Camaro carb to EFI project

[woody90gtz]

I bought a used EFI kit that came in today, I'm psyched. Everything looks good. Accel DFI with all wiring and computers: Gen7 with SFI and Alpha-N fueling. Even has the o2. And my low-pro Eddy TB linkage clears the rails with no spacer. (Sold off the shiny one...I don't like shiny). Drop base air cleaner also clears everything fine. I had to use a 1" spacer on the drop base to clear my fuel inlet on the carb, and the TB is 3/4" shorter than the carb, so I might even end up with more hood clearance with the single plane manifold than I had with the air gap! Bye bye stupid carburetor.





Current setup with the airgap & carb:


I also bought a pair of AFR 195 CNC heads and roller rockers to make the swap from my carb Vortec intake to traditonal SBC EFI manifold. Unfortunately the heads were not the Eliminators, they were the old style. But I got a good enough deal on them that I got my money back after I sold them. Tony at AFR told me the older style would surrender about 30hp to the Eliminators on a 500hp engine. I was figuring maybe 450hp out of my 355, and it proabably would have been more like 430. Not even worth it when I'm making 400 now.

So, since I'm in the market for new heads and 195s don't really cost any more than 210s or 220s...I'm contemplating a build from scratch. I figure if I can sell the current 355 carb to pan with dizzy and fuel pump included, a nice 421ci forged Dart SHP short block would be nice. Skip white has a crazy cheap price on them. 421ci with a nice roller cam and AFR heads? Should be an easy 550-575hp. Could even crack 600 if I get a little crazy with the cam & compression.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SBC-CHEVY-421-C ... ceRpt=true

[berettaboi]

good enough reason to get the beeretta moving again asap huh? maybe some gas savings? lol

[99GaGT3X00]

good enough reason to get the beeretta moving again asap huh?

haha that will never happen.


good to see you finally joined the fuel injection crowd. gonna miss hanging over a hot motor at the track dicking with jets.

[Money pit Beretta]

Nice! Yeah that Air Gap was more of a hot street engine intake. I have to say I hate that water neck on the new intake. You ever going to get a filter top for that air cleaner?

[woody90gtz]

Definitely not using that water neck - it is ugly as sin. The Accel intake itself is kinda ugly. It looks like they use the same basic casting for traditional SBC and Vortec. You can see the vertical bolt bosses on the outer edges. ProComp has a manifold that is just a hair taller that's a lot cleaner looking. Thinking about selling the Accel & going with that.

That K&N has a filter top, look at the 4th pic. That filter top used to be on the carb, but it actually hurts throttle response by screwing up the airflow to the boosters. Swapping a steel lid back on gained me instant driveability. Will not be an issue with EFI. Same with the single plane intake. They are lazy low in the RPM range with a carb, but with EFI it is irrelevant.

[woody90gtz]

Grabbed a couple pics of the other intake I'm looking at. Looks badass!



Edit: and a pic of the Camaro engine when I bought it...haha

And right after the heads/intake/carb swap...

[3400beretta]

Woody, why you gently caressing around with this old ass crap? Do some reading on the LS engines. Guys are taking STOCK LQ4/LQ9 bottom ends, throwing L92 heads on and changing the cam, and are in the 550+hp range. You cannot beat it. It's like the arguement of building up an old 3.1 or swapping to 3x00. No comparison. Sell your 355 and go LS. You won't ever look back, and you'll spend half the money you would have.

Check it

http://www.planetlsx.com/vehicles/Cheap ... h_L92s/107

And that's with - you guessed it - a good ole fashioned carb.

[Money pit Beretta]

And is that LS hp with race gas? I think woody is still on pump gas.

The filter top screwed up the flow? I would have thought it would have helped, guess not. Oh man I use to hate those tiny Mr Gasket air cleaners. Talk about a flow choker.
Yeah that Pro Comp does look better and I'm still a fan of the air gap style.

[heavywoody]

The article says 93 pump gas. LSX is the way to go, down with old school tech!

[woody90gtz]

I know plenty about the LS engines...I haven't been living under a rock. If I was doing a car from scratch that's probably the way I would go. One consideration though - a SBC does look a lot better between the fenders of a muscle car than an LS.

I've got a bunch of cash tied up in SBC already. To go LS I'd have to get an LS T56 and clutch setup, different length driveshaft, cut a different hole in the floor for the shifter and I'd still have less cubes than the 421 with an aftermarket block. I've also aready done the low mount alt bracket and 100amp alt with elec water pump. The new AFR Eliminator heads for SBC and leaps and bounds better than the old stuff...and really don't surrender much to an LS. And with the forged assy and Dart block, I can always run a 300shot if 550hp isn't enough for me. But at that point, the trans and then the rear end are weak points again.

[bonecrrusher]

[GTU89]

...a SBC does look a lot better between the fenders of a muscle car than an LS...

Ahem, Pony Car.. lmao

Sweet Camaro, I like that gen alot. Engine bay looks much better than when you got it, I hate those stupid silver flexi hoses.

I wanna do EFI on the LeMans sometime down the road then. How much $ did EFI run you?

[woody90gtz]

Too late.

...a SBC does look a lot better between the fenders of a muscle car than an LS...

Ahem, Pony Car.. lmao

Sweet Camaro, I like that gen alot. Engine bay looks much better than when you got it, I hate those stupid silver flexi hoses.

I wanna do EFI on the LeMans sometime down the road then. How much $ did EFI run you?

I hate that term...it's not a Mustang. And it has a lot more muscle now.

I hate anything chrome, but the smog heads really held that engine back. Head/intake/carb swap really woke it up. It was overcammed and undercompressed before...total mismatch.

EFI cost me $1000. $3200 new on Summit. And I sold the shiny TB for $300 and bought the Eddy for $270. So I'm actually in it for less than a grand right now. Gonna shop the Accel manifold and see if I can move it.

[woody90gtz]

Accel manifold is sold and the Hurricane will be here next week.

[wicked-irocz]

Wish I had the money and time to buy/install the vortec heads and intake from you for my truck.