84-85 GSL-SE with Carb
 

I am considering the purchase of a 84-85 GSL-SE and have come across one that appears to be in good shape, except that it has a Holley carb instead of the standard Fuel Injection. Questions :

1) Is that a good thing ?

2) How expensive and difficult would it be to put back the original FI stuff (not sure that the current owner has it) ?

Thanks for your help,

Andrew

keep the carb on it. they are easier to work on and tune. i am thinking about putting a carb on mine.

IMOP this is definatly a good thing.

Mazda EFI is crap. A carb will give you more power then the OEM setup. If you absolutly want EFI go Haltech:)

i like the efi, is alot better than my old carb. alot better drivability

Putting back the EFI would be kinda difficult. You need to change the fuel pump back, all the vacuum hoses, AFM, and is the rat's nest still there?

As mentioned, this is a car I am considering....have not seen it yet as it is in another city. Have asked the owner about the existence of the original EFI unit....

Sounds like this is a bit messy to "put back" - and from the thread above, others recommend leaving the carb in place. (Unless I replace with a "real" EFI ;-)

Andrew

Carbs suck!
 

I am looking to buy a GSL-SE, but I intend to avoid a carb like the plague.

I have worked on many carbs in my life. Over time, they degrade (ports are clogged, balls get stuck, springs go out of spec, floats loose bouyancy). You can not take one apart and put it back together with 100% reliability.

It will never run as well as it used to. Even if you buy a reman carb, 75% of the time you end up taking them back because they don't work or there is some mid-year change that isn't in their master carb cross-reference.

If I never work on another carb in my life, it will be too soon.

That said, they are absolutely correct...you can tune them more easily, tweak them, and extract every last once of gain out of them. I will also add that most of my experience has been with low-end OEM garbage, not the well engineered Holley or Webber carbs they are talking about. I am sure they are more reliable than the OEM crap.

If you know much about computers, think about the difference between Windows and MAC desktop systems. You can tweak out a Windows box to do all sorts of tricks - it is also more complicated, requires a steeper learning curve, is more subject to failures from misconfigurations (that you can't undo easily), and at greater risk of castostrophic failure from viruses. Macs are easier to use, less of a learning curve, can't be tweaked easily, more stable, more recoverable, and less subject to viruses.

Having said that, my real job is working on Windows systems...you see, I really don't want the same stress at home.

I have enough hobbies, including working on my cars/trucks, I don't need another full-time hobby. If I really decide I need to constantly alter the fuel delivery system, I'll get a programmable ECU with a laptop interface and let the computer do the work.

Back on purchasing a GSL-SE...FWIW, Dynamic Motors in Austin has one for sale, but the sales guy wants to play petty salesman gimicks - he won't answer any questions over the phone "just come down and look at it."

I am not taking off work just to find out he has some rust bucket. It is in your area though, so check it out. Let me know how it is if it turns out you are not interested in it.