EFI or Carb

So about 8 months ago i had put a 'built' 350 in my truck. I went the carb route at the time because i kept getting told no one could burn a chip for my truck but im to the point to where i would like to take this motor out and put another one in. We cut out alot of the harness in the engine bay because it was unneeded. Its pretty reliable as it is but id rather put another stock motor in. and go back to the tbi efi. my truck had a 305 originally. SO i guess my question is would it be worth it to go back to efi and stock or leave the carb in it and just have to deal with the bs of winter starting.

Carbs were used for many years in the winter. How is it setup?

thatclappedsilverado said:

Its pretty reliable as it is but id rather put another stock motor in. and go back to the tbi efi

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What's wrong with a "built" TBI and a tune (it's not as hard as you think)? What year and trans?

It would be easier to go to the junkyard and get an engine harness if you want to go back to EFI

My carb is a little finicky when cold but out performs the TBI hands down as far as performance

I went with carb because a TBI system cant support the power of my engine

If you want easy cranking & drivability in the winter go EFI

If you want to do awesome burnouts go with the carb (plus nitrous)

PlayingWithTBI said:

What's wrong with a "built" TBI and a tune (it's not as hard as you think)? What year and trans?

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How much power can a modified TBI support ?

Always wondered about that.....................

454cid said:

Carbs were used for many years in the winter. How is it setup?

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What do you mean as in set up? its an edelbrock 650 and an hei dist. has an elec choke and will be a turd until the choke actually clicks in and decides to work? this is the second one ive had cause i thought it was a problem with the choke but this one does it too. Have to pump it 3-4 times and hold it wide open till it fires up.

PlayingWithTBI said:

What's wrong with a "built" TBI and a tune (it's not as hard as you think)? What year and trans?

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95 and its an nv3500 and all the people i emailed that made chips for the tbi trucks kept telling me that my cam was way too big for the tbi. and that i would have to go carb. And one of the guys at my old job helped me tune it and set timing. He ran 358 Dirt track cars. I just didnt like having all the wiring. especially considering i have no way to know whats wrong with my truck because no one could read obd1. so i simplified it and it runs great when its warm out but in the cold it spits and sputters under any sort of load. sorry if that seems all over the place

whats the cam? I built a TBI 406 for an 89 I had 20+years ago. Even with the 406, could hear the comp cams Xtreme 268 lope. 100% stock ECM, tune, fuel, etc. Ran like ***** ape. If wanna go back to EFI, maybe look into the terminator X system. I might go this route depending how I end building my 454s.

DamHoodlum said:

How much power can a modified TBI support ?

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That's a loaded question, ha ha. A bored 46mm throttle body flows ~650 CFM which is enough for 6000 RPM on a 5.7L engine. The 7.4L 50mm can feed more. You want torque, go with ~ 170 cc intake runner aluminum heads. You want top end go bigger. Vortec heads (1.90/1.60) flatten out with over .500" lift where my Summit Racing heads (170 cc intake, 62cc chamber, with 2.02/1.60" valves) flow better up to .600". It's a myth that you can't go with a bigger cam on TBI, you just tune for the lower vacuum, AE and PE. You may need a VRFPR to get it to idle better.

thatclappedsilverado said:

95 and its an nv3500 and all the people i emailed that made chips for the tbi trucks kept telling me that my cam was way too big for the tbi.

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There is the EBL Flash-II which tunes its VE tables automatically. A more aggressive SA table helps too. Unfortunately it doesn't support an electronically controlled trans but, with your NV3500, it should work. I guess the question is, how much do you want to spend?

thatclappedsilverado said:

So about 8 months ago i had put a 'built' 350 in my truck. I went the carb route at the time because i kept getting told no one could burn a chip for my truck but im to the point to where i would like to take this motor out and put another one in. We cut out alot of the harness in the engine bay because it was unneeded. Its pretty reliable as it is but id rather put another stock motor in. and go back to the tbi efi. my truck had a 305 originally. SO i guess my question is would it be worth it to go back to efi and stock or leave the carb in it and just have to deal with the bs of winter starting.

Click to expand...

Tbichips will burn you a custom chips. Dude has mixed reviews but I bought one from him with good luck.