Bee Jay

I'm an old school freak. I love my carbed 79 Vette. But comparing fi to carb is like apples and oranges. Sure, a carb can match fi for max performance, but fi does so much more and better. The new Z06 hauls *** and is my performance goal for my 79. Yea, I know, good luck with that. But the Z06 does it while meeting 2007 emission requirements, does not qualify for the gas guzzler tax, and my Mom could drive it! Try all of that without fi and some other modern advances. FI, hydraulic roller cam, and an aluminum block, hydraboost brakes, and a paddle shift 4L60E, are all on my wish list.
The question we should ask ourselves is why do we do all of these expensive mods on our C3s when C5s can be had so cheap? A cop pulled up next to me on the way home from church yesterday. We made eye contact and I waved. When the light turned green, I pulled away leisurely. He hung back, obviously to check my tags and exhaust. When he pulled up beside me again, we made eye contact again. This time he gives me a big grin and a thumbs up. I drive my car maybe once a week. Something like that happens every time, especially when I gas up. We would have to drive $200k Italian exotics to get that kind of enthusiastic response that often from kids and adults. I bet Bankok Dean and Panic enjoy it even more than we do here stateside. I will continue to integrate high tech parts onto my Vette and enjoy driving it for the rest of my active driving years. A rough day at the office, or a rough day at home needs, no requires, a Harley ride or better yet, a C3 Corvette drive. Makes everything better.
My opinion only. Your results may differ slightly.

moosie982

Could not have said it better, the lines, the shape, the curves are just so dam "senseous" . You have a good handle as to why,,,Peace, Moosie

BBNJKen

I'm about to go down the LM-1 path to set up a 600 Holley equipted 72 BB. Any recommendations as to what to read, other than the LM manual or the threads on the Innovative website forums?



BB NJ Ken

bb69

A big chunk of the comments in this thread are being made by people that don't know of all the different FI options. I have a Megasquirt FI system. This is a so called do it yourself system. My dad soldered all the parts together, and we both did the installation. I made brackets to hold the crankshaft position sensor and the ignition coils. I also installed the fuel pump and return line, various relays, and the new intake manifold and fuel rails. Now, I have complete control over the fuel and ignition maps. It is up to me to make the car run the way I want it. How is that different than someone setting up a carb? Not every FI system is something you just pull out of a box and it runs. I don't take it to a service tech when in breaks. Since I know exactly how the system went together, I can fix it.

The comments about being a computer nerd to tune FI are pretty far off as far as I am concerned. I pull up a map with the engine running. I move the mouse over the point the engine is currently at, and I either add fuel or take it away until I get what I want. How hard is that? The Megasquirt (and most others) system allows you to make direct changes. I don't drill holes and change metering rods, I simply tell the computer to change the amount of fuel. And, I don't make sacrifices in another part of the map when I do it.

karioth

EFI is better for performance, reliability, long term cost (sometimes short term as well), operational efficiency, maintenance simplicity, accuracy for fuel delivery, accuracy of fuel concentration... etc. etc. etc.

all that being said my car is carbed for the sake of being old school, if i had to drive my car at all frequently, i would definitely want EFI. I cant tell you how many times its taken a good 30-60 seconds for me to fire the old girl up, and every rev im just imagining my ring wear

but all personal preferences aside, i think you would have a really tough time arguing that old technology is "just as good" as cars that benefit from newer technology.

Bee Jay

Good point. Of course not all new technology is good technology. I remember when Zora was unsucessful at getting GM to agree to mid engine. At the time it was thought that all future sports cars would be mid-engine or rear engine. 40 years later, Ferrari is making front engine rear wheel drive. Also, all high performance engines would be dual overhead cam, four valve per cylinder, 8,000rpm beasts. Chevy stuck with simple overhead valve, single cam, and Vettes are back to 7 liters again. It's back to the future. Another thing I like about the Chevy Corvette is that the newer Vette technology and parts can be adapted to older Vettes. My car has C5 Z06 wheels, C4 tranny, fiberglass rear spring, and soon an LT4 Hot Cam.

Clint's C3

I bought an LM-1 so I could work on my CFI, the most user unfriendly to tune system I have ever seen, especially when you shoot nitrous.

Once I changed to Holley carb and Edelbrock manifold, I found I was runnig slightly lean. I changed the primary jets from 65s to 68s, it took <10 mins and expense of <$15 and I'm crusing at 14.7, stoichimetric, A/F mixture and > 20 mpg. You can't beat that.

I love my LM-1 so much I mouted it semi-permanently.

63mako

I must be "Old School"

MotorHead

How did you mount that LM-1, got any other pics of it ?

Clint's C3

I do! I fabbed the mount from carbon fiber/ epoxy but you could build the same shape from sheet metal. I put velcro on the top of the box and the LM-1. The side piece slides between the passenger seat and the console. As you know, the LM-1 unplugs easily. I remove or hide the whole assembly when I have to leave her unnatended.

MotorHead

Cool idea, I am going to make one

Bullshark

Space age Carbon fiber epoxy?.....Holley carb......come on Clint, can't you make up you mind? You going to be "Old school" or not



Bullshark

Big2Bird

Clint's C3

My life is a paradox.

Budman68

I thought that was funny also.

karioth

Well your points though are arrangement issues and sizes, which isnt a fair comparison to relating EFI vs carbs. Yes corvette has gone back to 7.0 litres, but that new motor is nothing at ALL like the old one. That would be a valid point if they were slapping the old 454's back in but thats just simply not what they did, those two motors are nothing alike other than their displacement.

As for mounting that strickly a design/preferance issue, there are pros and cons to each, and Porsche's Carrera GT (which is possibly the fastest street legal car you can buy atm) uses a mid-engine, AWD (I think, maybe RWD) setup. But a lot of people dont like the noise and handling changes that come from this. it all comes down to personal preference, I think AWD handles better but I dont WANT it to handle awesome all the time . Anyone who owns a C3 is clearly not concerned with what "works" the best as these car are very inefficient and un-reliable (wives anyone?), but we love them anyways (wives anyone?)

not trying to bash you down or anything i just think the point there was a little off-topic

MEGALADON

I also Like the look of FI

MEGALADON

Did I forget to say FI ROCKS !!!!!

Bee Jay

Why go high tech when old school is just as fast?
How are my comments off topic?

OzzyTom

One big plus for modern hitech FI computer managed installations, is the ability to have multiple tunes which can be exchanged very quickly to provide reliable and optimised tunes for various specific activities....

a tune optimised for good street performance or economy on pump gas
a tune optimised for circuit racing/motorkhana using higher octane fuel
a tune optimised for drag strip using racing fuel and/or NOS etc

You can't do that easily with a carby!

The tune in old school carb setups is optimised for one scenario only,
or compromised to deal with multiple uses.

Having said that, most of us who have C3's don't use them as daily drivers, and accept the compromise.
After all, there's a lot of other compromises we accept which we put down to the idiosyncrasy of driving a classic.