Ford 302 Carb or TBI? What's your opinion?

Hey all,

I have a 1961 Ford F100 that has a 302 bored .030 over. I got the engine from a guy that parted out his old Mustang after it had been rear ended so bad that the rear bumper ended up in the back seat. The engine was originally out of a 1987 Ford and I believe it had fuel injection. The previous owner had built up the engine (and modified it with the overbore) and put the biggest 2bbl on it that I've ever seen. My gas mileage is about

  1. Should I consider Throttle body fuel injection or go to a 4bbl carb ? What do you all think?

Gary Reeder

Reply to
Gary Reeder
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Reply to
FordBlueBlood

I'd go with the 4 barrel just for simlpicity. You can try different jet sizes to get the best mileage out of the primaries, and still have the reserve power from the secondaries. I once bought an old Impala wagon from a guy who had tweaked the hell out of the carb, and it got 19 MPG on the highway with a 350, no overdrive, and weighing more than most pickups do today.

Sean

Reply to
Sean Conolly

|> I have a 1961 Ford F100 that has a 302 bored .030 over. I got the |engine |> from a guy that parted out his old Mustang after it had been rear ended so |> bad that the rear bumper ended up in the back seat. The engine was |> originally out of a 1987 Ford and I believe it had fuel injection. The |> previous owner had built up the engine (and modified it with the overbore) |> and put the biggest 2bbl on it that I've ever seen. My gas mileage is |about |> 12. Should I consider Throttle body fuel injection or go to a 4bbl carb ? |> What do you all think? | |I'd go with the 4 barrel just for simlpicity. You can try different jet |sizes to get the best mileage out of the primaries, and still have the |reserve power from the secondaries. I once bought an old Impala wagon from a |guy who had tweaked the hell out of the carb, and it got 19 MPG on the |highway with a 350, no overdrive, and weighing more than most pickups do |today.

If you have the old #4412 Holley 500 cfm 2-bbl, you can improve fuel mileage on it a lot. They are jetted rich at the factory. I went through this years ago. Here'a what I did.

Stock jets were #75 or so. I went down 2 sizes at a time until it bogged, then went back up one step. Power valve was #85 stock, which opens at 8.5 inches of vacuum. Changed to 6.5. Seems like I may have had to go back up another step richer. You might even get a 2-stage power valve for finer tuning. Fuel squirt cam. Get the carded assortment. The original cam is the most aggressive one. Find the mildest one that won't bog. May have to revisit the jets for best compromise.

I was able to get back to 20 mpg on the highway with a 289 Mustang, plus it ran smoother and still had the additional HP. Total cost was around $25, with lots of jets etc left over. Note that the OE Ford 4-bbl was either 390 or 470 CFM. Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B
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Ford 302 Carb or TBI? What's your opinion? Group: alt.trucks.ford Date: Sat, Oct 11, 2003, 10:02pm (CDT+5) From: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net (Gary=A0Reeder) Hey all, =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0I have a 1961 Ford F100 that has a 302 bored

030 over. I got the engine from a guy that parted out his old Mustang after it had been rear ended so bad that the rear bumper ended up in the back seat. The engine was originally out of a 1987 Ford and I believe it had fuel injection. The previous owner had built up the engine (and modified it with the overbore) and put the biggest 2bbl on it that I've ever seen. My gas mileage is about
  1. Should I consider Throttle body fuel injection or go to a 4bbl carb ? What do you all think? Gary Reeder . . Gary, Why not use the set-up that it came with and see if that ain't enough to scare the shit out of you before making any changes.

jest curious...

Marsh ~wonders what Gary's putting it in~

Reply to
Marsh Monster

If the motor was EFI, there could be mny reasons for the bad milage, the efi valve covers don't have a provision for a pcv valve, I found it makes a huge difference on idle quality and milage if there is a valve instead of just a line to the carb.

nic

Rex B wrote:

Reply to
Nic

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