Carb out EFI in: Part 1

In my experience carburetors work pretty well in an OEM application. I’ve had good luck with small engines and my v8 boats. However, when you build an engine and put an aftermarket carb on top it delivers disappointment. Perhaps it is because I got into modifying the LS platform about 15 years ago and then later LT engines. When you modify those platforms and keep fuel injection you get to have your cake and eat it too. You get your choppy cammed v8 sound, the exhaust doesn’t burn your eyes, spark plugs look perfect after tens of thousands of miles, and you make more power than anybody I know can do tuning a carb.

The previous owner of my the Camaro (who was 61 years old) even planned on switching it to fuel injection and it was my plan as well…just sometime down the line. I wanted to drive my new car after all not turn it into another project! But in spite of the car doing great on the test drive and loading it on the trailer getting it home, it quickly turned into a finicky pain in the ass that reminded me why I said I wouldn’t own another small block.

Could I have spend time and money sorting out the carb? Probably, but it would always be inferior. So I decided against spending a dime on the carb and started looking into EFI options. Naturally the cheapest options are the most appealing like Fitech and Holley Sniper but the more I read about them the less appealing they were. After all, I wanted to switch to a GOOD solution that solves all the issues. As it turned out my timing couldn’t have been better as Holley was having a huge sale and they had Terminator Stealth EFI Systems on sale for $1900 down from $3100. This kit is the Holley HP ECU with the Terminator Stealth TBI unit. The ECU alone is nearly the price I paid for the whole kit.

I was pretty sure I was going to buy a new EFI fuel tank but then I found the Holley OE-Style Fuel Tank Module. It was still 2/3 the cost of a new EFI tank, but since it was internally regulated I wouldn’t need to run new fuel line(s) and could reuse the original 3/8″ factory line for a more convincing “stealth” EFI install. I debated also buying a computer controlled distributor to have the EFI control ignition timing too but I kept finding conflicting information on what would work so decided against spending the extra money for now.

Over the next weeks the parts started arriving and the work began.

Next up: Fuel System.