Interesting article;
https://www.enginebuildermag.com/2020/02/are-carburetors-dead/?oly_enc_id=7809B4488578E6R


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It’s been a known fact now for several years now that engine performance with electronic fuel injection lags behind carburetor performance.  For a number of years, engine dyno contests handicapped the carbureted engines to make for a more level playing field when the carbureted and fuel injected engines ran together in a single competition class.  Once it was figured out that carburetors were superior when all aspects of the engines were equal, those competitions are now almost all carbureted.  There are still engine classes that require fuel injection only but most of those are for the late model engines for which carburetion and their subsequent intake manifolds are not readily available.
 
When it comes to cold start and overall drivability aspects, electronic fuel injection wins that part of the contest easily.  Service life is also much better with modern fuel injection than with carburetors.  Hence the reasoning why all new vehicles are supplied with electronic fuel injection rather than carburetors.  A normal life expectancy for the electronic fuel injection would be 10+ years while carburetors are in the 3 year range before requiring some kind of service.
 
When it comes to peak performance, carburetors are still superior in that department.  In the racing environments, carburetors reign supreme.  A good example is NHRA Pro Stock.  Several years ago NHRA mandated the move to electronic fuel injection and outlawed carburetors in that class.  Those competition cars are just now getting back to the performance levels they enjoyed with carburetors when the switch was made to electronic fuel injection.  The old carburetor technology went to Europe where they still use carburetors in those similar classes.  Whereas the European Pro Stock cars use to be roughly two tenths of a second slower than the U.S. cars, that all changed when the U.S. went fuel injection.  The European Pro Stock cars are now running on the order of two tenths of a second quicker than their U.S. counterparts.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Thanks for expounding on the subject Ted. Great information. 
Does this mean that modern carburetors can also produce more power than mechanical fuel injection? I'm thinking of old school Hilborn port injection and even the more complex GM scrubette type?






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