First off I will have to say that this all depends on 3 factors.
1 . What your power goals are.
2. What emissions regulations you have in your area.
3. How easy it will be to get the car back and forth between the first 2.
When I decided to have my Dart 347 built I was originally thinking about going with a carb, because I could sell off old efi parts to easily cover the cost of swaping to a carb. After talking to Rick 91GT @ RNH Performance, and several local tuners, it seemed that the general concensus was that for horse power levels below 500 you can have a carb set up that can have DD qualities, make great power, and be cheaper in the money spent.
I ended up staying EFI, because my ultimate power goals are 700-800 hp with boost,( EFI deffinatley gets the nod for high horsepower and good street manners ) check out the competitors in KOS or Hot-Rods Dyno challenge. Plus in my area emissions rules change every 2 years it seems, so I need to keep the ability to easily throw emissions crap back on if I had to. Also where I live carb swap cars do sell for far less, because the new owners have to pass emisions the first year they own the car, regardless of previous exemptions.
If your power goals are north of 500, EFI will definatelly cost more. I know first hand. I already owned the injectors, TB, and MAF from my old supercharged motor, got the intake used for 300, but the custom front half fuel line and rail set up put me over the top at around 700. If you had to but all this stuff at 1 time new, well good luck.
I say that for 500 fwhp or less its a break even prospect. If you already have an EFI set up that works well, stay with it. If you have nothing to start with, the carb set up will be a little cheaper, but used EFI parts are all over the place, for cheap to support 500.
1 . What your power goals are.
2. What emissions regulations you have in your area.
3. How easy it will be to get the car back and forth between the first 2.
When I decided to have my Dart 347 built I was originally thinking about going with a carb, because I could sell off old efi parts to easily cover the cost of swaping to a carb. After talking to Rick 91GT @ RNH Performance, and several local tuners, it seemed that the general concensus was that for horse power levels below 500 you can have a carb set up that can have DD qualities, make great power, and be cheaper in the money spent.
I ended up staying EFI, because my ultimate power goals are 700-800 hp with boost,( EFI deffinatley gets the nod for high horsepower and good street manners ) check out the competitors in KOS or Hot-Rods Dyno challenge. Plus in my area emissions rules change every 2 years it seems, so I need to keep the ability to easily throw emissions crap back on if I had to. Also where I live carb swap cars do sell for far less, because the new owners have to pass emisions the first year they own the car, regardless of previous exemptions.
If your power goals are north of 500, EFI will definatelly cost more. I know first hand. I already owned the injectors, TB, and MAF from my old supercharged motor, got the intake used for 300, but the custom front half fuel line and rail set up put me over the top at around 700. If you had to but all this stuff at 1 time new, well good luck.
I say that for 500 fwhp or less its a break even prospect. If you already have an EFI set up that works well, stay with it. If you have nothing to start with, the carb set up will be a little cheaper, but used EFI parts are all over the place, for cheap to support 500.