Swap or not?: Carby to EFI

[DON SVO]

I picked up a new festy. It's a clean body 89, new carb and a newer B3 from a lower mileage Mazda. It's solid and runs. The old owner didn't know jack about carbs and I need to fiddle with it. Now, me...

I hate carbs. Hate them. Mostly because I'm carb-tarded but also because I cannot stand the idea of jacking with the thing whenever the weather changes of it decides it's in the mood to irritate me. With that said...

I'm an ASE cert'd Ford AC/electrical tech from a past life. I am very adept and working on and diag'ing EFI cars and, to me, they are pieces of cake. I can work on the craziest of EFI issues and sort them out. Carburetors are the proverbial black magic of automotive to me. Now I am VERY hard-headed (AdvancedDynamics, Rectilinear can attest) and a part of me says "Don, use this as an opportunity to learn to love carby Festys !!!!" ... The irritable Don says, "gut that dog of a car and go EFI"

What say you? I seriously consider a tank/lines/harness/intake swap a fun weekend project (yes. Weekend). It will get better MPG and will run much better as an EFI car. However a lot of my carb-knowledgeable friends think I can get the carb car running well and (knowing my urge to know everything via trial-by-fire) be happy conquering my carberphobia. I'll toss this one out to the masses.


TL;DR/Cliffs: have a carb Festiva that needs tuning and want to swap to EFI.

[eurotiva]

Swap

[bravekozak]

Swap an Escort or Weber carb. No ECU needed. All done.

[DON SVO]

Swap an Escort or Weber carb. No ECU needed. All done.

Dallas/Ft. Worth Texas area, emissions testing enforced.

[zoom zoom]

Wiring sounds like a headache, but you seem like the kind of guy who could sort it out...DO IT!

[DON SVO]

Wiring sounds like a headache, but you seem like the kind of guy who could sort it out...DO IT!

Wiring is easy. Power/ground the ECU, drop in the entire engine bay harness, swap intake manifold, fuel lines and tank, wiring for fuel tank. Fire up and drive. IT'S THAT EASY!

[chrisofna]

I thought after 25 years they don't require emissions?

[georgeb]

Plenty of EFI models out there. No need to create one.

[DON SVO]

I thought after 25 years they don't require emissions?

That would be my 2014 inspection.

[Hot_Wheels]

i vote for run the carb! I tried swapping harness between 2 year festivas and it was a pita! Thought we would be able to just unplug the old harnes and run the new engine harness, ones we got the new engine harness in the engine harness would had different connectors where it met with the dash harness, so then we pulled the dash harness to get that conected, one we got the dash harness and engine harness together we found the body harness has different plugs and would match with the dash harness, had to pull the carpet, never got it done. Sold the car! you will need to swap the fuel injected fuel tank in.

In all the festivas i owned i never had any issues with the carb festivas, I actully think they got better mpg then the efi cars i had!

[FestYboy]

carb... there's no reason it can't net the same MPG as EFI cars, and there's no rev limiter either (hint hint)

[Christ]

Stick with the carb. Later, after it's emissions exempt, and if you want EFI, swap the entire electrical system from a bike (GSX1300R or similar) onto and and get a much stronger ignition system, ITB's and the ability to do simple add-ons for more power out of the same size engine.

Also, no worries about rev limits... the B3 will NEVER hit 13k RPM in it's original trim.

[Afro]

I've just finished a carb to EFI swap (although to a BP swap but it uses the B3 harness) and it was a fair bit of work but nothing too complicated. As Hot Wheels mentioned, a few plugs are different, but you just have to pull the pins out of the plugs and swap them (the wires share the same colour so it's easy to do, and only one wire needs to have it's pin swapped to a different sized pin on the dash plug - solder away!). I ended up swapping the body harness on mine because the old one was a little rotten, but after careful examination, the only difference was the fuel pump plug (obviously the carbed one has no power and ground to the pump, so either wire it in separate or swap out the harness - which is a big enough job, but again not hard). You will need a new tank because the fuel pumps are different, and here all the wreckers punch holes in them, so that wasn't an option for me. Could have gone with an external pump but my friend welded up a EGT fuel pump onto the carb fuel pickup plate for me.

All that being said, I am a certified tech too and I suffer the same carbyphobia and would jump at the opportunity to learn. I don't have time right now and wanted a BP so I didn't go that route, but I've always wished I taught myself carbs! Especially after owning a carbed bike. If you've got the time, teach yourself and if you still don't like it, then swap it!

[deathegg]

I also would say stick with the carb. In my '88, which I owned for 23 years, not one problem with the carb.

[DriverOne]

Don, talk to Kartracer46. He can give you the best advice in this regard. He's rebuilt them, and would rather Carb a car than EFI, if I'm correct. He may be the one to bring you to the dark side.