Originally Posted by NDL
Originally Posted by Oldswagon
I agree with you too on the carbs being not as bad as people say. I don't daily drive cars with carbs anymore but I still own a couple and I actually love the simplicity of a well tuned carb. I have a Colonnade Malibu with a 350 in it that I considered doing the LS swap too, but I now I am leaning towards going with an performance built 350 and carb to keep it more old school. I definitely want to upgrade to an OD trans though.
There is not a fuel injected car that I have encountered, that started even remotely as quickly as did my 1982 Malibu, 229 V6, with the stock Rochester 2V carb. A simple tap of the ignition key would start her right up.
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OP: I would opt for the 5.3; the 4.8 is short on torque.
Yes, a hot start immediately after shutting it off or a cold start my carbed engines start faster. It's when they heat soak a certain amount of time then you have to crack open the throttle and crank for as much as 2-3 seconds at most until it fires up.
Driveability and reliability has never been a major problem with these cars but I know I can gain some mileage with efi.
I have 2 running 5.3 engines. One I pulled from our retired work truck the other I bought before I purchased said work truck from my employer.
The truck I drive daily at work has a 4.8 and it is low on torque but pulls good when it winds up. It's loaded with a lot of weight (iron survey bars, equipment etc). A 4.8 would be fine in the Caprice and possibly slightly better mileage but no guarantee there. The 5.3 work truck was 2 wheel drive so it's an unfair comparison, it would blow the doors off all of our work trucks and my cars.
Both my girlfriend's father's vans have the 4.8 but I haven't driven one with the tent trailer on it.