time and getting my hands dirty. Of course your standard NA carb setup will not require much tuning really.

 

Oh no! Dirty hands! Lol. If I touch a brand new car my hands get dirty for some damn reason. Goes beyond that for tuning though. EFI for the masses, say 95%, would have to have someone else tune it. So, not much surprise there with not getting dirty. I use a towel right under the carb to catch fuel. Doesn't bother me, but it does others. There are ways to prevent fuel spilling, creative ways or run the bowls empty and nearly eliminate spillage. Still a hot carb with blow through. NA is usually pretty cool, especially with a spacer. And I mean cooler than the engine not cool to the touch.

 

If a carb is tuned properly the difference is insignificant except for "possibly" cold weather starting.

 

Exactly.

 

Don't tell that to the guys around me.......They think because they tuned a few stock cars there tuning abilities have no end in site...Carb is easy, Will make more power if properly set up, and Idk who says these motors look ugly with carb's on them but a cluttered up Engine bay with wires is what's ugly to me!!

 

I'd say it depends on your goals, what you've got to start with and to a lesser extent the climate.

Carb is pretty easy provided you read up and buy a wideband.

If you want an all-around car for everyday driving and you live in a four season climate, I'd say go EFI.

If you want a racer you can also drive on the street when the mood strikes, go carb.

In between I'd say it depends on the individual. I've done both and prefer carb for the ease of working on it, the flexibility, and the fact that I've got a ton of carb parts already.

Plus...I work on computers all day so I like to have some analog technology in my life. haha.

 

Yea, those lazy folks out there should avoid a carb. Lol