You do have to know something about what you are doing with EFI. And isn't that a real issue for most guys? We are 60 years or so in on our most popular carb platforms and most guys don't know a main jet from an air bleed. Or want to. Now along comes retrofit EFI. And it changes, but not necessarily solves the issues confronting the average car guy.
While some guys have good success with these systems, many don't. Here, in no particular order are my issues with the current crop of retrofit EFI:
EFI is much more expensive than the carbs they are trying to replace. Even if you add in the cost to have your off the shelf carb professionally tuned which would eliminate 90+% of EFI's purported advantages.
Obsolescence that makes the system useless because you can't get proprietary parts. Besides the fact that if a component fails on the road, obsolete or not, you may not be able to access it.
Today's retrofit EFI is still a wet manifold system that has all the issues of a carbureted induction system.
Today's retro EFI is as obsolete as the carbs that they seek to replace. No auto manufacturer has used them for decades. And port EFI is not feasible for the vast majority of us. And even some of them end up in batch.
EFI introduces a ton more of potential electrical issues. In fact, most of the complaints that I read about from retrofit EFI owners concerns electrical problems. And those problems can be nearly impossible to diagnose over the phone, even if minor. Especially when there is only limited tech support at best. And sometimes none at all.
And finally, a properly selected and properly tuned carburetor is easily the match for any of the self tuning EFI kits. Only when a well tuned EFI kit is compared to an out-of-the-box carb does the EFI show any improvement. And it has been proven time and again that the carb wins the horsepower wars.
Much like the EV situation, the current crop of EFI retro kits are not ready for prime time. Not really the best solution for most of us. Sure, there are guys and situations that have benefited from them. But, by and large they are not the best choice for most of us for our muscle cars.
