Carb swap

[Dad's truck]

I have a 1985 D150. 318 V8. Two barrel and it just seems stuffy. My dad bought it new and it even seemed stuffy back then. Someone told me I could put a two barrel from a 1978 warlock on it, and it would breathe a lot better and perform better. I believe that carburetor has a bigger CFM.

Does anyone have experience doing this? Woils I need to do anything to the exhaust in addition b/c of the bigger CFM? Don’t want it loud, and don’t want to do anything to the catalytic converters to make it illegal or anything. Advice would be welcomed. Thank you. Mark

 

[crazzywolfie]

i don't know much about dropping another 2bbl on it but you shouldn't need to do a thing to the exhaust. i got a 4bbl carb on my truck and it breathes just fine with the stock exhaust.

 

[Dad's truck]

Thanks for responding. I thought maybe I could find one of these off of a 78 warlock get a carburetor kit for it and then try to swap it out. Less trouble than switching the intake and kind of keep to the original too. What year is your truck?

 

[crazzywolfie]

rockauto shows a couple different 2bbls carbs for a 78 400 but i don't know if it would be worth swapping or what the difference would be. personally i would almost even consider dropping a 4bbl intake on it and stick a aftermarket fuel injection setup on it. fitech has a complete kit which is about $1000. definitely not the cheapest rout but should make it a lot more drivable and should probably help the performance since there is no need to tune the carb to get the best performance out of engine.

my truck is an 81.

 

[Dad's truck]

Thank you. I was thinking about maybe doing EFI, that sounds like what you’re talking about. Got to find that extra $1000 LOL

 

[crazzywolfie]

well considering a getting a rebuilt carb is usually about $2-300 the $1000 is not that much more considering you will get better performance out of the TBI. i think i have even been told it helps fuel mileage a bit since the air to fuel ratio is constantly changing plus you don't have to let the carb warm up before really driving it. hahaha ya the $1000 is a bit expensive but. the biggest thing stopping me from ordering 1 is the exchange rate and all the taxes i would have to pay on it. that $1000 kit would cost about $1700 by the time it gets to my door which suck. it is part of the reason i am thinking about using a factory TBI setup that i got most of the parts for. just have to make an adapter plate first sine no one makes an adapter plate to stick a dodge TBI setup on a 4bbl intake.