Has anyone gone from carburetor to efi on their motor. Specifically, I am wondering about which is a better set up Holley or Fitech. Not driving the car enough so I frequently am having to clean the carb out and soak the needle and seat. I currently have a Holley carb on the motor.

 

To help with that problem on my old drag boats, I installed a fuel cut off switch. I would simply turn off the fuel, run the boat on the trailer for about 30 seconds and it would run the fuel from the carburetors. I plan to do the same with my 73.

 

Funny. My buddy just said that this weekend. However, I am running a mechanical fuel pump. Maybe I should think about an electric fuel pump to add the cut off switch.

 

I had a couple boats and hot rods with manual pumps and you can install a nice ball valve in line between the tank and pump and cut off the fuel supply manually. Earls, Russell's and others manufacture nice billet pieces that work great. It's also one of the best anti theft devices. I'll be running my 73 with a mechanical pump with a carburetor and I'll install a manual cut off somewhere in line between the tank and pump that is easily accessible.

 

Thanks that is what I need to try first. So when I go to start it after sitting dry is it a difficult to get it primed again?

 

No not difficult, you just have to crank it a little longer the first time. I always used a good pump like a Holley.

 

Holley pump I s what is in it now.

 

I hope it works as well for you as it has for me in the past, Greg

 

I have installed a Sniper system in my Street Rod and am very happy with it. I used a Tanks Inc tank and pump and plumbed it with teflon braided line. It runs, starts and drives great. I have worked with both systems and I prefer the interface for the Holley. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

I realize this is an older post, but this question comes up an awful lot on various forums. Moving from a carburetor to fuel injection, like anything else, will have its up and downs. The biggest initial downfall is associated cost and a learning curve. Some models that Holley and FITech offer have self learning features so the end user isn't obligated to find a tuner or adjust VE tables. We have installed our fair share of Holley Sniper kits. The install is straight forward, and relatively painless.

Today's EFI conversion kits are far far ahead of where they were even a few years back in terms of user interface. Additionally some companies are making the transition relatively simple by offering fuel surge tanks. The surge tank alleviates the need for baffles or a sumped cell by having a smaller pump feed into an enclosed container that uses one or two larger pumps either internally or externally (think walboro or Bosch 044 style) . the small pump keeps the tank filled to capacity and the engine draws fuel from the surge tank by way of the larger pump(s). This is really helpful for the users who do not want to cut provisions for sumps or run large and sometimes very noisy external fuel pumps. These can be used in either return style or returnless system, and we have had great luck using factory GM modules/ regulators which really helps in the case that parts would need to be replaced for one reason or another.

I hope this helped clear up some of the gray area surrounding EFI conversions. There is obviously more that goes into it, but this is a starting point. Best of luck!

-R