Engine Efi To Carb Convertion

Back in the late '80s/early 90s I would sometimes go to the Friday night bracket races with my buddy that also had a fox. He had his modified to run 12s. Mine was a bone stock '86 with stock sized Radial T/As. I ran low 15s, but I could run within a tenth all night long. I always made it deep into the night and my losses were all from sleeping on the light. Some of the cars I went up against didn't even start until I was in 3rd gear. They would blow by me somewhere near the line and my car would shake. If they beat me to the line though, they usually broke out. My buddy always had ice on his intake and farted with tire pressures. He would run quick, but not even close to consistent. He was usually out by the 3rd round.
One night (in a late round) I went up against an early '70s LTD station wagon. He was probably the only one that ever dialed in slower than me, somewhere over 20. That was the closest race I was ever in. I beat him, but by a couple hundredths. The spectators would make fun of me every time I came up to the line against some snarling beast. It was pretty funny, but I definitely wasn't hooked on doing it more.

stpete said:

Back in the late '80s/early 90s I would sometimes go to the Friday night bracket races with my buddy that also had a fox. He had his modified to run 12s. Mine was a bone stock '86 with stock sized Radial T/As. I ran low 15s, but I could run within a tenth all night long. I always made it deep into the night and my losses were all from sleeping on the light. Some of the cars I went up against didn't even start until I was in 3rd gear. They would blow by me somewhere near the line and my car would shake. If they beat me to the line though, they usually broke out. My buddy always had ice on his intake and farted with tire pressures. He would run quick, but not even close to consistent. He was usually out by the 3rd round.
One night (in a late round) I went up against an early '70s LTD station wagon. He was probably the only one that ever dialed in slower than me, somewhere over 20. That was the closest race I was ever in. I beat him, but by a couple hundredths. The spectators would make fun of me every time I came up to the line against some snarling beast. It was pretty funny, but I definitely wasn't hooked on doing it more.

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I was racing one night and came against a RED. I was running 12's and the RED was running 8's. I was almost to the finish line when he went around me about 180 mph! I had a bad light and he beat me to the finish line and did not break out.

I know you're 19 and want to go fast cheap, but you're going to someday regret converting it to carb. I was young and had a very nice 85 Mustang. It was reliable, had some basic bolt ons, and drove very well even though it was carbureted. I ruined that car making it "fast" on a very cheap budget, and it was horribly unreliable. I didn't put the money where it mattered, and literally destroyed the car. I regret it to this day. Now I'm 36 and starting over on a 93 GT that needs floors, suspension, body work, new seats, unknown rust repairs, etc. I'm sticking with the efi, and upgrading where it matters to make it a nice, clean driver that runs good. These cars aren't getting any cheaper or younger, take care of it.

Keep it efi, do some salvage yard upgrades, maybe put an NOS 05115 100hp dry kit on it, and have fun bracket racing it.

Make the chassis solid first, full length subframe connectors, upper/lower torque box reinforcements, good control arms, etc. Put some gears in it, make the trans strong (especially if a T5), and make it hook. There are some very quick NA cars out there that have Cobra parts, or GT40 parts, or run "stock" with good tuners.

Just some advise from a guy who was young once.