Fuel 95 Carb Conversion

[spartanpride]

Hey all. Have a 95 GT 5.0 and am in the process of a HCI swap. I'm going with the TFS TW 170 heads with the 61cc chambers (I guess the 58ccs wont clear stock pistons?) and a weiand stealth intake.

First thing, I know I have to run a distributor from a 85 (for roller cam and carb ap) and ford duraspark ii box and convert fuel pump.

Can you recomend me a fuel pump and set up suited for this application for a carb. Going to be running a 650 or 600 CFM.

Also with what I have listed so far is there anyone that can recomend me a good torquey cam that will clear the TFS heads and stock pistons with 1.7 rr's?

I am at an elevation of 5500 feet any jets that you guys can recoment (still going to have to play with a few sizes I know)

Thanks so much stangnet!
PS before getting heat about the carb swap, the reasons i am doing this is because A)its much cheaper and easier to build power with a carb. (dont see many drag cars running efi.... )

B) I live in the middle of nowhere and no dynos around and dont have time or money to get an EFI tune.

C) I have gone thru my share of 351 clevelands, air cooled VW engiens, 460's and FE motors and am far more comfortable with tuning a carb! Did i mention budget? I do not want to hear crap about this cause this is what im doing, im looking for guidance and to learn not to be put down for what I want to do!
LOL Thanks again

 

[spartanpride]

Anyone?

 

[revhead347]

Not too many carb guys here. Fuel injection is cheaper and easier to tune. The question comes up though, and usually it's when somebody puts a Cleveland engine in, and fuel injection parts for that particular engine are too expensive.

The last carb engine I did, I put a Summit all in one single wire distributor in it. It was like $140 for the whole thing with a 50,000V coil. It's kind of big though, and I had to cut custom wires for it. You shouldn't have to do custom wires with your setup though. I'd post a picture of it, but photobucket won't let me copy pic links anymore with Mozilla.

You're not going to need much in the way of a fuel pump. Just a standard electric fuel pump with a good pressure regulator should work. If you call the Summit tech line and tell them what you are doing there are going to be plenty of options available. You have to pull the gas tank out and put a standard pickup tube in. There are kits available to do this. Or you can rework your factory pickup with a little know how.

We get the cam question all the time. The reality is that no one here is a cam expert. There is no reason for us to recommend a particular cam when you can call Comp Cams and get expert advise. The only advise I can give is for a Trick Flow Stage One. Theoretically that cam is designed to run with those heads (Although we all know it's just a Crane grind they got an inside deal on). Not sure how the clearance will be with 1.7 rockers. You'd have to check that. Most of the people here are in favor of custom camshafts. Not sure if you want to pay the extra money for that or not. My guess is that if you don't have fly cut pistons, it's not worth the money.

Kurt

 

[screamin5oh]

well for one thing, there are a ton of efi drag cars, i have run both combos, and i would want to stick to efi . by the time you spend all the money redoing the tank getting a pump, buying a intake carb and distributor, you have enough money to do a budget heads/cam/intake swap on your efi setup, i think a carb swap on a efi car looks ghetto unless you do it right and pull all the harnesses out and do it clean, also carb setups lose torque down low, not worth the swap and efi cars are not that hard to work on i hope your not worried about that they are pretty simple putting together

 

[revhead347]

Like I said, most guys here are efi guys, but that doesn't mean carbs don't work well. I won't try and talk you out of it because you have already made up your mind, and put some money out for parts. We'll do what we can to help you with your project.

Kurt

 

[spartanpride]

I appreciate the replies and opinions! I was thinking the TFS stage 1 too, and cams are of course mostly personal preferance. And I still don't know about EFI being cheaper Carb mani=170$ efi mani=400$! Then add on injectors, have to change fuel pump anyway, maf sensor, throttle body, and dyno tune you are going to be in the hole quite a bit more than with a carb build! And it will be clean, im not one to "jerry" rig things that looks ghetto lol. Again thanks! I'm just trying to make a solid 315 ponies to the ground on the cheap of things

 

[revhead347]

I won't waste any time convincing you EFI is cheaper. 315 ponies is doable. The TF170 IMHO is the best entry level head out there. Maybe not with a Trick Flow 1 cam though. You will probably have to spend a little more dough on a better matched cam. That's a realistic goal with a good carb. What kind of carb do you have for this?

Kurt

 

[spartanpride]

I've got a Carter I believe 600cfm laying in the garage and a Holley 750cfm. 750 obviously too much i still am unsure if I want to go through the trouble of tuning up the ancient carter... Realisticaly will probably end up with like a 670 Holley Street Avenger!What fuel pump are you guys thinking, and return line set up? Would like to stick with an in tank pump!

 

[revhead347]

Since I'm on my Window's computer I thought I would go ahead and post that distributor picture.

I don't think there are in tank pumps available honestly. I mean, not ones that will work on the stock pickup tube. I would say that's more hassle then it's worth. You definately can't use the stock pump, because it will put out way too much pressure. You should be able to run a Holley Blue or Holley Black electric pump inside the engine compartment with a basic regulator that returns to the fuel line just prior to the pump. You shouldn't have to return all the way to the gas tank.

I know that the big Holley isn't optimal, but it should work fine. I put a 750 Holley on my ex girlfriend's iron head 350 Camaro and it ran like a dream, and this car at best made 180 crank hp. I didn't do any tuning or jet changes on it either. I just put it on out of the box and set the floats. Her stock 2 barrel gave up the ghost and had been rebuilt too many times to be salvaged. I ended scoring a 4 barrel intake and Holley 750 for free, so I tried it. Carter makes a good carb too, but I'm not too familiar with them. I would try both carbs and see which one works best for now. A lot of the pro guys give Barry Grant carbs a hard time, but I don't think you can beat a Road Demon Jr. for the money. If you can score one of those 610cfm Road Demon Jr carbs, that's what I would go with.

Kurt

 

[spartanpride]

Clean lookin engine there! And with the Holley blue pump ive been looking at, what regualtor would you recomend with it? Also does anyone know if the 58cc TFS heads will clear stock pistons?

 

[revhead347]

Clean lookin engine there!

It's really just a stock engine with a can of Duplicolor applied.

A regulator should be around $25 for a decent one. Holley brand or whatever, it doesn't matter much. Just a basic one with the inlet on one side, the outlet on the other, the return on the bottom and the adjustment screw on the top.

Kurt

 

[Silvertooth]

I am in the process of installing a carb on my 95. Engine is installed,tfs one cam,gt40 heads,edelbrock intake,670 holley.
I have a msd 6al-2. I have a spare engine harness.I am going to try to use the stock dist and splice one of the harness,s.I have a holley blue that I am going to try.
Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can get it going.

 

[spartanpride]

Let me know how it goes! And if I remember right DO NOT use the stock distributor its electric! You need one for a carbed mustang. 79-85. But also for a roller cam! So that leaves just the 85. Soooo go to napa or what have you and get a factory 85 5.0 distributor and ford duraspark II box and you should be set. Otherwise you might be picking out distributor gear teeth out of you engine... Let me know how your build goes, how you like it, and of course pics!!!

 

[Silvertooth]

I have this already. http://www.msdignition.com/Products/Ignitions/6530_-_MSD_Digital_Programmable_6AL-2.aspx

So ,timing is taken care of with my lap top. That is why I am hoping I can use my stock dist. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[revhead347]

If you use a roller cam with a non roller dist, you just have to change the gear on the bottom of the dist. They are affordable.

Kurt

 

[spartanpride]

Very true!

 

[spartanpride]

Instead of using like the Holley Blue pump or something, I thought it might be easier and quieter to buy an early model carb'ed timing cover with the mechanical fuel pump location and run that with a mechanical fuel pump on it! Any thoughts about this?

 

[revhead347]

Lots more work, and it doesn't save much money. Electric Pumps provide much more stable pressure. Those electric fuel pumps aren't loud at all.

Kurt

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

I have everything on my car you're looking for. It's been on a 4.6 no less. I don't think a carbureted mustang had an in tank pump, and you cannot safely restrict an F/I pump down to Carb safe fuel pressure. A holley blue will get the gas from the tank w/o the need for a return (most carb'd setups are returnless anyways, it depends on whether or not you use a return regulator, which is not the type a blue pump will come w/ anyway). It will be "noisy," and you will hear it depending on how loud your car is. I have a Holley HP 125 mounted at the rear, it is supposed to be quieter than a Holley Blue, yet I can hear it whirring away while driving down the road. But,....my car is waay quieter than the average Mustang. You will need to remove the in tank F/I pump and convert the pickup in your tank to an early model fox type that was carbureted.
An 85 duraspark should have the hardened gear that you need for the cam to be happy. . converting the T/C over to allow a cam driven F/P up front is probably more work than what its worth, but it will be way quieter than an electric.

Summit has a version of the old Holley avenger for 234.95 on sale I believe. 600 cfm and vacuum secondarys. It IS the Holley Avenger, it just is Summit branded. Jets are changed through the top of the carb by taking off the top. The benefit is that you don't have to drain the fuel out of the carb anymore to do it. Uses standard Holley jets. It's what I have.

 

[spartanpride]

Say i did stick with EFI and ran like the performer rpm intake etc etc. Okay about a tune, would I have to use like a Moates quarterhorse, or Tweecer, orrrr? How user friendly are they? Can you get that good of a tune out of them? Really leary of EFI but want to learn!