TBI or Carb???

[91DakotaFreak]

I have a 91 Dakota with the 318. What i would like to know is would i be better off with a 4bbl intake and a 650 carb than my primitive fuel injection system. I get 12.5 mpg right know and some what ok perfomance. I want to do a 408 stroker but dont have the money for it right now.

I only have a few mods they are
360 TBI with 318 injectors
K&N filter
MSD wires
MSD coil
base timing at 12 degrees have no clue what the computer sets it at
No cat
Flowmaster 50 series delta flow
No AIR pump

Im looking for better performance and better milage out of it

ANy ideas??

[Sixpack Dak]

Well I wouldn't get too hopefull about getting fantastic fuel milage from it, my 91 3.9L barely gets 15mpg and almost all of my driving is highway.

If you switch to a carb setup you will at least be able to tune it yourself, which may possibly help your milage problem. What I would suggest if you're going to go down that road is to yank the computer right out, switch to electronic ignition and wire your alternator up with a musclecar style voltage regulator. This will allow you to tune your timing as well. The only drawback to this is if you have cruise it will no longer work and if you have an A-500 tranny your lockup converter won't function anymore, which will offfset some of the milage gains you may see.

[rumblefish360]

Dump the F.I. of that year and upgrade to a newer F.I. system or as most of us need, like me, a carb.
The tranny has a switch that needs to be grounded or livened up for the O.D to come in right. Theres a dia. in the performance books from MoPar. It entails wiring in your own switch.
Wouldn't that work? For the O.D.?

If you don't need to pass emisions, bypass the computer and insatll a MSD ignition box, small cam, dual plane intake, 650 carb and headers.

Do a search on my screen name and about my old car, a Dodge "Magnum."

[91DakotaFreak]

I have 110000 on it right now the bottom end looks good for a engine with 110000 on it if i have the stock 9.0:1 comp ratio and stock cam what kind of gains would i see? should i pull the heads? Im not really wanting to spend a whole lot because im a college student and have to pay off loans etc. what might i see for a 1/4mi time? With it stock it ran a 16.2.

any recomendations for a cam/intake/carb

[rumblefish360]

Leave the heads on. You could pull them and add a set of 360 valves for an improvment, but the cost adds up fast. So leave them on and work with what you have.

For a 318, I like to see a Edel. Performer on top.
New there $175, used there dirt cheap.
For a carb, it's ethier a stock T-Q or a Holley 650 (max) or an AFB @ 625 max. Your call.
Cam, LOL, a topic that can be for pages and pages and pages. No matter what I recomend, it's allways the same thing.
SO, IN EXAMPLE;
A small cam like a MoPar 260/268 or the updated340 cam for more punch will do fine. Best bet, call a cam manufacturer for his recomndation.
HP increaes can vary greatly. Without porting the heads, a 50 HP gain is easy to do.
Use headers for power AND milage! 2 1/4 pipe with an H pipe will do fine.

[91DakotaFreak]

What do you think i would see for a gas milage improvement?? If i keep my stock manifolds and 2.5in single exhaust?