Cascade Crew

aaron_sK · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:37 am Post subject: Red IROC in Tacoma

Anybody know whose bright red IROC was sitting out behind Premier Collision waiting for paint?

It had a 2" cowl hood in black primer and maybe some sanding had been done on the nose. Didn't get a good look at the rest of the car.

Al Hasse · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 1:40 pm Post subject:

Probably belongs to Grant Duchesne. His facebook page says he's in Tacoma. Swapped a 305 TPI for a bored over 350 with Vortec heads, Edelbrock Air Gap RPM intake and 68CFM Quick Fuel carb. His latest pics of the car on FB are without the hood and has a cowl hood ready to go on.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/engine-swap/690696-305-tpi-350-vortec.html

aaron_sK · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 2:47 pm Post subject:

People converting an EFI car to carburetor and running a stock 700R4 in the year of our lord two thousand and fourteen.

What a world. No no no...

That is certainly the car. The sanding on the nose and the licence plate in the window are dead giveaways.

It really is a shame about the drivetrain. The rest of the car looks great.

Alphius · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:42 pm Post subject:

Sure is a shame. I guess some people just can't handle EFI. Razz

Twilightoptics · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:09 pm Post subject:

Cheaper. Especially when ditching a 305TBI unit.

aaron_sK · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:42 pm Post subject:

TPI car, not TBI. But even if he did:

EBL Flash is $350.
TBI off some old pickup is $40 at the yard.

With the TPI IROC as a base it's even cheaper. A used stealth ram can be had for $300~ish and the LT1 intake is under $200. A chip and adapter from Moates is only $55.

All this versus a Quick Fuel 680 for $420 off Jegs, plus the regulator, lines and whatever else.

EFI, baby. Spend less money, make moar powah. Get down and Boogie!

Alphius · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:59 am Post subject:

I can see staying carb for simplicity on a factory carbed car, but throwing away a perfectly good multi-port EFI system for a carb is silly.

Just LS swap everything. And if you put a carb on it I will find you and put the factory intake/PCM back on while you sleep. Razz

Twilightoptics · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:13 pm Post subject:

Oh.. said TBI up top.

aaron_sK · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:27 pm Post subject:

Ahh, now I see that there was a typo in Al's post. Makes sense now. Laughing

Al Hasse · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:00 pm Post subject:

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 7:24 pm Post subject:

aaron_sK · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 8:03 pm Post subject:

Silly theoretical question:

Gen1, Vortecs, mild cam and HSR

vs.

Gen3, stock except dual plane, Holley 4150 and timing control

You must daily drive it year round in the PNW. Which would you run?

chevymad · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 8:39 pm Post subject:

It'd be a wash. There's no problem driving a carb'd car any time of year. Big cam will screw up how either one runs. Heck my 74 doesn't even have a choke and will idle after a minute or 2 of playing with it.

That said, a megasquirt running mpi on the poncho 400 keeps niggling at my brain.

Twilightoptics · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 9:28 pm Post subject:

Efi hands down.

No "playing with it"

Ls just has better potential for all things.

chevymad · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 5:26 am Post subject:

Ls is definately better. But I didn't have to play with the truck at all and drove that every day. Fire it up and drive away. Firebird is amazing that it runs as well cold with no choke at all as it does. Blue firebird.. it needs more run time lol. None of these would I have any trouble running in any weather here. They aren't some asian piece of master engineering with most everything plugged off by some hack who wonders why it won't run right anymore.

Removing modern engineering from an LS is stupid. Removing tpi or tbi.... there are reasons. Though I'd just mod a tpi if that was my starting point.

Alphius · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 7:19 am Post subject:

My truck (350 w/Q-Jet) starts great, set the choke and turn the key and it will run and drive immediately 98% of the time. EFI bumps that to 99.9%. They both take work to get there if you're not running an OEM setup, but the carb takes a screwdriver and EFI takes a laptop.

I appreciate EFI and don't care for carburetors. I'm not gonna go out of my way to "fix" a good running carbed vehicle with EFI just because it is carbureted but I also wouldn't get rid of a working or salvageable EFI system in favor of regressing to a carb. Why use old tech when you can use new tech? With an EFI LSx it's all relatively modern.

If you have a built EFI GenI you could have had an LSx for the same money with much better mileage and driveability. If you have a carbed LSx you're missing the point.

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2320

Alphius · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 7:57 am Post subject:

A decade ago it was a different story, I agree.

aaron_sK · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 8:54 am Post subject:

Even now for a true budget build in an older chassis an SBC with a carb is the best you're going to do.

Look at James' recent build. For a $800 and two weekends of work he will be making somewhere in the 220-240 neighborhood once he gets his tune dialed in. There are few engines that will make that much power at that pricepoint.

If his car was already wired for TBI/TPI then it would make much more sense (and be cheaper) to put the existing intake on the new longblock, but in this case carb was the way to go.

FWIW if I had to chose between the two engines I listed, I would take the LS every time. I have daily driven a carbed car many times, and I know how to tune a carb. I imagine the economy would be similar once the tune was dialed. I got 20mpg freeway with my 350/TPI driving like a maniac, I know I could match or beat that with a Holley on an LS.

Alphius · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:03 am Post subject:

James' car is a perfect example of why I said I wouldn't necessarily get rid of a carb setup that works good. Same reason my truck still has a carb. It works fine. If something breaks on my truck though you can bet I won't be putting a carbed 350 back in.

Why would you put a carb on an LS since it is so easy to make it run with the factory PCM? For the cost of a carb, MSD ignition box and intake you can get a HP fuel system going and wire in the factory PCM and probably have change left over for a copy of HPTuners.