The Stovebolt Forums Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop When did Chevy stop using Carburetors?

Still mulling over which way to go with the 54 3100. Have not driven it enough yet to see what shape the 235 is in. Been cruising Craig's List to see what donor vehicles are out there and several questions come to mind. I don't want computer controlled engine or transmission. When did Chevy stop using carburetors on small block V8's?

80'S Came with TBI, then 92 with FI, in general, of course, because they had mechanical FI in a 57 Chevy.(Corvette)
The always right Wiki says "In the U.S. market, the last factory carbureted cars were the 1990 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser & Buick Estate Wagon"

If this 8 decade old brain hasn't cross wired somewhere I think 86 still had a carb and 87 was TBI on a sbc.

The TBI truck SBCs were 87-95. I had a replacement 87-95 truck 350 crate long block in my Chevelle. Mine had an Edelbrock intake and carb on it, with a 700R4 behind it, and had no computer control at all.

My wife's uncle has a nice stock 81 Chevy or GMC pickup that has some sort of EFI badge on the tailgate, so there is some sort of fuel injection on it, but I don't know if it's "computer controlled" or not.

Regardless, aftermarket intake manifolds are cheap, and you should be able to easily put a carb on most any SBC running a distributor. Once you get into the LT1 and LS engines, I know there has to be something controlling the ignition, and I don't know if there's a simple way around that.

The last few years of carburetor production were in the 1980's with the electronic-controlled carbs. Those things were a nightmare, and had most of the same sensors as the TBI engines. Another attempt at complying with emission control requirements written by a bunch of politicians with no knowledge of science or engine design was computer-controlled spark timing, the infamous "ESC" system used on mid-80's Chevy pickups with 305 engines and Q-Jet carburetors.

Stay FAR away from any Quadrajet with a little blue 2-wire electrical connector in the air horn!
Jerry

A good motor to buy is a 1970-72. 454 BBC! Hard to find anymore. Pre smog and good HP. There are all kinds of good crate motors. There is no replacement for displacement.

You want a 1980 or earlier to have no computer.
There were some carburetor engines up to about
1992 in the last full sized GM rear wheel
drive station wagons. Though they will have computers.

I believe 1975 was the first year for electronic
ignition.

Though non-HEI distributor can be used in 1975
and later engines and HEI distributor can be
used in 1975 and earlier engines.

So you have from 1955 and up small block and 1958
and up large block. A lot of years and engine displacements
to chose from.
Jeffrey

If you choose the HEI ignition option, look for a unit with a vacuum advance and a 4-pin module. The ESC distributors with 5 or 7 pin modules must also have a computer, and the 5-pin ones are notorious for failing quickly. If there's a 4-pin oval connector attached to the HEI housing, with or without a vacuum advance, it's not a stand-alone unit. There's also a way to make the HEI reliable up to about 7K RPM or so, where the standard units start to spark-scatter at around 5500. That's another sneaky trick we used that my competitors in the "stock" round track class couldn't figure out. We always ran our engines 1,000-1,500 RPM faster than all our competitors, and the tech inspectors couldn't catch us.
Jerry

You could make the argument that for 6-cylinder engines, they stopped for several years after 1949!

Jon

I heard that the CEO of Carter had the 1-millionth Chevy Rochester replacement carburetor gold plated and gave it to the boss at GM as an "I told ya so" present!
Jerry