V8 and CARB VS EFI (1 Viewer)

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Feb 24, 2005
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I have a 1990 FJ62 with 182K. No real problems with the motor since I sorted out the inevitable emmissions/vaccume line mess that resides under the hood, but I would like a bit more power and a gas V8 seems to be the simplest/economical choice.

I use the truck on the beach (hence the urge for more power), and as a hunting/camping/exploration vehicle. No rock climbing or radical stuff. In addition, I only put 5-7k a year on the truck - I have a company truck for DD - but I do want reliability/ease to work on.

A couple of questions:

a- I'll use the Marks adaptor and I'd like to keep the stock tranny/t-case, unless others see a reason to swap over to a GM unit. Or reasons to avoid the Marks adaptor.

b- I live in an area where there is no emissions testing. So could I just go with a carb motor and not worry about all of the electrical issues associated with EFI (not to mention additional cost) or am I missing something? It just seems like the carb would be a lot easier to hook up and can I just abandon most of the Toyota electronics.
B1 –Specifically I’ve looked at the from GM Performance parts motors from JEGS or one of the other mail order houses and I’m going to look locally to see if someone would build one up for me. Or am I barking up the wrong tree here.

c-I've been looking at the various 350 crate motors with HP ratings of 200 to oh good lord. I’ve been thinking of keeping it on the lower side (200-300) considering it will be hooked up to a 15-year old tranny. Does anyone have any experience with just how much power one of these automatics can take? Or should I just get a GM unit and that again leads to the electronics questions. No H55, unfortunately, the wife does not believe that vehicles should have more than 2 pedals.

d- I’ll do the work myself, and am figuring on spending about $5k. Is this realistic or how much do you think it’ll cost.

Thanks and I look forward to the responses.

BILL
 
5K is a tight budget but doing the work yourself and recovering some of the cost with your old engine should not be a problem. Assuming you don't spend too much on your new powerplant. You will be surprized how much you'll spend on the little things like accessory brackets, exhaust, throttle cable, engine mounts, etc...

I'd recomend keeping under the 300 HP mark on the stock trans and you should be OK. That's more power than you really need anyway. You'll probably want to plan on some extra cooling for the new engine as well. Keeping your AC will also be a challenge.

Carb or EFI? EFI is better in most ways but will cost you more. A properly tuned carb will do anything you ask it to.

If you go with a used EFI engine make sure you get the ECM to the same vehicle. Your life will be much eaiser.
 
I don't remember what everything cost, but I had mine put in at a local shop, cost a little over $2k to have it installed (carbed) and that includes all of the accessories, drive shaft shortening, and a custom cross member.

I bought a rebuilt 87-95 block from a guy in Lubbock that rebuilds cars and engines, he used to run a big shop, but now he just does stuff in a small shop by himself. with the carb, intake manifold, and all my clutch components as well as the AA adapter I probably spent the 2k on the engine and that stuff, since you don't have to pay any or much labor, 5k should be a good estimate, exept for the Marks adapter being something like 1200 bucks.
 
V8

I'll tell the wife 5k spend 7k and sell the 3fe for 1k and she'll be happy.

I'm looking right now at GM performance motors of 200-250 hP so it's good to know the tranny will take it

The AC and the exhaust are the two things that I'll farm out and I figure will cost me the bonus 2k

Marks: From eveything I've read is the only way to go but I am going to pay dearly for it.
 
the AC shouldn't cost very much at all, just some custom hoses need to be built. I took my truck to the local exhaust place and they did it for $475, so you're only looking at maybe $700 bucks for the AC and exhaust.
 

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