Carb vs fuel injection

[Guido Orefice]

What are the differences from a maintenance and performance perspective with carburetor vs fuel injection type 1 engine?

I'm in the market for a '68 - 79 Beetle. I have experience with carb engines on '67 through '74.

Gracias

[Dale M.]

For performance EFI will probably be in whole different league than carbs....BUT there is a learning curve to EFI becasue of many different variables involved as you are electronically adjusting the fuel/air mixture...

These guys are a little deeper into EFI than most Samaites...

http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewforum.php?f=23&sid=b5c8796c66fb4a3076fad8f4ece60efc

Dale
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[busdaddy]

Are we discussing aftermarket systems?, or bone stock L-jet from the factory?
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[Guido Orefice]

[busdaddy]

OK then, the FI offers slightly better performance and fuel economy (if you can keep your foot out of it )
Maintenance is painless, there's great factory manuals for troubleshooting and as long as you have a volt/ohm meter and fuel pressure gauge and can read almost anyone can figure it out, it's a very simple system.
You will have to reverse almost 50 years of neglect, perished hoses and seals make vacuum leaks that mess with it, and wires and terminals get weak from age and use, get all that under control (usually ~$150 in parts) and it's ready for another few decades of neglect.
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Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
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[Dale M.]

[Brian]

Depends, how cheap are you and what's your time worth?
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[77charger]

$$ vs $$$$

IMO learn to properly tune carbs and you will still run good or break out the wallet.

Im no expert in carb tuning but my buggy with 44s starts,idles,doesnt sputter and feels smooth without fouling plugs.
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[theKbStockpiler]

A lot depends on the pool of cars to choose from. Is there even a FI car for sale near you? FI is going to be more expensive if you have to repair it. I think dual carbs are fine as long as the engine does not have to go through a long warm up cycle.
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[modok]

Maintenence? hardly any in either case, when everything is working right.
More like REPAIR to get there. The old Fuel injections systems are ok, but they are old.....just really old, and not a lot of people know how to fix them.
If you know somebody who can fix em up, then go for it.
Which am I talking about? both!
Go with whatever you have the ability to work with.

[PumaVW79]

Carbs are simpler, that is indisputable.

[Bugsy61]

I used to have to work on the old L Jetronic once in a while when I was a Volvo mechanic. Not a fan. You will almost certainly need four new fuel nozzles (injectors) and the last I saw, if you can find them, they wanted $50 per nozzle, so find them before you decide on buying a system. That alone will put you nearly half way toward a pair of HPMX carbs with manifolds and linkage.
Since we're on this subject, the Megasquirt guys brag about how they don't have to spend all that time swapping jets on a nice Spring day, but they forget to mention that they spent all winter soldering tiny little widgets to a circuit board. I've got both, so I can run my big mouth.

[clonebug]

[EVfun]

A properly working L-jetronic fuel injected late model Bug drives nicer than any stock carbureted Bug.
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[Eaallred]

If the goal is stock performance, the stock L-jet is tough to beat. I played with that system a lot on my old 79 and it was super simple and easy to tweak (just turn the big toothed wheel in the AFM to adjust the air/fuel under full load.

No jets to plug up, great economy, smooth acceleration from idle all the way up. If it's all there and working, a carb is no comparison. Problem is they are old systems and god knows now many "mechanics" have tinkered with them and screwed them up. Usually screwed up by the same "mechanics" that call the system junk, lol.
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[Krochus]

If I had a J jet equipped VW I would chop out and remove everything at the first sign of trouble retaining only the plumbing and certain hard parts that would be incorporated in a microsquirt v3 conversion

BTDT with regard to old archaic Bosch EFI in Datsun Z cars.

Nope nope nope and nope