My 2002 LS 2dr 2wd 5 spd Blazer and my motor to soon be installed

[5spdBlzr]

Looking good. It's hard to beat the performance of the LS motors but they don't look as good as a carbed motor.

Thanks, I am probably older than most in here, so I am more old school drag racing. I have drove this thing for 7 years and 180,000 miles with the 4.3(W) motor w/FI and 5-spd. Been a good running reliable truck for the most part, and still driving it today. But I have just received the past few parts I was needing and now it is time to install. I cut no corners with this carb'd motor. I previously had it in a 1989 S-10 Shortbed but was a 355 then 10:1 compression and a rv cam, with intake carb and headers. I got 3 more miles to the gallon than the FI 4.3 that i removed from the truck and in daily driving trim ran 13 sec. pass. smokin the hell out them through 1st and second gear. lol

So I took my old 355, replaced everything except the block. and it has been completely remachined and clearanced, studded 4 bolt main for the 3.75 stroke crank. Fully balanced from the balancer to the flywheel. crank to piston and rods too. Full floating pistons instead of the old style press pin.
I am sure it should pull my harley trailer well, sound great, and tame a few ponies too.. ; )

O BTW! They just went to F.I. in the Pro-stock drag recently.

[Forklift]

well hell, Im on the outside the. I still say Id love a 4.3 "W" engine code out of a 93-94 for my S-15! love it. Of course I could build a carbed V-8 on the cheap for less so

[87s10guy]

looks nice man. can beat that nice carb smell/sound in a newer style vehicle.

[wagonmaster]

Meh, it's nice to have an engine that will run great in any weather condition, at any altitude, and on any gas.
Fuel injected engines are just as reliable as carbed, that's why manufacturers offer 100,000 mile warranties.

That's like saying a two speed automatic is better than a three speed with lockup, or that a three on the tree manual is better than a six speed.

[Harley]

What he said. And that carb'd smell is probably from not having a cat or not burning all the fuel efficiently.

[phatfarmer2]

Meh, it's nice to have an engine that will run great in any weather condition, at any altitude, and on any gas.
Fuel injected engines are just as reliable as carbed, that's why manufacturers offer 100,000 mile warranties.

That's like saying a two speed automatic is better than a three speed with lockup, or that a three on the tree manual is better than a six speed.

but that comes with a spagetti mess of wires, sensors, ecm's, requring a tuner to modify the ecm, computer controlled transmissions, and so on....


both fuel injection and carb have there advantages. a properly tuned carb can perform just as well as any fuel injection, and vise versa.

[wagonmaster]

but that comes with a spagetti mess of wires, sensors, ecm's, requring a tuner to modify the ecm, computer controlled transmissions, and so on....


both fuel injection and carb have there advantages. a properly tuned carb can perform just as well as any fuel injection, and vise versa.

Except that the fuel injected engine will never need to be retuned, whereas with a carbed engine a 1,000 ft elevation change makes it choke on itself.
And an FI engine tells you what's wrong with it, to boot. Carbed engines are a thing of the past, like corded telephones and tube TVs.

[phatfarmer2]

Except that the fuel injected engine will never need to be retuned, whereas with a carbed engine a 1,000 ft elevation change makes it choke on itself.
And an FI engine tells you what's wrong with it, to boot. Carbed engines are a thing of the past, like corded telephones and tube TVs.

thing of the past? then why are most race engines built with a carbs? nascar, dragsters, pro street and so on... just curious how you could say there a thing of the past...

[wagonmaster]

thing of the past? then why are most race engines built with a carbs? nascar, dragsters, pro street and so on... just curious how you could say there a thing of the past...

Actually, NASCAR just went fuel injected http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...u-N7RlT3HL3ZyQ. Top Fuel IS fuel injected. Formula 1 has been fuel injected for forever, same with Indy car and Cart. Same with just about all road racing cars.

As for drag racing, that's strictly straight line, pass at a time stuff. Not like a daily driven vehicle that has to deal with different weather conditions, altitudes, gas quality, emissions, turns, etc.

[phatfarmer2]

its still not a thing of the past! its still being used heavily on modified vehicles! to say one is better than the other is impossible they both have their advantages!

[wagonmaster]

its still not a thing of the past! its still being used heavily on modified vehicles! to say one is better than the other is impossible they both have their advantages!

What's the advantage of a carburator?

[phatfarmer2]

What's the advantage of a carburator?

user friendly, easy to set up, clean looking, no messy wiring and sensors, parts readily available at a speed shop, look awesome, ability to run a manual fuel pump, no cats needed, no smog bullshit, very few components to make it run ( less to break or fail) and easy to diagnose problems, when set up properly years of trouble free driving ahead.

[Harley]

user friendly, easy to set up - what's difficult about plug and play? Lots of great resources out there if you don't want to pay the $$ for a pre made harness

clean looking, no messy wiring and sensors, look awesome - wires can be hidden. Personal opinion really. I like not having a big air cleaner on top of the engine.

parts readily available at a speed shop - F/I parts are readily available at any parts store, eBay, internet, junkyard, etc.

ability to run a manual fuel pump - this about the only advantage, but I'm not completely sold that it is an advantage.

no cats needed, no smog bullshit - These aren't hard to remove and tune out of the computer.

very few components to make it run ( less to break or fail) and easy to diagnose problems - sure a few more components, but diagnosing problems can go either way. I know nothing about carbs, so I wouldn't know the first place to start. With fuel injection I can read codes, grab the manual, and get it sorted out.

when set up properly years of trouble free driving ahead - same goes for fuel injection

[wagonmaster]

I'm going to end this thread jack by saying I've had both.
I don't think a carbed car is any better looking than a well done fuel injection. You still have senders for oil pressure, water temp, fuel pressure, etc., with a carbed car. It's easy to clean up any engine bay. Parts are easily available for FI too. I have to run smog, even with a swap, so that really isn't a point for me. Not too sure why everybody gets so worked up about emissions stuff, it's not really much of an issue with free flowing cats and the few other pieces you need. Funny about the manual fuel pump...must explain why so many people ditch the manual and run an electric. As for components, you have extra jets or metering rods, floats, accelerator pump cams, specific tools for the jets, and you need the knowledge and tools to set your idle, idle adjustment, fuel air ratio, and float levels. Years of trouble free if you don't drive anywhere else but where you set it up. Then you have to readjust everything for it to run right again. Don't have to worry about that with FI, it will run great everywhere all the time. As for reliability, I will say that FI proved itself to be reliable a long time ago, hence why OE manufacturers use it now.

If you prefer a semi controlled gas leak, more power to you.
Personally, there's no reason not to be fuel injected these days.

[phatfarmer2]

user friendly, easy to set up - what's difficult about plug and play? Lots of great resources out there if you don't want to pay the $$ for a pre made harness

clean looking, no messy wiring and sensors, look awesome - wires can be hidden. Personal opinion really. I like not having a big air cleaner on top of the engine.

parts readily available at a speed shop - F/I parts are readily available at any parts store, eBay, internet, junkyard, etc.

ability to run a manual fuel pump - this about the only advantage, but I'm not completely sold that it is an advantage.

no cats needed, no smog bullshit - These aren't hard to remove and tune out of the computer.

very few components to make it run ( less to break or fail) and easy to diagnose problems - sure a few more components, but diagnosing problems can go either way. I know nothing about carbs, so I wouldn't know the first place to start. With fuel injection I can read codes, grab the manual, and get it sorted out.

when set up properly years of trouble free driving ahead - same goes for fuel injection

so to modify a harness, retune an ecm to have the cats and such removed

run more wiring for an electric fuel pump with relays

i can walk in to any auto parts store and ask for an intake manifold gasket, carb gasket, header gasket and just about any other nut bolt and what not, efi parts are not always in stock, as with most newer car parts (not saying all though)

plugging a scanner into the ecm can bring up codes, but those codes can pin point something 100%, that code could be meaning two different problems, but throwing the same code.

more money needs to be dumped into a motor to run fuel injection vs carb.

to me carb wins! im still not saying efi isnt good or unreliable.. im stating why i prefer a carb, maybe thats the confusion.. my next project is getting an factory ls 5.3