I own a ford bronco, well that doesn't matter, what matters is that i have a 351 FORD motor with a carb. I would like to convert the carb into a TBI (throttle body injection) but i know TBI is pretty much for GM motors. What kit is sold for a reasonable price that i can install to make my 351 TBI?
thank you very much

 

Why not put on factory ford multi-point? Ford trucks never came with TB

 

TBI is crap, it would be better to upgrad to FI or get yourself a better carb. it would help what year your driving

 

If he went to FI, wouldn't you need a computor to run it?

 

YES, but thats not hard to find or expensive for that matter.

 

I Have A 1986 Bronco And It Was Fi When I Got It But I Put Different Computers In It All New Jets And It Still Fell On Its Face At 3 Grand. We Convereted It To Carb Off My Old 77 F100 And It Now Performs Up There With The Power Of The Big Blocks So If I Was U I Would Just Find Yourself A Good Carb

 

Fuel injection is a wonderful thing. I would never go backward to carb. On the contrary, I would spend much time and effort to go to f/i. A good carb will definitely be cheaper and you may be happy with it, but f/i runs no matter what incline you are on, is more efficient, and I can drive from here in IL back home to CO and go four wheeling over 10,000 feet elevation and it still runs good.

"reasonable price" is relative, but if you can do the work yourself, it shouldn't be too expensive to go with multi-point. Just get the stuff off a truck at the junkyard, read up on it to decide which truck to look for first. A newer one with Mass Air would be better.

Kemicalburns perfectly phrased the truth about TBI, "TBI is crap" Notice Ford never used it.

 

i've look into EFI (mulit-point) however that is going to coast over 3,000! might as well buy a new engine! lol, u know? is fuel injection really worth pulling it off of a junk yard truck? Does it make that much of a difference off-road? or would a new carb be pretty much just as good? how does everyone's carb work off-road and in elevation? sorry for so many questions, just really confused right now.
thank you very much for your time

 

I would look into getting a donor vehicle if you want to go with FI, you can find a Bronco that was either totaled, or has a blown engine pretty cheap, plus this way you would have the computor, wire harness, MAP sensors etc.
Even if you buy a new motor its not going to come with the FI equipment on it. Crate motors come complete minus the intake and all the fuel componets.
Elevation does effect your carburator due to the air being thinner the higher you go, less air means more fuel being dumped into the carb, which boggs down your motor. A MAP sensor on your FI will tell the computor how to adjust for that.

 

A donor truck like desertdave said would be the best deal. If you don't four wheel on extreme angles, or change elevation a whole lot, you might be happy with a carb, especially if you lack the time, ability, or money to go with F/I anyway.

A few months ago I did read about a new carb by Holley or Edelbrock built specifically for four wheeling. For some reason I can't remember who built it, but it was reviewed if Peterson's Four wheel and they said it worked very well off road. I didn't pay close attention because I am a big F/I fan, but I would check into it, maybe someone else remembers more about it.

 

The carb you were thinking about was the Holley Truck Avenger. Holley has a TBI conversion kit called the Commander that looks REALLY interesting. The good thing about the TBI is that you can jam bigger heads, camshaft, headers etc....without screwing up the computer like multi-point. Apparently the whole system can be adjusted by a laptop. I checked Summit and it runs for about $1200

-Matt

 

thanks alot for the help! MatthewC said that the tbi won't get messed up when changing the operation of the motor (heads, cams and so on) is this true? or is it just because you can change it with a labtop? My 351 is stock right now, i want to put either MPFI or TBI into it first then plan to build the heck out of the motor! so the Commander by Holley would be best then?
thank you all for your time very much!

 

No, but does anyone remember the notorious Ford "variable venturi" carburators. It was probably the single worst fuel/air delivery system that they ever employed.

Swapping to F/I is still the better way to go. Yeah you would need the computer setup to run it but, as was mentioned, thats easily found in a donor vehicle. If you go to the trouble, might as well go to mass-air while you are making the swap. Then the camshaft limitations are a non-issue because mass-air can compensate for greater changes in valve timing than the speed density setup. Even speed density can handle a certain degree of change to the cam but the lobe separation is limited. Edelbrock and several other manufacturers make cams that will improve performance without causing problems with speed density F/I.

Higher elevations and off-camber situations will ALWAYS wreak havoc on a carburator for the elevation issues already mentioned and in off-camber situations where the bowl isn't close enough to level to keep fuel siphoning down through the venturis the right way they cause the truck to stall in the middle of crucial hill climbs. I've witnessed this in an early Bronco and it pitched the truck end-over-end because the engine stalled at the crest of a very steep incline.

TBI kills the injectors it uses faster because they fire so much more often. Even the best fuel injectors don't perform well under continuous duty cycle which is what TBI requires to keep fuel moving into the cylinders. MPI fuel injectors fire for much shorter durations and deliver the fuel already atomized directly into the combustion chamber. TBI still has to trickle fuel through the intake like a carburator and by the time it gets to the combustion chamber it has begun to recondense before the compression cycle has finished.

 

I have looked into the truck advenger carburetor by holley. they claim that the carb has flood-freeoperation up to 40 degrees while climbing and 30 degrees during any side hill maneuvers and "nose-down" descents. I think that this sounds good to me since i am only a mild off-roader. They also say that the needle and seats are externally adjustable, is this the adjustments needed to change in higher elevations? check it out at www.holley.com!
thank you for your time, like to hear more info