Is anyone on this forum in their mid-40s plus?

[cadunkle]

Elevation changes affect them, humidity affects them, heat affects them... really EVERYTHING. I'll take the consistency of a FI motor all day long.

Man, you really are a 60 year old! haha

I haven't found this to be the case, it takes some really drastic changes in environment to run differently. Biggest thing is just clean air and fuel. Back in my off roading days before I got serious about sealing up my carb I'd occasionally have issues with dust or dirt getting in the air bleeds. Nothing a quick shot down the air bleeds with carb cleaner doesn't fix though. Water intrusion was sometimes a problem when dipping the hood under though.

FWIW I also converted my car and truck from electric choke to manual choke. Electric can stay on too long or come off too fast depending on temperature, and will always be choked if the engine sat a while even if no choke is required. Manual choke fixes that variability with a carb. Never ran one on a car until I had a '63 Falcon which came with manual choke, I really liked it because it just plain worked where electric was always good enough to start and run well but not dialed in exactly. I will say that thermostatic chokes off a heat tube on the exhaust and heater hose ran against them always worked best for me as they react quicte closely to engine temp vs electric choke which is more or less just a timer.

Electric starters are for suckers, I prefer to hand crank all my internal combustion engines.

One of my friends hand cranks his Model T all summer long. Seriously. But screw hand crank, pony motor is where it's at for us lazy folk, or just always park on a hill. In all seriousness keeping it simple has saved me a time or two push starting or using the generator to crank it over when the starter failed. On my trucks keeping it simple has meant they work fine underwater, whereas I can't count the number of EFI trucks I've towed out of the woods after they get wet. When roads flood I don't sweat driving through, my trucks just plain work. Also, my bike is kick start.

[cadunkle]

To get back on topic though I know a few guys in the 40-50 range who ride. Most of my riding buddies are in the 25-35 range though.

[HIFLYR]

51 for me for you guys against FI and such man up and get a wood boat and then we can talk!

[SquamInboards]

33 here, and I've had my boat since I was 24. When I got it I was single, never really did more than my own oil changes, and knew nothing about inboards except how great they are on a lake. I've since learned every inch of my boat, its accessories, and the engine; replaced, then rebuilt the engine (a machine shop did the internal work), and put almost 1,000 hours on its clock. It carried me to my wedding, and it's been driven now by my son, soon to be joined by a sibling. Never saw that coming when I first got this boat. But I really have an attachment to it now, and I don't see selling it any time soon. Unless someone drops off a 1998 Sport Nautique or Super Sport in my yard for free. Or maybe a Paragon. That's about it.

[trayson]

I haven't found this to be the case, it takes some really drastic changes in environment to run differently. Biggest thing is just clean air and fuel. Back in my off roading days before I got serious about sealing up my carb I'd occasionally have issues with dust or dirt getting in the air bleeds. Nothing a quick shot down the air bleeds with carb cleaner doesn't fix though. Water intrusion was sometimes a problem when dipping the hood under though.

I'm surprised if you're into serious offroading that you wouldn't embrace FI. I've ran many steep trails with my buddy that had a carb'd 383 stroker and it was downright scary to see his engine stall out when going up the steeper sections and then not want to restart. Honestly a huge safety factor in my opinion. My FI jeeps could stand on end and not have a problem with stalling out like a stupid carb.

My boat also doesn't like the fact that when we sack it out for surfing that the angle of the carb will make it grumpy and we have to give it a bunch of gas to get it started. Annoying as hell. FI will be a requirement in my next boat.

[garyholl]

I once beat a 440 ci roadrunner with my SRT8 Cherokee. JEEP CHEROKEE!
It was all traction control and all wheel drive. He sat there spinning while I leapt out of the hole. All he could say was "Damn it's loud behind your Jeep."

[cadunkle]

I'm surprised if you're into serious offroading that you wouldn't embrace FI. I've ran many steep trails with my buddy that had a carb'd 383 stroker and it was downright scary to see his engine stall out when going up the steeper sections and then not want to restart. Honestly a huge safety factor in my opinion. My FI jeeps could stand on end and not have a problem with stalling out like a stupid carb.

My boat also doesn't like the fact that when we sack it out for surfing that the angle of the carb will make it grumpy and we have to give it a bunch of gas to get it started. Annoying as hell. FI will be a requirement in my next boat.

I do see the advantage of fuel injection when wheelin' at steep angles. Here in NJ it's mud trucks. NJ is flat with lots of wetlands so not a lot of steep angles. I've been to a few areas in CT and Mass that were very steep and have had to feather the gas to keep it from stalling at times from flooding... Made me wish I had another foot! I've also been on some surprisingly steep angles (fore/aft not side to side) and have been more concerned with oiling before I had issues with the carb. I will say those were more on the throttle climbing or coasting down in gear and not slow and technical. But yes if you do rock climbing and other steep technical stuff fuel injection would probably be the way to go, but personally I'd go mechanically injected diesel before any sort of EFI.

For your trouble with the boat and surfing I'd try to run a wedge spacer with enough angle to make it closer to level at your normal riding angle. Might take more angle than you can actually get on there but not sure what your current spacer/wedge setup is. There are also intake made with an angle already or you can run a fairly tall dual plane and have it milled to a steeper angle to get you closer to start with.

[trayson]

I do see the advantage of fuel injection when wheelin' at steep angles. Here in NJ it's mud trucks. NJ is flat with lots of wetlands so not a lot of steep angles. I've been to a few areas in CT and Mass that were very steep and have had to feather the gas to keep it from stalling at times from flooding... Made me wish I had another foot! I've also been on some surprisingly steep angles (fore/aft not side to side) and have been more concerned with oiling before I had issues with the carb. I will say those were more on the throttle climbing or coasting down in gear and not slow and technical. But yes if you do rock climbing and other steep technical stuff fuel injection would probably be the way to go, but personally I'd go mechanically injected diesel before any sort of EFI.

For your trouble with the boat and surfing I'd try to run a wedge spacer with enough angle to make it closer to level at your normal riding angle. Might take more angle than you can actually get on there but not sure what your current spacer/wedge setup is. There are also intake made with an angle already or you can run a fairly tall dual plane and have it milled to a steeper angle to get you closer to start with.

I suppose that would help for fore/aft angle. But side to side, will depend on what side we're surfing at. I will say that adding my own homemade surf blades (like a Nautique Surf System) has made a big difference. So that's nice. But EFI is on the short list of items for someday when I get a V-drive.

[cadunkle]

I think someone here did a writeup on converting to EFI using a hybrid of 302 Mustang mass air parts along with 351w truck manifold and just changed the wiring around on the harness. I seem to recall he drilled and tapped the risers for the O2 sensor and used some sort of sleeve through the wet portion. Not sure how that's working long term as I'd be worried about reversion and how a small amount of moisture may affect the sensor but seemd like a fairly straightforward conversion, trickiest part being O2 sensor. Might be worth looking at if you're set on EFI.

[trayson]

I think someone here did a writeup on converting to EFI using a hybrid of 302 Mustang mass air parts along with 351w truck manifold and just changed the wiring around on the harness. I seem to recall he drilled and tapped the risers for the O2 sensor and used some sort of sleeve through the wet portion. Not sure how that's working long term as I'd be worried about reversion and how a small amount of moisture may affect the sensor but seemd like a fairly straightforward conversion, trickiest part being O2 sensor. Might be worth looking at if you're set on EFI.

Good to know it's been done. While I like it, I'm not willing to pay the money for a conversion. I can live with having to put it in neutral and give it some gas to start... At least on this boat. I'll look for it in the next boat though.