Help for the Four-eyed guy

[98Fauxbra]

Hey Guys,

Well, the income tax money is back and it is time to play! I have decided to get my 85 McLaren Ragtop back on the road after a two year hiatus. Here is my problem. This car is a 5.0 automatic and it is burdened with CFI. This car will start up and run just fine. Then while at a stop light it will die for no reason. It will start right back up but will not hold an idle. I want to change to a carb so that I can keep the appearance close to original. Will a 600 cfm holley with an electric choke fit on my stock manifold? Would I even want to attempt this or just go with an edelbrock performer? What do I need to do with the fuel pump or lack there of? Do I need to change the in-tank pump? Is there an in-tank pump? Also, can I rig the throttle linkage to work or is there an adapter that I can purchase? I am not out to make this car a street beast or even hit the drag strip with it. I just want a nice cruising car that will run and idle when I want it to. Is there anything I am missing? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Bryan

 

[Daggar]

If you go with a Carb, you can get a pump to replace your current one. They're available in both internal and external so you can choose the style pump/pickup you like best. You may need to add a fuel line for a carb setup. Carb fuel supply is low pressure/high volume and the inside diameter of your stock fuel line may not support this. Other folks have installed a regulator inside of the engine bay that converts the high pressure, high volume, fuel supply into a low pressure one. It uses your current fuel pump. Most I've talked to say that this is not the right way to do it but that it does work.

If it were me....
I recently discovered the existance of a Multi-Port throttle body injection system from Holley that looks bad as hell. Had I known about it prior purchasing all the MAF stuff that I have now. Be forewarned... if you're clueless about tuning, you may want to ensure that you have someone on hand that DOES know tuning before you get elbow deep into a system like that.

Good Luck

 

[95GTAODE]

CFI cars usually have 2 pumps... A low preassure 6 PSI in-tank pump, and a high pressure frame mounted pump. If yours is not a late build with the single in-tank pump, you can remove the frame mounted one and replace it with a chunk of rubber fuel line.

You will have to replace the intake(Reccomend '83-'85 stock, Performer RPM or Weiand stealth, stay away from the Performer), you will also need a Duraspark module and a Duraspark dizzy from any '74-'84 carbed 302. The throttle cable is the same as for a carbed car, so you're good there, but the TV cable will need some creative tweaking, or just use the TV cable available from Lokar that is designed for an AOD with a carb.(What I did, worked great!)

You can ditch the computer and most of it's wiring harness, go here: www.jason.fletcher.net, for details on what wires you need to keep.

 

[98Fauxbra]

Before I go through all of the hassle, do you think that my fuel pump(s) might be at fault? I might get a f/p gauge and monitor that. Thanks for your replies!