308 Carbs vs fuel injection

For you guys that own or have owned carb models; realistically and honestly, how much trouble are they to keep adjusted? I read Birdman's article on carb adjustment, and although it is a lengthy process, it didn't look like rocket science. Once you get it right, how often do you have to do it? Man, they sure do sound good, and I do not want to discount owning a carb model if it is not all that troublesome.

 

my injected Qv needed nothing. but it depends on the quality of the car when you first get it. the other 4 308s i had were carb cars, and none of them required frequent tweaking. once they were tuned,you leave them alone. the biggest issue is the throttle shafts leaking vacuum, which causes the tune to change. i would adjust them in the winter, versus the summer tune, but that was only because i could feel the difference, and i knew how to do it. carb cars are not "bad" cars.

my only issue is the age of the fleet in general. valve guides,

and sodium filled exhaust valves failing are a real hazard as these cars age.

 

I tuned my carbs once 3 1/2 years ago and they have been perfect since.

 

I did the carb tune and ignition upgrade when I 1st got the car in 1999. The next time I did a carb tune was this past summer with a wire change and another set of plugs. By the way I did change my sparkplugs once before back in 2005. Just to put it into perspective I have done 3 belt changes since I have owned the car. As fo FI cars I don't have a problem with the newer systems (mostly chevy/ford) which I still work on and have done a few engine conversions in Jags. I fear some of the FI parts availability for the older Fcars. Considering I have been a carb guy since 1960 I don't have a problem with playing with them. Anything from SU's , Zenith Strombergs , Webers , Holley , Carter , etc. So my choise is still to play with carb cars for my hobby but FI for my daily family car.

 

We own a 1978 carb car 308 and the carbs when set have never been touched that we know.

 

It depends what toy mean by "require". Tey should stay running fine, but your hp will go off 10-15% with the temp changes.

 

I've owned mine for 6 years, and I haven't had to do anything to them.

 

Carbs take a n hour or two to synch. I did mine in 1988 and they are still fine, even after sitting in storage for 15 years. You need a to buy some sort of manometer or air flow meter, the air horn type meter isn't all that expensive

Doug

 

Synced mine once when I bought it 5 years ago, haven't needed it since.

77 GTB

Greg

 

I've heard several injected cars being retro'd to carb operation and none the other way. That must say something.

 

Love webbers, especially IDA's, ran 6 on my jag and 4 on my 427 side oiler. I'd put them on my F cars if i had a set. So much more power and adjustability.

 

The webers are wonderful. Great sound and great throttle response.

But if you start with a car with mis-matched webers that also have worn throttle shafts then you're in for some fun and considerable expense. Rebuilding all four carbs can take some serious time to do right, assuming you have the skills, and assuming you have four matched carbs. After 30 years, many aren't matched because somewhere along the line a PO may have chosen to just replace one worn carb with a mis-matched ebay special. Mis-matched carbs won't run right as the progression holes in the throat are drilled differently producing mis-matched AFR going from idle to WOT.

So, I'd say if the car runs properly to start with then you might be OK but if the car runs poorly to start with then you might be in for much more than just a "synch" The carbs are worth assessing in a ppi just like transaxle synchros and compression/leak down.

 

Again, good information. Thanks for all the help guys.

 

I have one. PO swapped the Webers for CIS.
And yes, don't do it.

 

no only HP counts, but the looks is worth something too..

As a comparison I put in a picture of both my detailed 328 and my carbed 308 engine.
Guess which one I like most...
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Wow. That carbed engine is sweet, as the kids say. (Do they still say that? I never know.)

All of the information in this thread gives me lots to think about. I'll probably wind up buying the best deal I can on the nicest car I can afford, regardless of the model year. I consider myself a reasonably good mechanic, so keeping up a carbed model would not scare me off. However the "ease of operation" of a FI model in tempting.

I've thought about the 328, and I really probably would prefer one of them, but I'm concerned that I will not be able to find a nice, recently serviced one in my price range.