318 tbi to carb

how good/bad does it run? have been told by some that it wont run right but will get good gas mileage. others say it is waste of time, no power etc. have an 89 tbi and od but wiring is crap and truck is rusted out. was thinking on putting it in my other truck with carb. ant real world experience? thanks in advance rick

Rick since you ain't gettin any love on this I'll just give you a BTT. If the long block is healthy then there's no reason it couldn't perform well & iirc it has a slightly higher SCR ???/maybe not, might have been CH I was remembering. compression test leakdown test oil consumption & go from there. I'm assuming you know how to do the conversion.

My experience was with a 1986 318, it still came with a carburetor but I believe is very similar to the TBI motors.
I did some home porting, slipped in a one-size-larger 360 roller cam, used a mid-70s cast iron TQ intake, and replaced the head gaskets with the Mr. Gasket thin gaskets.
The truck ran well and got really good mileage, like 20 - 22 on the highway.

It's a happy combination. I'd say do it.

One other thing, at more than 100,000 miles there was virtually no ridge in the cylinders and I reused the pistons, rods, crank and bearings. I did use a Flexhone to roughen the cylinder surfaces and replaced the rings with a basic set I had lying around. I also replaced the timing set. My point of this is to say the engine is probably in really good shape inside.

One thing I should have replaced is the oil pump. Even though it didn't look bad inside, it still pumped insufficient volume to get pressure to the #1 main bearing and #1 rod bearing. The EngineQuest pump uses the same casting as the Melling M72 and that's what's going into it next.

R.

thank you I will proceed as follows-cranking compression, timing chain slop, general inspection and possibly running compression if needed. also as I have new leak down tester, I will do that to. thanks for reply

My 88 ran good with tbi.
Now it runs great.