What can a carb do for you?

[darbgnik]

Admittedly, I don't know why, but assumed it was whatever amount of fuel left in the carb upon shutdown, evaporating?

Your comparing a bad performing carb with a new FI system, so your going to see a major improvement. If you had a well tuned carb with no driveability issues the difference would not be that great. My 850 double pumper starts runs like a FI system, AFAIC. No gas smell when its parked in the garage, the only smell after a drive is the smell of rubber. I'm not saying FI is not a good system but a carb is not all that bad either.

So maybe you guys can educate me on the fuel smell..... where does the fuel in the float bowl go once the car is shut off? 

And you telling me FI is a major improvement over a poorly tuned carb is no revelation, as I spelled out as much in my post. Which was kind of my point, I didn't want to learn how to rebuild or tune a carb. Pointing out how well a properly sized/tuned/maintained carb works is irrelevant to someone like me who was going to go to fuel injection anyway. With the thousands I spent on sheetmetal, bodywork, and paint on this car, what's an extra grand for fuel injection? A spit in the ocean really?

[flyinlow]

The fuel in the float bowls  just sits there after shutdown. It will slowly evaporate. It evaporates faster while the carb is hot after shut down.  OEM carbs pre 1971 and aftermarket carbs vent to the surrounding air. Later OEM carbs vented to a  storage canister and the vapors where burned on the next engine run being drawn back into the base of the carb like a PCV valve. Modern gasoline seams to be blended for F. I. cars. Combined with the alcohol content it evaporates faster then it did back in the 60's. We drove them every day back then, so they did not dry out as often. A carb bowl has to vented to atmospheric pressure for the carb to meter fuel properly.

[XH29N0G]

I have not noticed the fuel draining or evaporating from my float bowls.  my carb has the windows and I can see it there for months (in winter) and week or two in summer after shutting down (the shorter time is just because that is the time between drives).  I also haven't noticed a fuel smell in my garage and basement.  I used to notice a fuel smell when I had the car running rich at idle.  This makes me wonder if what I was smelling before was unburnt fuel hanging around (but I suppose it could be my nose) I don't have anything against FI, but I like the carburetors I have used too.  It sounds like there are somethings still to be worked out with the FI aftermarket products, but it also sounds like they work very well for many.

[Kern Dog]

I think the people raving about how their engines never ran so great as it did with simply bolting on EFI and letting it self learn did not have  their carb and ignition tuned  very well before they switched.

THis exact same thing exists in regards to guys that buy those aftermarket front suspension kits. They spend $5000 and then brag about how great the car feels compared to what it handled like before.....when the front suspension was all original and worn out.

[darbgnik]

I think the people raving about how their engines never ran so great as it did with simply bolting on EFI and letting it self learn did not have  their carb and ignition tuned  very well before they switched.

THis exact same thing exists in regards to guys that buy those aftermarket front suspension kits. They spend $5000 and then brag about how great the car feels compared to what it handled like before.....when the front suspension was all original and worn out.

Hahaha, this is obvious, yet doesn't make them incorrect.

I've always thought the investment in trying to make an old marshmallow handle like a modern sports car was a fools errand. Aim for modern economy car solidity and braking repeatability? Sure. Not that difficult or expensive to do, even based on the original design. But a modern sports car was designed to be just that. Strap in a full tubular front end, 4 link rear,  frame connectors, torque boxes, disk brakes, and still get eaten alive by a 15 year old Miata on any twisty road........

I've always thought that buying a modern sports car was the easiest way to get modern sports car handling. Sure, if you have a ton of disposable money and want to burn it up trying to make a muscle car handle like a sports car for the challenge of it, you can do that. But spending 5 times the money for 90% of the result isn't exactly cost effective. It is cool though.

[c00nhunterjoe]

Another example of a well tuned carb. This is on a friend's 64 olds 455. Pretty close to bone stock with exception of a holley red pump and an electric choke. It was 38 degrees here yesterday morning when i started it for this video.

https://youtu.be/NnTIuDmCD3M