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350 TBI to carb.

5K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  crussell85 
#1 ·
Hey guys, I found a really good deal on a 95 model crate fuel injected 350. I was really lookin for a carb. motor though. what all is involved in swapping it over? is it jus an intake and distributor or is there more to it than that. Please let me know, thanks.
 
#4 ·
Torque454 said:
couldnt pay me to take the carb, id stick with the EFi, its tons better.
WOW, And this whole time I thought I was the only one, we should start a club but I think it would just be the two of us, LOL. I agree if the vehicle is setup with fuel injection don't go to a carb. But if you need a carburated engine because the vehicle isn't setup for the fuel injection then you could just get an efi to carb adapter plate from summit to bolt the car to the intake. Another thing is the camshaft in fuel injected motors are considered to be "computer compatible". They are designed to work better with fuel injected engines. I don't know if this will affect the performance of it with a carb bolted on or not. Probably not but don't let me tell you because I am not sure, I would like to know if someone else here could tell us. Wheres Bogie?
 
#5 ·
Most of the time its really not that hard to set the vehicle up for fuel injection either. I'm doing a fuel injection swap on one of my fords and there are only a couple of wires that have to be connected. 1 constant hot, 1 ignition hot, a few grounds and a fuel pump wire. Thats about it.
 
#7 ·
If you are planning on taking you Jeep offroad you may want to reconsider staying with the TBI. FI can work even upside down, carbs on the other hand... TBI is not the greatest FI out there, but in your case it'd work quite well and be more reliable than a carb.

Plus your engine will last longer.
 
#8 ·
A jeep is one application that really needs the fuel injection. Carbs dont like to be tipped or flung around a whole lot, it will flood them out. Imagine getting out in the mud or crawling up on a rock and flooding and and not being able to get it to restart. You'd greatly appreciate the fuel injection then!
 
#9 ·
I agree with the sticking with the TBI for off road. I just put the chevy TBI setup on a 351M in my 78 F150 It works great. The old 2 bbl carb would flood out and stall on hills, but the TBI doesnt. The chevy TBI is about the simplest FI setup there is. Not too good for fuel milage compared to multiport, but in terms of reliablity and ease of diagnosis you cant beat it.
 
#10 ·
its going to mainly be a beach cruiser,.. not much off road. but i have access to the entire truck that its comming out of. 4L60E trans. transfercase and 350 TBI and all the computers. Iv never hooked up the electronics on a TBI, thats why im staying away, but what all is involved in running the TBI, with 4L60
 
#11 ·
The transmission should be controlled by the same computer as the engine, so You'd basically need the computer, engine/transmission wiring harness, and all the sensors on the engine or transmission. If you have the donor truck that makes it even easier since you can just get anything extra needed from the truck. You'd have to fix up an electric fuel pump but thats not to bad either. This site, Thirdgen.org and fullsizechevy.com all have good info about TBI swaps if you search around alittle. Google search GM TBI swap and youll be amazed at the amount of info that comes up for chevys, jeeps, toyota, international and fords.

If yours is just a beach cruiser then the carb would be the simplest setup but for any other kind of wheeling (my 78 F150 is a rockcrawling truggy, I shortened the wheelbase to bronco specs and have an exocage on it) carbs suck which is why I did my TBI swap. It will run at any angle and crank at the twist of the key with the TBI. Couple of weeks ago we had ice/snow here and single digit temps which is rare down here in NC and I was going to drive this truck to work cause of the weather. It had been sitting for 3 weeks and it fired in 2 revolutions and idled perfectly its alot harder to get that with a carb (not saying it can't be done, just harder).
 
#12 ·
ya i know how the carbs are in cold weather. I already have a cj7 with a carbed 350 in it and the cold weather we've been getting down here in Louisiana recently is a major pain, especialy running straights and having to idle it pretty high to get it warmed up.... the neighbors know evertime i take the jeep for a lil cruise.... but the 350 in question is going in my dads wrangler,and hes more of a, fire it up and drive kinda person... not really all into the adjusting and all that. but if I can run the TBI i certainly will. I guess it'll just take a little more research. Thanks for the help guys, any more info will be appreciated !
 
#14 ·
If you have the donor truck sitting right there then I think you should atleast try the tbi swap. I mean whats the worst that could happen you have to swap out to a carb. You could even get an adapter plate to bolt the carb on so you could still run the jeep and work on the swap in your spare time. Take your time to run the wiring harness and just stop when you want to, or need to. I think it would be worth a shot.
 
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