There has been a lot of discussion over the years about these kinds of systems.
The purists says carbs worked fine for my grandaddy and they are fine for me. And that is true, the carbs work almost as well today as they did 120 years ago when they started being used.
On the other hand, a multi-point fuel injection system is undeniably better than a throttle body based system in pretty much every metric other than cost and appearance.
Is there a place for TBI units? That depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
I say that there is because they are cheaper and easier to install than a full multipoint conversion. The peak performance of a TBI setup will not be superior to a well tuned carb because the limits on power are not caused by the carb.
To me, the biggest benefits are:
1. A TBI system has a sealed fuel system so you don't get fuel evaporation from the bowl and you don't have to deal with the constant buildup of varnish and other deposits left when the ethanol breaks down.
2. Once you tune a TBI unit, it stays tuned. You don't have to open it up to tinker with rods or jets or adjustment screws because you are at a different altitude or temperature.
3. You don't have to be an expert to tune a modern one. You hook it up with the O2 sensor, put in a few starting parameters, and just start driving. It adjusts itself to the AFR that you set.
People make a big fuss about how "you can't fix fuel injection on the side of the road". In 40 years, I have had precisely one fuel injection system leave me stranded. In constrast, carbs have left me stuck more times than I can count.
I put fuel injection on all of my older vehicles because it just works. When I want to go drive my 84 or my 78 or mt 58, I want to get in, turn the key, and drive no matter if it has been sitting for a day or 6 months. With fuel injection I can do that.
In response to HRL comment that all of the manufacturers went away from TBI after only a "short time", that is true if you consider a decade+ a "short time". But the other fact is that once TBI was invented basically everyone switched to it over the course of a couple years because it was so much better than the carbs.
