Gas going to $8 in Cali, need fuel injection choices.

Got the call from my refinery buddy telling me gas is going to $8 a gallon and suggested I do my fuel injection conversion early on my 1972 340 Roadrunner and 1972 Charger Rallye with 400hp small block. I’m not sure what I need, do I get just a carb version like sniper from Holley, or are there diffrent choices? I won’t save a bunch on mileage, but when I do long trips to shows, at least I can save a few bucks while getting better mileage and easier to operate fuel system. Specks:

340 stock rebuilt to factory specks with 50, on rebuild

5.9 Magnum crate engine with cam upgrade to 400hp and on 800 miles on the engine.
Any ideas are appreciated.

Do you just want efi in general? Unless you daily a car it will be a long time before you recoup the cost, even at 9 bucks a gallon. Might be just as well to save the coins for gas.

Most reports ive seen puts the throttle body units as being "easy" to tune / mess with, however your not going to gain any fuel savings as you still have the same inherent issues of any wet intake manifold.

Unless it's a daily driver with a reasonably high mileage expected, getting your $$ back would take a very long time (how old are you?), even with the most fastidiously purchased diy megasquirt set up with dry runners.

By all means efi your car, but economy would be better achieved through weightloss, underbody aero and gearing/tyre/overdrive.

Retrofit throttle body EFI is as antiquated as carburetors themselves and does not offer any better fuel economy than a well tuned carb. If fuel economy is the goal, have the carb and ignition dialed in to your combo. Much less expensive with the same results.

If you want TB fuel injection get it because you want it. Maybe tell the wife it will save you gas. But the $1500 plus for the unit and the supplemental (and Mandatory?) in tank fuel pump and return line will buy a lot of gas for you carbureted mopar.

If you want FI then buy it, but do it because you want it.

Emotional decisions like that are really OK when it comes to these vehicles.

There doesn't need to be a fuel savings justification, whether legitimate or not.

For a real 10,000 mile per year driver....a properly tuned smog era spreadbore (tq/qj) is a nice balance and
costs next to nothing in comparison, but many are bored with such things and need something
different to hold their interest....The appeal of FI is obvious and it's great that there are several choices out there.

to be honest, I am terrible with carbs due to hearing problems which prevent me from doing a proper tune by ear. Also, the improved driving response, slight improved mileage and better starting in different weather conditions makes it a plus upgrade. When I drive my mopes, I drove them alot to relax and can easily put 1-3 tanks worth of fuel a week during summer.

are race gas prices following suit? Seems it would be worth buy a 55 gallon drum of VP or Sunoco or any brand 94 octane or higher and running it? Or buy a 5 gallon can of race gas and mix it with the cheapest pump gas you can find

The more stuff you buy, the more money you will save.

There is a popular fuel station near me where they always had 100oct for a couple buck more. One of my friends told me last night after watching the 'The Batman' they just added a '1' to the front of price board, making it $17 a gal. Storing a drum of fuel is not feasible due to no room in my garage, ability to move drums that heavy properly and store it safely is going to be a big no. Also, E85 in my area is very difficult to get or at stations out of my area.

The greatest reward from EFI is the ease of starting in all weather or after the car sits for several days. What a huge difference that made to me in my '89 Diplomat police car. I can not drive it for a week and not have to pour gas down the carb. Or with the cold weather starts right up and I don't have to keep pumping so that it doesn't stall out.

I like the FiTech system I have BUT if nobody makes a tank for your car to sump the pump then you will have to use their "Fuel Command Center" and they can be problematic when mounted under hood and exposed to high heat. I went through two of them but seem to have it working well now. I have insulated or maybe I should say isolated it best possible from heat and seems to have solved issues. All this said, I agree with others in that I don't think it's worth doing just to save money because these systems are expensive. It is however worth doing for drivability.

my "economy remedy" is a Thermo-Quad and Aeromotive electric pump with a return line.
easy start after sitting by turning on key for a few seconds, starts great after hot soak.
however, it took me a long time to become intimate with those carbs, and metering rods and jets may be hard to come by.
with that said though, my thoughts are it's as close to FI as you can get using a carb.
just my opinion, your mileage[] will vary.

They work amazingly well.

Larry I have to ask cold weather in central Florida? As far as starting after sitting goes a can of ether will do the same thing as a $2000 fuel injection system in that regard. Just have to let the carb warm up to do its thing.

There are plenty of cold days during Winter. And as far as ether, that gets to be a real PITA especially with the Power Wagon. It only takes three days and then I have to pour gas down carb after three days. I've heard ether not good btw maybe something about upper cyl protection?

I do like Moparx solution! I'd forgotten about people installing the electric pump.

If you have to pour gas down the carb to get it to start after setting a few days, that is not a carb specific problem. I have seen numerous fuel injection systems have a stuck check valve that lets the system drain. And that happens after just a few hours. You then either have to crank and crank and crank or sit and cycle the key until the system pressurizes. Either way, there is only a single component causing the problem and neither requires a complete system change to address.

But the problem would serve as good an excuse as any if one just wants to install an EFI system.

Dave; all I can tell you is that I have had three carburated Mopars (two currently owned) within last few years. All three, with 10% ethanol required gas down the carb after sitting more than three days. My Power Wagon had the Edelbrock 1406 and then a Thermoquad and no change. After the Thermoquad swap I filled tank with E free 89 octane and was surprised still no change. My others were Aspen E58 with TQ and the Diplomat use to have Quickfuel carb then I went with EFI.

I can't explain why I can only tell you same thing with the three and they otherwise ran/run very well. I will say, looking back, I kind of wish I had installed an electric pump instead of spending the money and seen how that worked first but turning the key and having my Diplomat start right up after two weeks of sitting sometimes (which I really try not to do often) is really nice.

I'd buy an OD trans or gear vendor unit before going to EFI myself.

If strictly seeking fuel savings I agree this would be a much bigger help.

A long time ago, I used to have the same problem that you are experiencing. The CarterBrocks are famous for going dry while setting. Did it long before ethanol came along, too. And the Thermoquad has a gasket under the fuel bowl, another known problem area. Another issue is the heat cross-over boiling the gas in the carb. I block them off, but if you feel they are necessary to thwart intake icing, then use good insulators under the carb.

But it is the particular style of carbs that is the primary issue, not carburation in general. With the exception of an occasional bad gasket, I have never had the Holley style of carburetor go dry like the CarterBrock style. Another good choice today would be the new Street Demon. In other words, many, many different carburetors and/or a couple of other changes (which could include an electric fuel pump) would address your issues. And all of them are far simpler and far less expensive than EFI.

Holley Sniper with the Hyperspark distributor is the best deal. Not a simple install on a Mopar, you'll need some tech help with the wiring. Holley has drop in fuel pump modules for a bunch of musclecars, look on their website to see if your car is on the list. If so, then that is the easy way to go. Probably looking at $2000 by the time you buy and install everything. You will get a lot of benefits but not so sure you'll see a financial payback on the investment. Rich at FAST Man EFI is the best resource in the business. If you want to buy a system get in touch with him and have him put together a quote for you.

I added the digital dash to my setup but that adds a bunch more money. I like having all the information on the dash but most people wouldn't want it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64DrLMCLULA

Off topic - Is that red Challenger a '72? might be one of my old rides if it is............

Just as I'm talking about not having issues with the FCC center for awhile now on my FiTech the car petered out on my yesterday and I strongly think it's the efi pump in the FCC AGAIN. Not had one problem with anything else but this high pressure pump. The throttle body has been good but this will be the third pump now if it's bad again. Car had to sit for three days and then finally started after leaving me stranded but still running like crap and smells like it's flooding.

If it's that FCC again I'm cutting my losses and going back to carb with little kicker electric pump to fill bowls. Then I'll put the throttle body for sale cheap. If only I could've gotten a in tank pump for this car.

Seems these Hyper spark systems are getting really good and can act like a vacuum advance under cruising. I'm pretty sure I saw some folks were getting 20-30% better highway economy. For those of us already rocking 5 speeds and 3.50 gears....that would be killer!
I'll be jumping on the EFI bandwagon shortly. Got twins on the way, so gotta mind my bucks for a while until the dust settles. Just bought a new to us 3500 Van, lol.

On that Fitech FCC issue, many people have solved their problems by running a vent line back to the fuel tank. Fitch says it isn't necessary but plenty of users find it helpful.

Also keep in mind that fuel problems are regional and can even affect modern vehicles. My 2013 Mercedes CL65 doesn't like the winter blend fuels on warm days. On warm restarts the fuel can boil in the fuel rail, making the engine stumble for a couple seconds. That's on a high tech turbo V12 with a PWM controlled in tank fuel pump. Luckily, it clears up almost immediately.

Nothing like jumping in a (formerly) $218,000 car and having it die on a restart.

feets, thanks for that suggestion and it's something I've been reading about with a search. So much out there to read on these. I haven't had a lot of time to play with it lately but it looks like the mechanical pump feeding my FCC is working properly with proper pressure. Now I have to see if I have the constant 58 psi FiTech requires. The two gauges on FCC are at flat zero all the time and I don't know if they are bad. I've already had to replace one of them about a year ago. I did get car running again but crappy and sputtering.

The pay back period for a fuel injection set up on a casually driven, classic mopar will be measured in decades. Personally, IMO, some chassis dyno time with a good tuner will get a carb within single digit percentage of an EFI set up. at a fraction of the cost.

Now evaporating fuel is another story If its a big issue, install an electric pump on your carb vehicle so it can fill the fuel bowl in between starts

The only thing I would add is that starting off with the best carb for the combo is the shortest path to success.