I think

I assume that you remove the accelerator cable from all your carbuerated engines then? They have the same cable to the throttle plates that a FI vehicle has.

Yeah, yer right. I only put 260,000 miles on two of those cable thingys. Well on my way on another. All Toyotas.

Godd thing they aren't GMs, you'd be replacing it every 40,000 miles.

Well, my Toyotas are relative spring chickens -- 220k on the '89 Camry, unknown but thought to be in the mid hundreds on the '86 Camry. Few problems, all age/mileage appropriate, none concerned with the fuel injection. These front-wheel-drive sedans have some parts that are no fun to get even on the Four, but a RWD truck should be a lot easier. If the owner kept clean oil and a quality filter in there, and changes the timing belt at the specified interval, the Toyota products of that era can soldier on for a LONG time.

Cheers,

--Joe

My 1978 Dodge van has an accelerator cable on it? The van has a cable for the hood release, I keep that cable well oiled too.I am going to figure out how to make a tool so I can open the hood in case the cable breaks.I will keep the tool inside a junk box I have in my van.

I have owned three old air cooled engine VW's before.The first one was a

1961 VW van I bought at Steakley Chevrolet in Killeen,Texas in 1965.The other one was a 1963 VW beetle I bought when I came home on a three day leave from Fort Hood,Texas in 1965.The other one was a 1970 VW van I bought in 1981.The clutch cables on those old model VWs do break occasionally.I replaced two of them on the 1963 VW beetle car I used to own.Nowadays there are hydraluc clutch kits available for those older model VWs. cuhulin

I dunno... we have a 90 Beretta that's got 245,000km. Original injectors. Original fuel pump. Total maintenance on FI issues. $0. We have a 90 1/2 Ton that's about the same mileage. Same maintenance. they start when it's 30 below and 90 above.

Did I mention that the total maintenance on the FI systems of both vehicles consists of a yearly bottle of FI cleaner?

And your neighbour's truck... is 21 years old... the wires haven't broken yet.

Carbs died out around 89 in new cars.

Ray

That neighbor guy next door to me, he keeps his 1987 Toyota pickup truck spick and span.(I wish I could say that about my 1978 Dodge van, I am a rough and ready kind of a dude) [Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders] He does a valves adjustment on his 1987 Toyota pickup truck at regular intervals. cuhulin

In my opinion, Carburetors on road vehicles are better than (there are exceptions, some of those Airplanes/Aircraft) fuel injection any Day.Only my opinion. cuhulin

I don, t agree with you on this, Cuhulin...at least not fully.

When fuel injection systems are working properly, you will get better power, better torque, better gas mileage, better starting, etc.. You can drive through mountains or across deserts with a good FI engine and have good performance that a carburetor cannot normally provide.

I am not talking about throttle body injection, obviously. I had TBI on a Fiero 4 cylinder and the engine always ran rough, got poor mileage, was weak.

My next adventure was on a Buick 2.8 litre with tuned port injection and this little sucker ran like a V8, and got 35 mpg regularly. (Now, this was one of the most failure prone cars I ever owned, but it wasnt the engine that failed...Tranny, water pumps, many alternators, transmission twice, steering unit, and on into infinity). This was one of the most economical and responsive engines for its size I have ever had.

If you have to start replacing injectors, GM fuel pumps, computers, then the costs can mount up

Replacing throttle body, or other fuel injection parts, [[how much does those fuel injection related fuel pumps cost?]] some tools/diagonistic thingys I do not own,,,, bouque piaster.Convince your's truley why I should go that big money new fangled (new to me, anyway) route, stuff I know nothing about.This old cat is to old to get s.....d by a kitten. cuhulin

On that older Buick, the fuel pump, installed, cost me $140...Much better than the modular units of today.

I should have replaced the injectors at about 150 000 miles, but never did. They were about $60 each at that time, so $360 total, and anyone could do it.

My 318 Dodge van really has been super with the fuel injection.. It gets very decent mileage, considering, (17-18 mpg highway), has plenty of power. Again, this is not the throttle body injector, but rather the multiport fuel injection system. Unlike the Buick, this car has never given a lick of trouble.

You would probably spend a lot of money trying to retrofit a modern fuel injection system. You could probably stick with the carburetor for next to nothing, but the performance and economy will not likely compare with the FI. \ You could probably buy a decent van with the modern engine for a couple of grand.

If you want to stick with a carb on a newer engine, you could go GM. You can buy a 4 barrel intake setup for the Gen-III V8.