Carb vs. EFI

[mephi]

I've been trying to figure out if I would get any major advantage by converting over to EFI. I just picked up an '87 DX, but I have access to a whole '87 LXi that will be junked soon. Emissions aren't an issue in the county I live in at this point in time.

Basically which would be better for power and which would be better for mileage. I expect gas prices will go back up now that the election is over...:lol:

It's been a while since I started a thread here, so if this needs to move, please feel free.

[OldSkoolA20accord]

Well the carb had like 3428372085724095245 vacuum hoses. And the carb has trouble starting sometimes. well mine did.

EFI has more power but at the same time more weight. I have a DX and my friend has an LXi. both Hatches. Its neck and neck when we race. I do have a full exhaust and k&n filter. he just has an intake.

beside converting from what i hear is a bitch/PITA

[A18A]

if you enjoy working on the car then you can do a efi swap :) i like my efi more than i liked my carbs

[OldSkoolA20accord]

would you say its worth it?

[A18A]

in my case i had a broken carbed engine, so the conversion was deffinately worth it for me. not to mention i had all the parts & time to do it. but if you're not too experienced and your carbed engine runs mint, then it will probably pay to not fix what's not broken.

oh yeah i'm too lazy to extract any real horsies out of a carb so just went with the stock efi system lol

[88Accord-DX]

Just put a weber on it. Unless you live at home & have nothing better to do with your time like ^^^^. lol

[A18A]

^pretty much summed it up haha

[mephi]

I've got a week and a half, and I'm a mechanic, so time and experience aren't really an issue. I'm just wondering if pulling the wiring harness and dashboard and all that stuff is really worth the time.

The funny thing is, I have nearly no experience with carbs. This would be an interesting learning experience, but I would really like to squeeze the best mileage out of this thing that I can.

I'm pulling the motor out tomorrow to check the main bearings and fix an oil pan issue, change the timing belt, replace the valve stem seals, etc, etc. No one ever takes care of their car properly.

Agh...wires...

[2oodoor]

weber dude, much better...unless.. If you want to go with a turbo or fancy laptop tuning later on, then I suggest efi.
wow you have been a member a long time, ?????

thing is too, most younger mechanics and techs I know have no clue about carbs, even though they are sharp as hell in other areas, with carbs they are lost. I dont really understand that phenomena either because so many techs got started with small engines which have carbs..

[mephi]

I had an LXi way back. Found 3geez, messed around with it, then sold it 2 years later. I needed to get another car that gets decent mileage after my Toyota had a transmission detonate for the second time so I bought a DX. I have everything I need to convert to EFI, I just don't know if it would be worth the time.

Also, it's looking like $250 for a weber, plus the adapter. The donor car is only going to cost me $100 and a lot of time.

[AccordB20A]

if you like fucking around with screws and your car not running right stay carbed
if you want your car to run right and tell you whats wrong with it convert to efi
i personally hate carbs and wish they were never invented, specially the oem accord ones, 473759375 vacum lines and as soon as you break one the motor will never run good again, even if you fix it lol. thats my experience anyways

[Rendon LX-i]

I would go with efi if you dont want to hassel with the carb i know alittle bout it and lol not for me. But i like it on my small block chevy with 13:1 compression. But its all what you want to do and your plans in the future. Shit go all out ITBS.

[2oodoor]

I had an LXi way back. Found 3geez, messed around with it, then sold it 2 years later. I needed to get another car that gets decent mileage after my Toyota had a transmission detonate for the second time so I bought a DX. I have everything I need to convert to EFI, I just don't know if it would be worth the time.

Also, it's looking like $250 for a weber, plus the adapter. The donor car is only going to cost me $100 and a lot of time.

sounds like you have some experience just get a weber from the JY, and eithr buy the adapter for 60 bucks or just redrill holes on the manifold and get a spacer. You could do that for less than 100 bucks easy. Just look under the hood of every 80's import and you are bound to run across one. I have two like that and I know where more are that I left. Admittedly I did pay over 200 for a used 38 which would be next to impossible to find in the JY.

[itzdave]

WEBER FTW!!! i got the 38/38, bought it bran spankin new tho. runs like a champ! even with this shitty weather that the 'seattle area' has been having lately.
where abouts you live appxly. im on whidbey island.

[mephi]

I'm down in Port Orchard, just south of Bremerton, about 1-2 hours from Whidbey. We got a little over a foot of snow over here. It was great fun in my Jeep. Never seen this much before, and I'm only at like 200' elevation. Doesn't the weather have a major effect on carbs? Have to tune them for the winter and the summer from what I hear.

[rjudgey]

Well here we are again the famous Carb vs EFI debate!!

Well if you want cheap all out performance then keep what you got and get a weber or two!! If you want economy weber 32/36 or dick around with the EFI car you got. Definately pull the engine as the EFI one has higher CR ratio which you could put to use and increase by skimming the head and doing some work to the head just to make it flow a little better. Also i think the EFI one comes with a better header and downpipe i believe the LX has a 4-1 system and the EFI might have a 4-2-1 system which is better. Also the camshaft is better than the carb one, if engine is in good nick just swap the whole unit over and then drop the car manifold onto it and the weber. With a Weber DGV 38/38 with a mild camshaft, some head tidying, bump in CR ratio from skimming head, header, and exhaust system you should see 130-140bhp with 130-135lbft and to be honest the gas mileage wouldn't be much less than the EFI system if anything if tuned properly might be as good with 32/36 could be more mileage than EFI if tuned right!! With carbs it's all in how well tuned they are to the engine and how well you manage to keep of the gas pedal and how well you can drive with economy in mind!!
My two Weber DCOE 45's can be reasonably economical but moment i stick my foot down you can see the gauge drop!! In my car which weighs 900kg's if i drive normally i get around 250miles to 45 litres of fuel. Which i think isn't too bad for something thats around the 180bhp mark with a CR ratio of only around 8.5:1!! Oh yeah if you increase your CR ratio economy goes up too!!

[mephi]

Does anyone have the numbers on gas mileage and power for both a Weber carb and the EFI setup?

[2ndGenGuy]

I've been driving my Weber-powered hatch around in this crap weather as well. I just took it on a road trip from here to Arizona and Back. Took it up over 4000 foot passes on I5 and all the way down to sea-level here in Olympia. Went from 75 degrees outside to below freezing in a matter of days. My car didn't run like shit at all, though I will admit that I did bust out the flathead screwdriver when I got home and turned the adjustment screw about 1/8 to get rid of a super tiny slight stumble that didn't even affect how the car ran and drove.

In fact, I can't think of a single carb-related problem I've had since I got the carb dialed in and running.

[rjudgey]

once their set adn tuned properly and they haven't done very high mileage weber carbs are great!! Just add fuel and throttle cable job done fantastic things and aren't that bad on gas it's just most DGV 38/38 are found on V6 Jeeps so they are jetted big for that engine on the little honda you need to put smaller jets on and run much less rich but that all depends on what you done to your engine if you got mods then yes you need to tune it appropriately trouble is most people think it's somethign you just bolt on and forget no that is not the case just the same as having an ECU you change something you need to adjust to compensate.

[2oodoor]

Hey 2ndGenGuy, you needed a screwdriver ? I can turn every weber I have with my fingers, no tools needed. And mention here also you are talking about a three second adjustment, not taking anything apart ,, just open the hood and reach back and turn just a hair to compensate for the colder weather.

I dont have any dyno numbers, but my MPG on the Lx automatic car it was 29 all day long no matter how I drove it, that carb was never really tuned perfect to the car either (32/36 DFEV) Then I put the DGV-5A on, got a huge increase in power (also a 32/36 ) and mileage seemed to pick up some although I never had time to measure it.
On the DX 5 speed. with a 38 weber , stock exhaust 4-1, worn out head.. still get over 30 mpg but it is real easy to make it go down by running out the gears. The 38 needs very little throttle to make the car move, it can run on the idle circuit up to 3K rpm most of the time.

If you are used to doing this kind of work then swapping to efi shouldnt be too big a deal for you, it is mostly changing out the main harness and doing a neat job of running wires. If you are not a wire guy, then you may be in for a drawn out ordeal.

[2ndGenGuy]

LOL my mixture adjust screw is not that easy to turn with my finger and thumb. It's probably all that extra room you 3geez guys have in that massive engine bay of yours. So you can get the proper leverage on it.

[itzdave]

yea i got the 38 and drove from oklahoma city(high altitude, temp 70+sih) to whidbey island(sea level, temp 30ish) and thru mountains and whatnot. did great the whole drive and 37MPG!!!!!!!! but once i got to my place on the island i had to BARELY tweak the carb just to even it out due to the changes. but it runs great, and starts easily every time! even when its below 30 degrees.