Well heres some pictures of my truck after she got a little fire in her. 
It happened a few months ago but Im barely getting under there to fix it up. It really pisses me off that this happened to my relatively clean '86 4x4 crew cab that has only 80K originally. 
All it took was a little fuel leak then a backfire and up she went, fast too. Luckily it happened in my driveway and I was able to get it out before the whole damn truck went up. 
Nevertheless. I kind of am at a crossroad here as I see it. Theres two ways I can go about it. Fix it back stock to the way it was, or do a TBI swap on it. Ohhh, or a cummins, but unfortunately I dont have the money to do something like that.
To begin with I plan on replacing the main wiring harness that goes to the engine because there is areas of the loom that got pretty burned up. I think it would be easier just to replace the whole loom than try to splice and piece together the bad areas.
Also, the carb must be rebuilt (which was already done but I can recoup my money on that). The distributor has siginificant damage, other than the cap being burned the actual distributor itself is warped and screwed.
Whether I go TBI or stay carb I want to get a new intake with headers and exhaust, I think that will help with gas mileage and allow the truck to run more efficiently. Due to smog laws in cali if I did a TBI I would have to add cats and have a single exit exhaust.
What would you guys do? Stay carb or TBI? Im leaning towards TBI because this is my tow rig and I drive it often. I do notice when I get in higher altitudes the power loss, and gas mileage starts to suffer too. Is there anything I would be missing? I know I need the wiring harness (need it anyways), new distributor (need it anyways), want a new intake and exhaust, and that pretty much all I can think of. Other than sensors.....O2, knock sensor and what not, which isnt a big deal. The trans shouldnt need anything special, what about the gauges? TBI more reliable than carb? Just trying weigh the pros and cons, and costs before I decide what Im going to do.
Many people say to pick up a whole truck but that wont work as I have no where to put it except at my dads house and he wouldnt like that much. But I know a guy that has a chevy truck junkyard and hes really cool about anything I need and might have to piece together.
Is there anything I need to worry about being here in cali and adding TBI? As far as smog and the hassle of having to see a smog ref? Im not familiar with the workings of smog law when doing something like this. Sorry for the thousand questions, I will do much more research on TBI swaps once I decide thats something Im going to do. But TBI is pretty simple so it should be much of a big deal. Thanks for the help and value your opinions.
oh yeah.....here are the pics....
It happened a few months ago but Im barely getting under there to fix it up. It really pisses me off that this happened to my relatively clean '86 4x4 crew cab that has only 80K originally. All it took was a little fuel leak then a backfire and up she went, fast too. Luckily it happened in my driveway and I was able to get it out before the whole damn truck went up. Nevertheless. I kind of am at a crossroad here as I see it. Theres two ways I can go about it. Fix it back stock to the way it was, or do a TBI swap on it. Ohhh, or a cummins, but unfortunately I dont have the money to do something like that.
To begin with I plan on replacing the main wiring harness that goes to the engine because there is areas of the loom that got pretty burned up. I think it would be easier just to replace the whole loom than try to splice and piece together the bad areas.
Also, the carb must be rebuilt (which was already done but I can recoup my money on that). The distributor has siginificant damage, other than the cap being burned the actual distributor itself is warped and screwed.
Whether I go TBI or stay carb I want to get a new intake with headers and exhaust, I think that will help with gas mileage and allow the truck to run more efficiently. Due to smog laws in cali if I did a TBI I would have to add cats and have a single exit exhaust.
What would you guys do? Stay carb or TBI? Im leaning towards TBI because this is my tow rig and I drive it often. I do notice when I get in higher altitudes the power loss, and gas mileage starts to suffer too. Is there anything I would be missing? I know I need the wiring harness (need it anyways), new distributor (need it anyways), want a new intake and exhaust, and that pretty much all I can think of. Other than sensors.....O2, knock sensor and what not, which isnt a big deal. The trans shouldnt need anything special, what about the gauges? TBI more reliable than carb? Just trying weigh the pros and cons, and costs before I decide what Im going to do.
Many people say to pick up a whole truck but that wont work as I have no where to put it except at my dads house and he wouldnt like that much. But I know a guy that has a chevy truck junkyard and hes really cool about anything I need and might have to piece together.
Is there anything I need to worry about being here in cali and adding TBI? As far as smog and the hassle of having to see a smog ref? Im not familiar with the workings of smog law when doing something like this. Sorry for the thousand questions, I will do much more research on TBI swaps once I decide thats something Im going to do. But TBI is pretty simple so it should be much of a big deal. Thanks for the help and value your opinions.
oh yeah.....here are the pics....
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Or trade it for my blazer or my z28 camaro! I want a crew cab 4x4. LoL
