I will replace GM TBI to a Carburetor

I will replace the GM TBI to a Carburetor if it's the last thing I do. I'm trying to post this without using any cus words, because I hate fuel injection more than anything else I can think of.

I have driven for 43 years, and it was not until about 4 years ago that I even drove a vehicle with fuel injection. Until this first FI car 4 years ago, I have always had carburetor vehicles. I swear, in all the years I drove cars, there have only been four times I was not able to "limp" home my car when it was not running right.

Of those 4 times, on two cars the timing chain broke, the third was an odd problem, the counter weights inside the distributor came loose and wore thru the distributor till the top of the dist fell off. The 4th was when a fuel leak caused the engine to burst into flames. That's it. All the other times I have broken down, I could limp the car home. Ok, there was another time when the mechanical fuel pump quit, but I walked to a parts store, bought a new pump, and replaced it right on the roadside. Back then, it was simple to replace a fuel pump. Two bolts, two lines a gasket, and $20 for the parts, plus a half hours time.

Then came the fuel injection systems. The curse from hell is a better name for the f#$*&% things. I had this nice little Oldsmobile car which ran great until the god forsaken fuel pump crapped out on me. Of course I was out in the country, 7 miles from home, the winter temperture was 25 below zero. I had to walk home, and almost lost my life that night from hypothermia, and ended up in the hospital for frostbite. When those damn in tank pumps die, that's it, you walk, and those fuel pumps are cheap plastic toys. Not something anyone should bet their lives on, yet anyone with a newer FI car does this daily.

These days, every driver needs a cellphone in their car, a membership to AAA, and a lot of luck, especially in winter. You also need a huge sum of money to fix the goddamn FI vehicles.

Replacing the pump in that Olds would have cost me $650 to $850 to have repaired by a mechanic, or $240 for the parts, plus very likely new fuel lines which I was shocked when they told me was another $50, and possibly new tank straps. Not to mention a full days job of misery removing the fuel tank. I junked the car.

Then came my Ford F-150 pickup. Damn in-tank fuel pump died a few days after I bought the truck, and did so at 2am. I had to walk 12 miles, and on the way home, I was picked up by the police for an attempted robbery, (which I had no part in). I was released from the police several hours later when they found the real robber. That truck, which I had just paid $650 for, would have cost me about the same as the car above to replace the pump. The truck had a few other problems which I had intended to fix, but after that pump died, I sold the truck to some hot rodder kid for the engine. I sold it at a loss of $250, and only drove it less than 50 miles.

Now I have a 91 GMC pickup truck. It ran great when I bought it. A few months later it began to misfire and run rough. I smelled gas and looked under it. I found gas dripping from the top of the gas tank. Using a mirror and a light, I saw the leak from the sending unit. I decided there was no way I was going to drop another gas tank. I took a saw and cut a hole in the trucks bed right above the fuel pump & sending unit. I found it would cost me another almost $300 for the complete unit. I found a used unit at a junk yard for $50 and changed it. All was well for about a week, when the fuel pump died. At least this time I was only a mile from home and in warm weather. Well, I opened the tin I screwed over the hole and put my old pump on the replacement sending unit and was back in business.

That repair lasted about a month before the truck just quit running about 5 miles from home. It was raining like crazy. but I happened to be by an auto repair garage, and paid the guy over $200 to pressure test the fuel pump and replace the filter. He claimed the filter was plugged. It ran well, so I didn't thing anything more about it, until about 3 weeks later when it barely ran, sounded like it was running on

3 of the 8 cylinders. I was able to get it to this same mechanic, and was told it would cost me $220 to $350 to hook it to a computer to determine the problem. This did not include any parts or repairs aft er the test. I told him no. Said I could not justify the cost, and I barely got it home. I decided to replace the fuel pump with a brand new pump, but not the sending unit. I paid $78 for the pump and sock filter, but unfortunately this was right at the start of winter and we had some major storms. I knew there was no way I could change that pump with a foot of snow in the pickup bed. Unfortunately the weather never cleared up, and I was without a 4WD truck all winter and lost many days of work because I could not get my car out of the driveway.

Spring arrived, I replaced the fuel pump and that truck ran like a brand new truck for about 2 weeks. Then it suddenly would not start one day. Two days later, after I charged the battery I had run dead, I got it to start. It had no power at all, and died at idle. I was really pissed that day and revved it up to full throttle. It barely made it to full, but suddenly it kicked in and ran fine again. That was until the next day when it refused to start at one of my jobs, almost 40 miles from home. I paid $120 to get it towed home. Someone told me the coil might be the culprit, and replaced that. It ran fine for several weeks. Yesterday I tried to start it. It refused to start. I ran the battery dead (again) trying. I charged the battery and today it still will not start. I had a friend come over and determined it is not getting any gas. (pouring some gas in the TBI makes it run for a few seconds). The fuel pump IS running.

Once again, I have no fuel, with a brand new fuel pump.

Thats it...... I am NOT fighting with this FI shit anymore. Either I buy a truck old enough to have a carburetor, (but they are all rusted out), or I replace this goddamn fuel injection system with a standard carburetor. From what I understand, that means I need an intake manifold from an older 350 eng. A carburetor, and a replacement HEI distributor. I'm sure I can get this all from the local junkyard for much less than even having a mechanic open my hood. I do know I will have to remove the fuel pump and extend the drop tube in the tank. That's easy enough. Then install a common firewall elec. fuel pump. Also easy. My only concerns are the linkages. That could be a trick.

Is there anything else I need to change or modify? I will NEVER buy another vehicle with fuel injection. I'm 60+ years old. I'll drive old carb cars the rest of my life.

After all these nightmares with FI trucks, I have been driving my old carburated Chevy car with no problems at all. It always starts and runs. I HATE FUEL INJECTION !!!!

Reply to
Justin304
Loading thread data ...

Other than being a violation of federal law to tamper with the emissions system (which the EFI is part of along with the converters and ECM) you can do what you wish.

You will need an intake to fit. The trick there is they don't all interchange, depends on which head design that engine has along with how the intake bolts on. The later engines are entirely different.

Fuel wise you would need a different pump, unless this is a TBI sytstem that MAY have a low pressure pump. If that is the case an adjustable regulator may be all you need.

Ignition will be a fun item. Currently it is ECM controlled. So you need to figure out all of it.

Then you also have a problem in that if it is new enough the transmission is also controlled by the ECM and how it is controlling the engine. If it gets the wrong signals the trans won't work.

Reply to
Steve W.

Why are you mad at and replacing the throttle body when all of your problems seem to be with fuel pumps?

Reply to
Bill

my problem is NOT the fuel pump this time. It's a brand new pump. I've driven about 150 miles since I installed it. Yet, not a drop fo gas from the injectors.

And I'm not just slowing off steam about this. It's a legitimate complaint. Like I said, in my first approx 40 years of driving, I was only stranded 4 times, where I needed a tow. I'm referring to engine failure, not something stupid like running out of gas or a flat tire. (of course flat tires and out of gas situations dont require a tow anyhow).

Yet, in the past 4 years, driving these Fuel injected vehicles I have needed a tow at least 8 times due to engine failure. (failure to start or to run). You figure the math. [8 times in 4 years is twice a year for fuel injected, compared to once in 10 years for carburated engines] BIG DIFFERENCE.....

Yet, during this whole time period, my old Chevy station wagon (with carb) has not failed me yet. Always starts and always runs, even in the coldest weather.

On top of that, the price to repair a FI engine is 300% to 1000% higher. Just a fuel pump alone. $20 for one of the old mechanical ones, V/S $78 for an in tank model, and that's only the parts. The labor is 10X harder.

And here's another fact. My 89 Chevy station wagon with carb gets

22.5mpg (miles per gallon) on the highway when properly tuned up and without a load or trailer. My FI 91 GMC pickup gets a maximum of 14 mpg when tuned up and no load. So, dont tell me that FI gets better milage. (The station wagon has a 307 eng, the truck has a 350 eng. Both are approx the same weight when empty).

-----

Aside from this, I was ready to make this change until I found out that the transmission needs to run from the computer too. Besides what you guys said, I phoned a mechanic this morning. So, this means that I either change the entire engine and transmission from an older vehicle, or I hunt down an older truck that still has a good body. I refuse to drive these UNRELIABLE fuel inj. vehicles anymore. If you ask me, they're not only unreliable, but are meant to make both mechanics and tow truck operators wealthy. Someone said I should have a cellphone. Well, that's always a good idea for any emergency, but I drove 40 years without one, and I never nearly lost my life because of a dead car until I got my first FI vehicle. And, cellphone or not, still does not get my vehicle to it's destination, and towing costs a fortune, compared to "limping" a car home. With FI, there's no limping. It dies, and there are no roadside fixes adn no limping them home.

Looks like today I begin shopping for a new carburated truck. I'll get this FI piece of shit fixed for the last time and sell it ASAP, or trade it in. I'll guartantee one thing, I will NEVER buy another FI vehicle.

Reply to
Justin304

Good, that is the route to go. Too much trouble to try switching things in a modern vehicle.

As for myself, I like electronics, so am just now getting *very* interested in vehicles. I was not interested at all with the older vehicles except to do periodic maintenance as needed...

Reply to
Bill

My experience has been that FI is far less troublesome the carburetors and points. Back in the day of carbs and points it was new points once or twice a year to get it running right and then every year to three the carb would need rebuilding. After they went to computer controlled carburetors and pointless distributors the problems mostly went away and you could go many years without dicking with anything. But FI gives far better gas mileage and those computer controlled carburetors were not cheap to replace.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

I just drive a 1969 GMC 2500 that I bought for $350 (mint). I went through all of the critical systems and eventually bought an electronic distrib on ebay for $50 brand new just because I got tired of setting the dwell every couple thou. I have had problems,after the first 5 years of trouble free driving,but these old trucks are very easy(and cheap) to work on. The trade-off is the 12 MPH

Reply to
brianorion

I just drive a 1969 GMC 2500 that I bought for $350 (mint). I went through all of the critical systems and eventually bought an electronic distrib on ebay for $50 brand new just because I got tired of setting the dwell every couple thou. I have had problems,after the first 5 years of trouble free driving,but these old trucks are very easy(and cheap) to work on. The trade-off is the 12 MPH

Diesel wrote. Yes, 70-80s Chevy trucks are the most reliable. But not the most efficient. Im operating a 82 Suburban with a carb motorhome engine. And its reliable. but its still a POS. 10 mpg on a good day. It sounds like he wants carbs and electronic ignition. As far as milage your comparison isnt relevent.

88-92 chevy trucks are the best reliable trucks made ever. And are fuel injected. But milage wasnt up to speed yet. Fi trucks now get over 20mpg. Some are 25-27mpg Everyones not having your issues. If you buy an old used truck the tank pump has many miles on it. You cant know if its been run dry or not. Or sat . After that it seems like your getting bad pumps ( most likely) or are having other issues.
Reply to
None4U

Diesel.

Reply to
None4U

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.