You might be able to find a stock FI system that still works, but they're pretty rare.
It's a lot of effort to make an FI system, it will require a computer (like a megasquirt), a throttle body, an intake manifold that has the room for injectors (the bulldog should work well with FI), injectors, fuel rails, an electric fuel pump and a regulator, and an O2 sensor. It will all add up to over $800 in all probability.
Your third option is to adapt a TBI unit from a big block chevy and have a custom chip burned for it, but this also takes some work, and in the end TBI isn't much better than a well tuned carb.
You could use many of the efi parts from a 350 olds if you do the megasquirt. They have 38 lbs injectors and the same throttlebody as a 500. Making a tps adapter is easy. I got a 500 system for free and also bought a olds efi 350 unbolted the efi parts and sold the engine for the same price. Nobody wants the stock olds efi because its outdated. Forget the tbi its a total waste of time. Just look at the chevy 454 ss pickup omly 230 hp and only 2 85 lbs injectors you are going to need 2 throttlebodies on a tunnelram to feed a hungry caddy. The key to performance is no fuel in the intake. The tbi body is 2x2.25" as the olds/caddy throttlebody but the injectors over the throttleplates hurts the flow a lot. And getting a new chip burned everytime you do a change to your engine is way to expensive/difficult. If you dont want to use 100 hours + keep the carb and accept its not running as well as it should.
I've seen a lot written in Car Craft in the last year or so singing the praises of the aftermarket FI set-ups available now,esp. the Holley. Apparently it can be adapted onto any engine and is easily tuned. Even a dinosaur like me is considering it.
It was batchfire port injection. Im doing a megasquirt conversion on a ported cad 500 intake/fuelrail + olds injectors at the moment. The fuel rails are only 1/4" on the inside compared to 1/2" for aftermarket fuel rails but its probably fine to 400+ horsepower.
II'm working on putting a Cadillac 472 in my Jeep right now. It has to have fuel injection because it's used for rock crawling and is at extreme angles. I was looking into using a big block TBI setup at first. The problem with TBI is you can't put anything like a cam in because it messes up the vacuum. There might also be a problem with it being too lean. A way to get rid of that is putting a TPI fuel pump on. Just more stuff to mess with.
After adding up all the stuff that I would put in a TBI setup, I am going to end up just putting on a Holley 950 Commander TBI system on. It's $1300 and is completly programmable.
TexasBlake, you might want consider a propane carburetion system. Propane is a gas and works well at odd angles. It's also a lot cheaper than $1300. It's been done before, too: http://www.bc4x4.com/fv/2002/hulk/
II'm working on putting a Cadillac 472 in my Jeep right now. It has to have fuel injection because it's used for rock crawling and is at extreme angles. I was looking into using a big block TBI setup at first. The problem with TBI is you can't put anything like a cam in because it messes up the vacuum. There might also be a problem with it being too lean. A way to get rid of that is putting a TPI fuel pump on. Just more stuff to mess with.
After adding up all the stuff that I would put in a TBI setup, I am going to end up just putting on a Holley 950 Commander TBI system on. It's $1300 and is completly programmable.
Keep us posted - I really want to know how it works for you, what it ends up costing, etc. I am looking for a TBI for my 4x4 which will work with my Cad 500cid with Edelbrock manifold. Has anyone used Affordable Fuel Injection? http://www.affordable-fuel-injection.com/tbi-tbi.htm
I spoke to a caddy expert on this question regarding
my 75 eldo. He's got a shop and caddy boneyard. He explained to me that the FI systems were nothing but trouble and that my carb would be a lot better. I presume that he was referring to the fuel injection option on the 74, 75 and 76.
With a computer that's 30 years old you can't expect too much out of it. Use a new megasquirt controller and replace any other parts that are broken and it will outperform a carb any day.
A gm tbi works just fine
Ive done both the 472 and 500
There are several companies out there that can make a chip that is dead on.
Howell in Michigan is one and TKD in Kentucky is another.
For a driver I see no downsides to tbi the systems Gm came out with on the pickups worked flawlessly,ive owned several and still own one.
I am doing a 425 for a towing application and that is the only way to go,especially for the money.
Next cheapest thing is a Q-jet and I doubt that the tbi will beat one im mileage anyhow but ya gotta love starting one in winter and not having to do anything but bump the key.
You can also with some computer mods add a holley projection throttle body with 4 injectors/900CFM to be able to make a few more horses.
Holley also makes a kit to allow you to run two throttle bodies in unison.
Sounds kinda cool.
Yet another option for those who have the skills to make up a few things is to adapt a 460FI intake manifold to the cadillac .
Just my oppinion
JW
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