'88 350 tbi.

[jimmybeus]

I have a 1988 350 tbi with a 5 speed behind it. My question is I am going to rebuild it with the help of a buddy and he thinks to throw on a carb and manifold and do away with the fuel injection headache. Is that even possible? I have tried to find something on here about it but the main thing I see is going from carb to fuel injection. That was my first plan but now Im not quite sure. Any advice or ideas would be appreciated. The truck is a '67 GMC with a 292 and a 4 speed. Thanks

[steelhorse]

You would need to get an intake for a 87-95 from someone like edelbrock to put a carb on it.

[Wideopenracing15]

I'd definitely go to carb, fuel injection is great but the headache sucks.

[68gmsee]

Why does the TBI suck? I had thought about maybe going that route...

Seems to me that if it was that bad GM would have stayed with carburetion. I had a TBI olds that lasted over 230K before I got rid of it and never had a problem with injector portion. Sensors is a different story, now.

[jimmybeus]

I was hoping there wouldnt be much to it. Will the transmission work as well? How about the motor mounts? Is there a good place to get mounts from a 292 to a 350? Thanks

[howard_m18]

My project is a 67 LWD that I have under projects. It has a 1988 350 TBI that we changed over to carb. Wasn't a big deal to convert over. It also has a 700R 4 speed auto / Overdrive in it. Here is the link to my build. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=355771
There is a pic. of the engine in it. Howard

[Wideopenracing15]

Originally Posted by 68gmsee

Why does the TBI suck? I had thought about maybe going that route...

Seems to me that if it was that bad GM would have stayed with carburetion. I had a TBI olds that lasted over 230K before I got rid of it and never had a problem with injector portion. Sensors is a different story, now.

It is great. Just the headache of getting it to work sucks

[toms84ss]

If you don't use the TBI set up I might be interested in it.

[Wideopenracing15]

I am a fan of Carbs. Maybe because im just old school.

[68gmsee]

Originally Posted by Wideopenracing15

I am a fan of Carbs. Maybe because im just old school.

I'm definitely old school - in more ways than one - and I like the carbs because it's what I've always worked with. The reason I thought about TBI is there's one available and I thought gas mileage would improve over the Quadrajet on my 69 ---Maybe.

[Wideopenracing15]

And more power. Possibly

[Lugnut64052]

Originally Posted by 68gmsee

Why does the TBI suck? I had thought about maybe going that route...

TBI doesn't suck at all. It's a simple, reliable, injection setup that worked very well on millions of GM cars and trucks from the late '80's to the mid 90's. 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder versions powered bazillions of granny sedans and chick cars through that period also.

Cold start in the winter time is great, driveability is excellent, and they get reasonable mileage. Given an equivalent amount of experience with TBI and with carbs, it's easier to diagnose, sort out and fix a TBI problem than a carb/ignition/tuning problem (in my opinion).

True, you can't build a 700 horse, fire-breathing engine with a TBI setup, but for basic daily-driver operation they're hard to beat.

True, there's not nearly as much "bling" or "wow" factor as with a chromed-up race engine, but to each his own. I enjoy a well-tuned Q-jet. Have on on my '72 at the moment, in fact. But basic TBI sure is nice . . . . .

[unclewatts]

Funny, I'm just like a lot of us 67-72 owners out there who say "Gee I wish I had fuel injection" although I have also read in several past posts that some people have had trouble getting them to work properly. I wonder if a lot of the difficulty is more related to the quality of the FI kit used. I have also heard that some people have had real good luck with the Edlebrock kits. I'm sure that the skill of the installer would play a part in this too. The only gripe I have about aftermarket FI is it's so darn expensive. So I run my Quadrajet.