Cascade Crew

83Z28BlackBetty

Hey all, most of you are familiar with my car, but those who aren't. its a 1983 305 that has a carb and intake swap done.

My question, is should i go through the hassle of re-swapping back to EFI.

if so, should i go with TPI, because of the cheap availability of parts, or something different. Money is tight so i can't go dropping tons of money on this, but is it something that i should consider.

Things i'd need:
electronic fuel pump
EFI wiring harness
o2 sensors welded into my exhaust
intake shizzle
everything else associated with efi, sensors, etc.

~JAKE

Twilightoptics · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:49 am Post subject:

Not worth it.

EFI is nice if you're going to be doing cam swaps and tuning and head swaps etc.

If your shizzle runs good now, man just leave it alone.

You'll be in a whole nightmare of chaos.

If you go TPI you need a high end computer, or make sure everything is stock otherwise you'll be adding the GM Chip Burning learning curve to your chaos.

Seen enough guys get as good a milage with the carb as EFI so I don't think there is really any benefit to EFI except for some of the tuning parameters in an N/A motor, but carbs are way easier to dial in. EFI is the way to go for forced induction.

aaron_sK · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:10 am Post subject:

Don't go TPI. The Wall sucks, and your in-town mileage will be about the same.

I'm partial to EFI in general, but my current cars are both carbs, mainly due to the fast & cheap factor. Laughing

If you're thinking about swapping to get better mileage, or to do mods down the road, my advice would be to save up the cash, and do an LS/LQ swap. Solves the mileage and power problems, and you don't have to swap harnesses twice.

iansane · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:29 am Post subject:

I agree. Unless you're having crazy drivability issues that can't be solved with your carb, I wouldn't ditch it for antiquated TPI.

All the really cool kids go LS* anyways.

RSFreak · Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:51 pm Post subject:

I guess I'll play Devil's advocate and say go with TPI. The low end torque alone is worth it! And if you ever go forced induction, the TPIs breathing problems won't be a factor. Very Happy

chevymad · Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 10:07 pm Post subject:

Ya.. go with TPI.. i've got one I'll sell you!!! Razz

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2328

When I was off work at the end of September for the baby I pulled the LB9 out of my red 86. I wanted to do a cheap ring and bearings on it and put it back in, but when I openned it up it was pretty much in need of a full rebuild. So I went and put the heads and TPI onto Bart's old LG4 out of his TA. Moral of the story is that I absolutely love to drive it, and it has less power than it should stock with the dished pistons in the LG4. And 86 was low power anyway.

I think TPI would be a cool setup for your car Jake. I have both that I drive right now. If your gonna get serious about performance in the near future stay carbed or start thinking Lsx of some sort. If your looking at more of a cruiser then TPI would be a fairly simple swap.

I haven't lined them up yet but I think my carbed car is faster than the TPI car. Laughing

Of course it's that whole red vs blue thing.

83Z28BlackBetty · Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:54 pm Post subject:

HEY nice to hear from you Rod! Hope all is well with the youngster!

thanks for the advice guys, I think that because of all the work i've done getting my carb car to finally work (solving the wiring issues and such) i'll leave it the way it is for now. I'm just kinda frustrated with it at the moment. see my other thread in the Garage forum.

But when the car is dialed in again i will be a happy camper Smile

~JAKE